New England Aquarium Accepts Visitor’s 37 Year Old Ticket
It’s true… a visitor showed up to the New England Aquarium with a ticket issued over 37 years ago, and they accepted it!
The ticket was issued in 1983 to Catherine Cappiello, Rachel Carle’s great aunt. She received a “late gate” ticket because it was late in the day, which meant the ticket was “good for admission at anytime in the future.” When Rachel moved to Boston, her great aunt gave it to her after keeping it in her wallet for almost 40 years. “I probably changed it from one wallet to another and just kept it in the new one. It was one of those things, I thought that maybe someday I’d get back there but I wasn’t sure,” Cappiello told the Boston Herald.
Rachel showed up to the aquarium last week not knowing what to expect, but the NEAQ accepted the 37 year old ticket. “I didn’t think it would work,” Carle, 26, said. “I was not ready for a confrontation about this, but I might have, for Aunt Kit’s sake, I might have pushed.”
The late gate tickets were discontinued about 25 years ago, according to Aquarium President and CEO Vikki Spruill, but the ticket desk still sees about one of them a year. “We honor each valid admission ticket, and this was one,” Spruill said. “Forty years is a long time to be carrying that ticket around, and we’re so glad she did.”
Rachel shared her story on Twitter, seen below, and it has been liked by over 2.5k people. “Some feel-good news” is just what we needed!
Some feel-good news:
— Rachel Carle (@rcarletweets) June 10, 2021
My great aunt kept this ticket in her wallet for ~40 years and gave it to me when I moved to Boston. Today the New England Aquarium honored it as my admission ticket 😂 Thank you @NEAQ staff for being so sweet and having a laugh with me! pic.twitter.com/GSG4nWDeUg
