Certain things are THON traditions; the line dance, water guns, and baby powder are all things people expect during these 46 hours. The pass system failing is no exception — and wouldn’t you believe it happened again.

The pass system allows spectators — anyone from fellow org members to family members of dancers — to venture down to the floor in order to visit their dancers and experience THON in all of its glory. However, more often than not, this system is a source of frustration. It never takes long for the system to fail, and while some report receiving their passes in a timely fashion with no problems, the vast majority are experiencing some difficulties.

Parents of a Sigma Nu dancer put their numbers in the digital line when they arrived around 8 p.m. on Friday night and were told they’d be down to see their son shortly. They received a text to claim their passes almost a full seven hours later, at 3 a.m. when they were already nestled back in their hotel room for the night. Giving up their spots then, they reentered the line when they arrived to the BJC this morning with hope of receiving another text before the night is done.

Members of the Tapestry Dance Company experienced a similar frustration. Putting their name in line in the early hours of Friday evening, they received a text around 6 a.m. on Saturday saying they could come pick up their passes. While visiting their dancer, an R&R member informed them that she had only had one other member come down to visit her although the org had several passes — another failure of the THON pass system.

If this is happening to you, unfortunately there isn’t much you can do. You can check the pass system website to make sure that you are in line. As far as any ways to speed up the process, your guess is as good as ours.

Should we expect anything else besides a failing pass system at this point? Similar problems were seen in 2016 and 2015, and even date all the way back to 2012. We’ll all be patiently waiting for a year where the pass system doesn’t fail us and every dancer can have visitors occupy them without any external issues.