The queue is a pressure valve for the ticketing system
When thousands of people try to buy tickets at once, sending every request straight to the seat map and checkout can overwhelm the systems handling them. A virtual waiting room holds customers outside that busiest part of the process, then admits them in smaller waves. The pause is frustrating, but it helps keep the sale functioning instead of letting a surge of clicks slow or crash the transaction pages.
It controls access, not supply
A place in line is not a ticket reservation. It is permission to try buying when the system admits you; the available seats can still be claimed by other buyers before you finish. The queue also cannot create more seats or guarantee that checkout will succeed.
The exact rules differ by ticketing platform and sale. Some queues may assign positions after a waiting-room period; others may rely more directly on arrival order. Either way, the basic tradeoff is the same: fewer buyers act at once, which makes the sale more manageable—but does not make scarce tickets less scarce.
