Almost convinced having a ticket is better (7)
I believe the answer is:
surpass
'is better' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'almost convinced having a ticket' is the wordplay.
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'convinced' becomes 'sure' (similar in meaning).
'having' says to put letters next to each other.
'a ticket' becomes 'pass' (pass is a kind of ticket).
'sure' with its last letter taken away is 'sur'.
'sur'+'pass'='SURPASS'
(Other definitions for surpass that I've seen before include "eclipse visible" , "Go one better" , "Outstrip" , "Transcend" , "Be better than (another)" .)