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More than a million South Africans took to the internet skies on Wednesday to get their hands on R8 airline tickets from FlySafair.
On Thursday, the company said 1.7 million South Africans had “flocked to FlySafair’s waiting room to try their luck at getting onto the site to secure the cheap seats”.
The waiting room opened at 7am with access allowed to randomly chosen individuals at 9am.
With 31 713 seats sold this time, the airline said it had learnt a lot since launching the sale in 2015 when tickets were sold at R1.
READ: On-board medical emergency delays FlySafair flight
“Being wiser and more experienced, we’ve invested a great deal in our IT infrastructure and have introduced features like the waiting room to maintain order. We’ve also included a random selection process that helps to ensure that access to the ridiculously cheap tickets is fair,” Kirby Gordon, chief marketing officer of the airline, said, adding that integrity of the website was important to them as the company reported a low error rate.
FlySafair said that there were reported issues regarding internet connectivity for some users and “on rare occasions, a session could be corrupted, but this was low”.
READ: FlySafair continues to dominate the skies, stays a head above the rest in tough aviation market
The most popular destinations were Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, but the company did not provide volumes nor specific routes.
Asked how the airline ensured there were no bots or any manipulation of the system, the company said the virtual room prevented this.
Tickets bought during the sale are transferable, the company confirmed, but there would be a R300 admin fee per flight for changes.
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