South Africans Angry Over FlySafair’s Randomised Selection Process for R8 Tickets Sale, 1m in Waiting Room

• FlySafair R8 sale saw over one million users logged on to the virtual platform, however some unlucky people were not happy with the company's random selection process
• The South African budget airline sold more than 30 000 tickets within seven hours on Wednesday 4 May
• The company’s CMO Kirby Gordon said it is human nature to be more vocal when upset and made peace with the criticisms it received following the sale

JOHANNESBURG - Some hopeful travellers were not too happy after waiting in FlySafair’s virtual queue all-day only for the airline to randomly select a few lucky South Africans to purchase tickets. The budget airline sold over 30 000 tickets priced at just R8 on Wednesday 4 May.

In an effort to ensure the airline’s website did not crash, FlySafair created a ‘waiting room’ to limit the number of users on the booking platform. The ridiculously low tickets were wiped out within seven hours.

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The company’s Chief Marketing Officer Kirby Gordon believes the random selection process was fairer than expecting customers to wait in an online queue. Over a million devices were present in the airline’s waiting room. During an interview with Business Insider South Africa Gordon said it is human nature to be more vocal when upset and that the company has made peace with the criticisms.

Gordon said FlySafair plans to stick to the random selection process but could change the method in the future. He described the chance of bagging the tickets as “pretty slim” and compared the feeling to winning the lottery.

FlySafair’s sale was the topic of the day and trended on Twitter when South Africans shared their hilarious comments and memes on social media platforms. Commenting on the online frenzy, Gordon told TimesLIVE that the company is amazed by the creativity and humour of South Africans. He added that the airline could possibly shake up the sale next year.

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Mzansi reacts to R8 sale

Briefly News asked Facebook users “Did anyone get an R8 flight?” and tons of side-splitting comments rolled in:

Siphamandla Mashiqana said:

"They put us on flight mode."

Mbuti Mtolo commented:

"Yeah I did admin but now the problem is I don't have a place to sleep, I thought hotel is also R8 too."

Adiness Nosipho Skosana posted:

"I was on waiting room from 09:00 until I decided to leave the room around past 2. Wasted my time and data."

Ayabonga Laystorme Magadla wrote:

"Yeah, I just landed in Cape Town and in 30 minutes I'm Flying back to Johannesburg."

Ecco Aries posted:

"It's gonna be like "Mayday mayday flight going down I repeat we ran out of fuel."

FlySafair sells tickets for just R8 for 1 day only, 30 000 tickets up for grabs for lucky bargain hunters

In a related story, Briefly News also reported, FlySafair’s annual mega-sale took flight from 9 am this morning and travel enthusiasts could find themselves bagging tickets for just R8. The low-cost airline is offering 30 000 tickets through the company’s website.

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The huge sale kicked off in 2015 when the airline sold tickets for R1 each; in 2018, tickets could be purchased for R4; and the year after, tickets were priced at R5.

The incredible sale has caused a frenzy online. FlySafair’s website has been known to not handle the high volumes of traffic. Speaking to Business Insider South Africa, FlySafair's Chief Marketing Officer Kirby Gordon said the company has learnt from its previous mistakes and has “beefed up” its website’s capacity.

Source: Briefly News