Future reality simulation. Date — Tuesday 19 February 2008.
Time — 7:30pm.
Logging onto Jetstar’s website. Well, not really “logging on” as while the text appears 30 seconds after clicking on the bookmark, images do not seem to load. Bugger. Still 30 minutes away from Jetstar’s 1 cent sale, the server is already overloaded.
Time — 8:00pm.
Yes! It is Show Time!!! Except the Jetstar’s site does not want to load. Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, Lynx, Flock — I have tried them all but all I get is a spinning hour-glass (spinning beachball in the case of Safari). Not good. Press [F5] multiple times hoping the god of TCP/IP can have mercy on me to slip my request through.
Time — 9:15pm.
Now I am getting something back. “Server busy”? WTF?! Noooo!!! History has repeated itself!
Time — 11:24pm.
Wait!! I am in. Select the flight — Sydney to Gold Coast return in May. Only awkward hours are available but that’s okay. Click on Pay by Credit Card, ignore all that $3 surcharge per flight messages, enter in my card number, account name, expiry date, etc. Click click click. Next!
Waiting. Firefox returns to spinning hour-glass, and it has been there for 2 minutes…
“Server busy” !@#$#^%!!! Press [F5] again and then try to switch to another Tab telling everyone on OzBargain that I am about to score the tickets.
firefox.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.
If you were in the middle of something, the information you were working on might be lost.
Aargghhh!!!!!
That is how I envision what will happen next week when the Jetstar 1c Airfare sale starts. Jetstar’s web server will crash hard as it happens every single time. I won’t even bother. Actually I have already booked my holiday in May with VirginBlue a month ago so there is no need for my to get another ticket through Jetstar.
Anyway. Good luck guys next week if you do decide to give it a try.
UPDATE 19/02/2008 at 8:20pm: As predicted, when I go to Jetstar’s website right now…
Sorry!
Thanks for your search.
Our current sale is proving incredibly popular, and our website is experiencing very high levels of demand right now.
We’re working as hard as we can to help you find the fare you want.
In the meantime please try one of the following, as it may help you find what you’re looking for:
If you’ve arrived here via the 1 Cent Sale JetMail, simply return to the JetMail and click the Book button.
Or
If you’ve arrived here and are not looking for the current sale specials, simply return to Jetstar.com to continue searching for flights.
Thanks for choosing Jetstar!
Well you are write on the money so far. I think the link they sent me was to a Sorry! page though sometimes I get server busy….nothing at all. 35mins of trying to go :>(
yess…..sitting there for about 45mins pressing book….was…well a good workout but got me nooo tickets
owells ill just go and book with virgin or qantas….congrats to those who actually got tickets!
p.s a perfect simulation of my actions scott haha
I can’t get in via the link either. What I don’t get is that they say the offer is available from 8.00 p.m. unless sold out prior. How can that happen when it actually begins at that time?
This 1 cent sale is a joke, I kept trying from 8 PM to 9PM continuously , with a 10 MBPS broadband connection but never got connected to the site
had no fewer than 6 tabs going for the hour didnt get a look
i wonder if there were any tickets at mmmmmmm maybe 1 to each destination ??????
les
Tried the whole hour trying to grab a ticket but never got through. I finally did at 8:55 but then it wouldnt process and I’ve missed out. I thought they would be preperred!
Jetstar is a big liar….. They try to beat their competitor with a rubbish promotion.
I have tried with a four different machine on four different locations for one hour, no single machine go through to the online booking.
Either the message say “Sorry! Thank for your search” or Page can’t display.
What a crap website??? If they’re not ready with the reliable system, don’t start that crap campaign.
Yes well i didnt even get the email until 10:15 pm what a load of good that did eh?
its all a scam, its not real its just to promote themselves x.x
I’m glad I didn’t waste my time on this…
Jetstar %#*! You get what you pay for, The 1 cent sale was an absolute con.
I have wasted more than an hour in my life and my valuable time trying to connect to a Jetmail link that I conclude was never operational while JET#$%^STAR executives are laughing and backslapping each other over the free publicity they got. I hope they choke on the fingerfood and drown in their champagne (remember the cold Night in the Bus Shelter Jetstar}
I will be reporting this sale as a scam by phoning the ACCC on 1300 302 502. … As well as reporting these scams to ASIC and the ACCC tomorrow.
I think we should all email to consumer watchdog and report them to investigate Jetstar. The truth will come out. Is this misleading/Fault Advertising???
To report Jetstar visit http://www.consumer.gov.au/html/contacts.htm
I actually emailed ACA (a current affair) and TT (today tonight) about this scam. everyone should~ would be great so see them get busted!
Yes, I totally concur with this Blog; I never had any real hopes for this promotion to ever work anyway! They sent out 3 emails prior to sale, everyone was talking about it at work (clearly the promotion had already done its job) when it came to sale time, clearly their server was never going to handle the volume, thus they can use this as their defense. But it was a cheap nasty dishonest way to promote their Airline. Start looking at Tiger, their prices is cheaper anyway. Thanks to the Blog starter…. People need to be aware of such poor treatment and customer service.
Just adding…… I never got on their site either, followed the email link and got the “Sorry” page every time. I thought a had been diverted to Kevin Rudd’s office ;)
I’d like to know if anyone actually got tickets? I too sat there for the entire hour and repeatedly hit the “book” button and got nowhere.I don’t understand how anyone even got onto the website. Did the 1 cent deal even exist?
Did anyone actually get 1 cent tickets? I sat at work with a 100mbps connection for the full hour and clicked ‘book’ only to recieve the usual error messages until 9.10pm when i got through to ‘Sorry, Jetstar’s 1 cent sale is over’…yeah thanks a lot…if Tiger’s website can stand up to these sale events, surely Jetstar’s should! Con!
I got onto the site, chose my 1 cent tix, entered our names, and payment details (this was at about 8:30…), clicked purchase… then waited… and waited… and waited… and waited… and it was 9pm, so my fares were gone.
So, they DID have the seats available. It was a matter of whether you could purchase them because the servers were so busy.
On the upside, it DID manage to subscribe me to their jetstar mail, but without my purchase. And now their website to unsubscribe does not work!!!
No tickets here. it would be interesting to see how many got tickets (if anyone actually did).
I don’t think its a scam. I got through about 8:10pm and brought five, one cent tickets. 2 guys from work and my mother were also successful.
THANK YOU JETSTAR !!!!
After speaking to people from work, one lady got through, booked 4 tickets Melb-Sydney and return, went to pay and got the Sorry Page. What a Joke!
Talk about not getting tickets! I did not even receive the Jetmail email until 2.18am the following morning. Now THAT is false advertising – it is not fair that some people are disadvantaged by not even receiving the email until way after the seats have gone. Who cares anyway – what a poor selection of routes! What makes me mad is that they make you sign up and therefore get all of your details – they are probably selling this somewhere. What a con!
I too sat on the computer for over an hour with 3 computers going at the same time and never made it onto the site once. I think it was a big scam also. That comment from Dean I believe is a big fib and he must work for jetstar and is trying to cover their ass!
notice it’s mostly the people who were annoyed and missed out that actually comment here?? (me included).
that could just show that ppl who got through and won tickets didn’t feel any need to waste time in commenting that they won it…
I was very lucky to be able to book for the cheapest flight ticket ever from Jetstar!