Crash alert: Vanilla Air fails to sell NT$288 flights, netizens fume: 'Frustrating purchase'

▲ Vanilla Air’s official website crashed due to high traffic. (Photo / Screenshot from Vanilla Air’s official website)

By Chen Ruizhong / Compiled report

Vanilla Air announced on March 14 that it will launch a Taipei–Osaka route on April 27, along with a promotional sale offering one-way tickets for NT$288. Since sales began today, the system has crashed due to overwhelming traffic, with many netizens flocking to Vanilla Air’s Facebook page to post comments such as “No sincerity” and “I managed to buy one... and ended up frustrated.”

Vanilla Air launched a promotional offer on March 15 at 18:00, featuring one-way tickets from Taipei to Osaka for NT$288 and from Taipei to Tokyo for NT$588. However, the company’s website became inaccessible even before the sale started, repeatedly displaying“Due to currently high system traffic, please try again later. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

▲ Many netizens posted critical comments on Vanilla Air’s Facebook fan page.

Comments from users included “I must have hit F5 hundreds of times” and “Completely couldn’t get any tickets.” The number of “angry” reactions on Facebook has also accumulated to nearly 400. However, some users think it’s normal for ticket sales to crash. From 18:00 to 21:00 when the sale went live, Vanilla Air’s official website remains completely unresponsive. The airline’s Taiwan-based agency, Wan Jun Travel Agency, is also unreachable as it is after business hours.

%Passengers complain they were unable to book flights and expressed dissatisfaction with the airline’s service.