Eric Edelstein

Mango on Friday put up 5 000 tickets for sale at R1 (exclusive of airport taxes) on all its routes for bookings in May. The offer is on a first come, first serve basis, Mango said in a statement.

I guess the viral element took a little time to get going, but this morning the FlyMango.com website went down. Mango opened up their call centers, and I thought I’d try get a ticket for a trip to durban later this week, but after holding on for 15 minutes, I’ve given up…

Frustrating for the public, but for Mango it’s a great publicity booster, and they’ll sell the 5000 tickets in no time. It’s one of those rare times when a site going down actually gives a company MORE exposure, and won’t do them any harm!

Had a quick chat with Gavin Levin from Affliate Network TrafficSynergy.com on Skype about the FlyMango site going down:

“Gavin Levin 11:07 AM
they didnt do capacity planning and underestimated the power of the net

Eric Edelstein 11:07 AM
but it won’t affect them negatively at all coz

1. they get more publicity and

2. they’ll sell the tickets regardless
and no one will think in 2 weeks - oh - mango’s site went down last week, so i’m not buying a ticket from them!!!!

Eric Edelstein 11:09 AM
so the only negative issue is frustration for the public, but they (including you) understand that you’re trying to get a total bargain which is why you’re not totaly %*(^&(& off with them…you’re just frustrated you can’t get a ticket

Gavin Levin 11:09 AM
yeah, its still a brilliant exercise, just not good for the webmaster”

NOTE: TrafficSynergy is an affiliate network which manages the affiliate program for one of the largest flight booking comparison engine sites in South Africa.