Smooth sailing for 2010 Games tickets after earlier glitch shut down website
Published Saturday November 14th, 2009
VANCOUVER, B.C. - Thousands of people scored tickets to the Olympic Games on Saturday following a computer error that left would-be buyers frustrated last week.
A configuration problem with the online ticketing system caused the Vancouver Olympic website to crash, locking out visitors trying to get in on the last formal sale of Games tickets.
But on Saturday, most of the 100,000 tickets that went on sale were snapped up quickly.
Caley Denton, vice-president of ticketing for the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, said the computer snafu that raised the ire of ticket buyers last Saturday was fixed that evening and rigorously tested during the week.
"Today went really smoothly, it was exactly what we expected," Denton said. "We had over 150,000 visitors and we sold a lot of tickets."
He said that by Saturday afternoon, some hockey and curling tickets were still available, along with a few tickets to the closing ceremonies.
But tickets to the opening ceremonies went fast.
Denton said a virtual waiting room on the site was improved to show visitors which events still had tickets and those that were sold out.
"People understood what they were waiting for so we tried to communicate as much as we could about what was happening," he said.
The waiting room was developed to help manage traffic, holding people out of the transactional site so it doesn't get flooded.
"In other Games, like Beijing for example, when they let people go directly to the transactional site it got overwhelmed by traffic," Denton said.
The tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis in the third and final phase of tickets available to Canadians.
To buy tickets online, a website account is required and VISA is the only credit card accepted for payment, though orders are also being taken over the phone.
Organizers expect to start delivering some tickets in time for Christmas but most won't be delivered until the new year.
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