Picture yourself standing in a queue.
This time, however, you are not seated on a plastic chair that you find at home affairs or any government department. You are waiting in a virtual waiting room.
It has been almost two hours since I have logged in - eager to score myself a R5 flight with FlySafair.
I logged on at 9.15am, 15 minutes after the site opened for the R5 sale.
For the first hour, my screenshot was a 504 unavailable getaway time out icon. I sigh and continue to refresh the icon, hoping to run into some luck sooner rather than later.
By 10.12am, I decide to log into my cellphone. Two tries later and I am on the site waiting for my chance to purchase one, or two, of the 45 000 tickets on sale.
Soon after, the site loads on my work laptop. My face draws into a smile as I am optimistic that today might be my lucky day. Of course, that feeling is short-lived as the wait feels unbearable. I wait, and wait and wait not knowing whether I will be one of the lucky ones purchasing a R5 ticket.
I tried the airline’s R1 and R3 sales years ago, which was met with skepticism by many travellers who, like myself, did not get the chance to purchase tickets.
This year’s R5 sale has got everyone in a tizz.
On Tuesday morning, Twitter users shared their experience online. Some were clearly not impressed with the long waiting times.
@megan_dieds said: “I’ve been in the waiting room since 8,” replying to a user who was chosen in the random draw and purchased her tickets.
I was sceptical about the #FlySafair R5 tickets but one of my colleagues just paid R10 for a round trip . pic.twitter.com/qH4IrqD7VZ
— euphemia (@Du_Squared) May 7, 2019
#JIVEFOR5 #FLYSAFAIR Come now.. Sing with me.. I BELIEVE I CAN FLY... PLEASE LIKE MY VIDEO 😁 pic.twitter.com/G6TQO4Bmvj
— Craig Naidoo (@CraigNaidoo12) May 7, 2019
@FlySafair got us dancing to no music, because #JiveFor5🤣
Famous question in the office today, “are you in? “ 😂🤦🏽♂️ pic.twitter.com/RErBpm2MLv
— Maxwell Mohale (@MaxMohale) May 7, 2019
I guess at the end of the day, it boils down to luck - so I keep on waiting.