2023-10-04 14:16:51
From the morning, users were overwhelmed. While the SNCF launched with great fanfare the sale of its tickets for the end-of-year holiday period this Wednesday morning, the railway company’s merchant site displayed numerous bugs, according to testimonies from multiple users on ex-Twitter). Malfunctions that Le Parisien was able to observe when trying to connect to the SNCF website as well as the SNCF Connect application around 8 a.m. Since 9:45 a.m., a gradual return to normal has been underway.
For several hours, the operator’s home page was not even accessible on the site. Only a message was displayed: “There is a bit of a wait…. Many of you want to book your train tickets, please renew your search in a few moments.” Contacted by Le Parisien, SNCF confirmed that this was caused by a “peak connection on the site”. “The technical teams are currently working to restore the flow,” the company detailed at the time.
A gradual return to normal took place in the morning, with reservations accessible on the SNCF Connect website. However, untimely bugs remained on the application for certain users, as Le Parisien was able to observe. The Ouigo train reservation site, however, was not affected by the incident.
Users complain on social networks
Users quickly expressed their dissatisfaction to the SNCF, mainly via social networks. Whether to book their tickets for the holidays or for a daily journey, it is impossible to access the platform. “What do we do when we don’t have a station? ! » laments an Internet user. “This actually has an impact on all sales,” acknowledges SNCF to Le Parisien.
Always the same with the SNCF and their app which doesn’t work because too many of us want train tickets
— Reine ????- EVERGLOW IS COMING (@Reneeee_______) October 4, 2023
@sncf @SNCFConnect Didn’t we anticipate the rush for Christmas tickets this morning? In addition to non-reservable tickets on a daily basis… what do we do when we don’t have a station!?
— C. (@cpetrolette) October 4, 2023
Every year, when train tickets open for the Christmas period, the SNCF website is unavailable because it cannot manage high traffic.
So this year they will have solved the problem, right?No….
— Damien Ferhadian (@dferhadian) October 4, 2023
Other Internet users complain in particular of a sharp increase in prices during the holiday period, such as one of them who claims to have paid 166 euros for three people aboard an Ouigo on December 26, compared to 58 euros for a trip three days later.
The SNCF announces a return to normal this midday
“The SNCF Connect site and application are operational again,” responded the railway company at midday. She highlighted a “historic affluence”, with “up to a million connections per minute”. “A virtual waiting room mechanism has been put in place to allow all our customers to purchase tickets on SNCF Connect in the best conditions and prepare for their upcoming trips, particularly for the end-of-year holidays. », Specifies the SNCF in a press release.
“This record crowd represents a 230% increase in connections compared to the already record level of the opening of sales for the holidays last year, which already represented 10 times the connections of an average day”, specifies- we furthermore.
Indeed, a few bugs on the SNCF Connect site and application had already been identified last year at the same period, several features were temporarily unavailable. Up to 100,000 connections per minute were recorded between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. More than 30 tickets per second were sold between the opening of sales and 8 a.m., “the equivalent of 3 TGVs every minute”, indicated the company.
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