Olympics ticket sales remain brisk

The final phase of ticket sales for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China did not go much smoother than the first phase last October when its ticketing system crashed on the first day of sales.

As the final 1.38 million tickets went on sale May 5, buyers complained about waiting for several hours at Bank of China branches and about long delays trying to purchase tickets online and in difficulty to trying to complete the online transaction.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Ticketmaster, which is running the Olympics ticketing operation, reported some operations were slow, but there were no problems on Monday, and stressed that the system handled “27 million page views in its first hour and 150 million over the workday.”

The 2008 Games have been a near public relations disaster as China has had to grapple with problems in their ticketing system, reports of poor air quality and the country’s treatment of Tibet, which sparked protests during the torch relay.

The games are scheduled to begin Aug. 8