Yes, but if they didn't have free flies they wouldn't get as many new players either. Clearly it's been working out for them. In the past two years events like these have probably played a large role in adding new player count. Most players will get ed off at the state of the game, but there will definitely be a sizeable number who will see it as something special and stay, and maybe end up buying more ships later down the line.
Let them show an honest representation of what the game is like at it's worst. After all, the server infrastructure should eventually be able to handle high load... this is a necessity. And dynamic events ? Kind of the same thing.
From a marketing standpoint, I just don't have a problem with this. It's a very honest "try it and see if you like it" mentality.
What I don't like is big events + free fly ruins stability for existing players. That sucks big time there's no arguing that.