Asiana Club - KTX vs. Domestic Flights

Sorry if this topic has been discussed before and I missed it. I was reading a study about transportation methods in Korea and it showed a very dramatic drop in domestic air travel and an huge increase in train travel, mainly the high-speed KTX, since it's introduction a few years ago. Sorry, I was going to supply a link to the page but lost it. I guess it's no wonder that OZ has dropped all their domestic service between GMP and PUS in favor of just codesharing with BX.

Anyways, I was in need of a few domestic flights between GMP and PUS in the upcoming months so was checking out the schedule and found that there are no flights late enough for one of my segments, so I needed to consider the KTX instead. Doing a bit of searching, I came across the KR Pass which is good for travel on the KTX as well as slower trains, and I also believe the ARX train from ICN to GMP. All for only 76,000 KRW for a three-day pass, which is already much cheaper than a normal SEL-PUS R/T ticket of 100,000+ KRW. If I took a side-trip it would be even more of a savings. The only problem seems to be it's a bit of a pain trying to buy one of these passes, but they are working on trying to improve the system. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/09/116_52032.html

Anyways, I'm going to give this KR Pass a shot as it seems to be quite a good deal for my travels as well as being more convenient. Just thought I'd pass along this information to anyone else coming to Korea and planning to travel domestically.

finally!
it's not comparble to JR pass yet but it's a good start.


thanks for the info!

*edit

newspaper says it's been available since 1999.. lol never heard of it before

KTX first class>Asiana Economy Class.
KTX Main cabin<Asiana Economy Class.

I probably wouldn't take KTX main cabin if I were you. It seems to be extremely cramped. Plus the KTX business (first, whatever) class fare is a bit less than flying.

Already I figured that out and plan to take first class, which I can still use the KR Pass and pay the difference in cost between the two classes. Perfect I'd say based on what I've read.