mduell

I'm trying to book Seoul-Busan KTX tickets October 1, the Monday after chuseok (I know, great timing, what I get for misunderstanding the lunar calendar).

On most days korail's site (http://www.korail.com/en/rv/pr21100/w_pr21110.jsp) offers some cabins on some trains, but for 9/28 through 10/2 it says "no train in search result". If I try 10/3 it says tickets can only be booked up to 1 month in advance.

Does this error message mean all the trains are sold out? If they are sold out I was expecting to see them present but greyed out, as some train/cabin combinations are on other days.

If it matters for how I should book tickets, I'm a foreign tourist without a korail membership.

nme7

Very odd. That is the same site I use if I need to book tickets. Maybe try checking again the next few days.

Are you set on taking the KTX to Busan? Perhaps you might consider flying to Busan instead? Only downside is that most Seoul-Busan flights originate from Gimpo airport. There are a few that start from Incheon but KE has a serious monopoly on these flights and if you didn't just come off an International KE flight, expect to pay double the price for ICN-PUS.

Otherwise, GMP-PUS flights are plentiful. Usually (outside of holidays) you can just go to the counter and purchase a ticket same day and get on the next flight.

SOLTATIO

The reason for the blackout on those dates is that the weekend of the 28th of September to the 3rd of October is Korean thanksgiving or Chuseok and is the busiest travel season of the year. Korail regulates sale of these tickets in batches (some going on sale 2pm Korean time tomorrow 5 September Wednesday) but it is generally almost impossible to get tickets for the weekend. You will have to be very flexible on times and days you want to travel and even then it will be a push. As for flying, most people have booked flights months ago (I booked in April) because flights are ridiculously expensive and full during this weekend too. Try tomorrow, otherwise I would suggest trying to change your plans or consider taking the bus. (Although if you take the bus, note the change of travel time from the normal 2 hours up to about 6 hours given the unbelievable amount of traffic on the roads.) The bus websites are generally in Korean unfortunately. Here is the website if you want: https://www.hticket.co.kr/main.action Hope this helps...

mduell

Thanks for the help. I'll try for the tickets at 2p KST on the 5th (if I can get them online), otherwise if we're going to fly anyway I think we'll head down to jeju.

mduell

Thanks so much for the 2pm KST heads up! I managed to book the outbound 10/1 ticket before the website melted down. Site is horked now, I'll have to book the return tomorrow.

mduell

Checking the korail site today, tickets are still available for the monday after chuseok for all trains in both cabins. Surprising.

SOLTATIO

It's mainly because most schools and businesses are closing the Tuesday too because the Wednesday is a public Holiday so they are making it an extra long weekend. most people will travel the Fri night/Sat morning, coming back the Wednesday.