Idul Fitri, or Eid,holiday always come with 'mudik' season wheremillions of Indonesians from big cities return to their hometowns. The big day is still about three months away but economy-class train tickets to Central Java and East Java were already sold out within 15 minutes since the sales opened.
State-owned railway operator PT KAI Commercial's director, Kuncoro Wibowo, said the ticket sales for June 22, 2017 was on peak this Friday morning.
"Today is the peak for online ticket purchasing activity. It's because people will start taking their leave on June 22," said Kuncoro in Bandung today.
PT KAI sells tickets up to 90 days before at midnight.
Tahun ini, #SahabatKAI akan #MudikNaikKereta? Ketahui informasi jadwal pemesanan tiket KA Lebaran (semua kelas, mulai H-90) #AyoNaikKereta pic.twitter.com/VMUbKnNVxD
Kereta Api Indonesia (@KAI121) March 16, 2017
According to him, the economy-class to Yogyakarta and Solo werethe fastest sellout and Jakarta remains as a major point of departure.
"In less than 15 minutes, all seats for train departing from Pasar Senen were reserved. [All tickets] from Pasar Senen to Blitar were sold out in less than 2 minutes. If [departing] from Jakarta is impossible, just try [to depart] from Bandung," he said.
Kuncoro also has other advice for buyers. First, buyers should pay their booked tickets rightaway so they wouldn't lose their spots.
"Most buyershold their bookings without making any payment. The payment deadline is three hours and most of them justhold the payment. It will only reopen the spot and they'll lose their booking," he said.
Buyers can also check external channels to book train tickets, such as through tokopedia, blibli.com, padiciti, tiket.com and traveloka.
Kuncoro also advised buyers to re-check the timetable as PT KAI will apply new schedule starting April 1.
"We suggest you to check again. The schedule has been changed. We also have put some information banners," he said.
(brl/red)
