"Extra Fees and Premiums Add Up to 160,000 Won for 2 People"… Inflated Train Tickets During Short Seol Holiday

SRT Reservation Rate at 75.6% During Seol Holiday
Reservation Rate Rises Due to Short Holiday
Scalpers Add 40% Premium Over Regular Price

As the Lunar New Year holiday in February approaches, a fierce 'reservation war' is underway with the start of ticket sales for major train lines such as SRT and KTX.

On major secondhand trading sites, scalped tickets are appearing, being sold at about 40% above the face value. Experts have urged consumers to be especially cautious when purchasing, as scalping can be punishable under the Railroad Business Act, and fraudulent acts involving fake tickets to steal property may also occur.

On the 22nd, SRT (Suseo High-Speed Railway) announced that out of a total of 292,000 seats available during the Lunar New Year reservation period from the 15th to the 18th of this month, 221,000 seats were sold, recording a reservation rate of 75.6%. This is 4.6 percentage points higher than during last year's Chuseok holiday period.

Passengers are purchasing tickets on the 8th, when train ticket reservations for the Lunar New Year holiday began.
[Photo by SRT]

By route, the Gyeongjeon Line had the highest reservation rate at 90.6%, followed by the Jeolla Line (87.5%), Donghae Line (78.8%), Gyeongbu Line (75.5%), and Honam Line (72.9%). In particular, the reservation rate for the downbound trains on February 10, the day of the Lunar New Year travel rush, was 80.7%, and the reservation rate for the upbound trains on February 12, the last day of the holiday, was 78.1%.

This year’s Lunar New Year holiday is expected to see an even fiercer reservation battle as the holiday period overlaps with two weekend days. Since the holiday is short, it is anticipated that homebound and return travelers will rush to secure tickets simultaneously. On the same day, checking the SRT official website for train tickets (for 4 people) traveling between Suseo and Dongdaegu showed that all seats for downbound trains from February 8 to 10, the days before the holiday, and for upbound trains from February 11 to 13 were sold out. The same period for the KTX Seoul~Dongdaegu route was also fully booked.

An SRT official said, "This year’s Lunar New Year holiday saw a particularly high reservation rate due to the short holiday period causing homebound and return travelers to rush simultaneously. We expect many passengers to frequently access the official website and app to target seats that were not sold during the reservation period or were canceled."

Photo by Lee Seohee

As more people fail to secure tickets on their desired dates and times, scalpers reselling tickets at prices above face value are thriving. On major secondhand trading sites that day, over 30 posts appeared with titles such as "Selling KTX ticket to Gwangju Songjeong," "Transferring train ticket from Seoul to Dongdaegu on February 8," and "Looking for KTX tickets for Seoul and Busan." When inquiring with one seller, the response was that tickets priced at 58,700 KRW were being sold for 83,000 KRW per person, including a 25,000 KRW service fee. Another post offered KTX tickets departing from Seoul to Busan at 59,000 KRW plus a 30,000 KRW service fee, totaling 90,000 KRW.

Experts point out that reselling admission tickets, train tickets, or boarding passes to others at a price above the original purchase price is punishable under the Railroad Business Act and the Minor Offenses Act. Currently, Article 10-2 of the Railroad Business Act states, "A person who is not a railroad operator or entrusted by a railroad operator to sell tickets may be fined up to 10 million KRW if they sell or broker tickets to others at a price exceeding the purchase price."

Article 3 of the Minor Offenses Act stipulates that persons who resell admission tickets, train tickets, or boarding passes at a premium may be punished with a fine, detention, or penalty not exceeding 200,000 KRW. However, it is pointed out that this penalty regulation applies only to scalped tickets sold offline, and the law does not keep pace with reality.

KORAIL and SRT plan to cooperate with online secondhand trading platforms to conduct intensive monitoring to prevent illegal ticket trading. Tickets found to be scalped during the monitoring period will be reported to investigative agencies and dealt with strictly.

Attorney Kim Ki-yoon said, "Buying a large number of holiday train tickets and reselling them to others clearly constitutes an illegal act that deprives others of a fair purchasing opportunity and disrupts the proper market order." He urged, "Consumers should avoid purchasing tickets through abnormal channels and be especially cautious by reporting suspicious posts."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.