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KAI denies foul play in ticket reservations
State train operator PT KAI has said that the yawning gap between supply and demand was why tickets for the Idul Fitri holiday season had almost instantaneously sold out
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tate train operator PT KAI has said that the yawning gap between supply and demand was why tickets for the Idul Fitri holiday season had almost instantaneously sold out.
KAI operation region (Daop) 1 spokesman Agus Komarudin said recently that the company recorded 9 million attempts to access reservation channels in the small hours of Friday for the three days prior to Idul Fitri, which falls on July 28 and 29.
The channels are KAI's official website ' kereta-api.co.id, travel agents and thousands of convenience stores.
Agus said that the company only had 26,000 seats on trains from Jakarta to cities in East Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta and West Java.
Many Jakartans vented their disappointment on social media over the speed at which the online train tickets sold out during the first few days of the booking period, 90 days before departure day.
Some allege KAI's infrastructure was inadequate or that major travel agents were given preferential treatment by the firm.
One customer, Risqi Mulyana, 25, told The Jakarta Post that he had tried to access KAI's website at midnight on Friday to buy a ticket for July 26 but 'the website could not be opened'.
Risqi, who bought a ticket in the same way last year, said he then tried to contact KAI's call center but the line was constantly busy.
'I nearly gave up but I tried my luck again at 3 a.m. I could open the website but the tickets were sold out,' he said.
Agus denied that the server went down during the booking process as the tickets sold out.
'I assume it was related to the Internet connection,' he said.
Agus said KAI also did not assign favorable quota to travel agents.
'We cooperate with 325 travel agents and more than 5,000 convenience stores in Jakarta alone,' he said, adding that most of the tickets were booked through travel agents and the convenience stores Indomaret and Alfamart.
Syafira, 21, who works at a convenience store in Palmerah, West Jakarta, said the store was packed with customers on the day that the tickets became live.
Syafira said the tickets sold like hotcakes.
'Those that tried to buy later in the day had no chance,' she said.
