You could be paying 60 percent more for your rail tickets if you use KTX’s English language website, but administrators say they have no intention of letting users know this.
The site allows foreign users to buy tickets, but the discounts available on the Korean language site vanish when the English language option is selected. The site gives no notice that discounts are available for certain tickets, people and groups.
. . .
KTX representative Dan Nam-su said foreign customers could get discounts on the Korean site or at train stations, but confirmed there was no such option on the English language site.
“When we developed the homepage in the English version, there were some problems in data processing so we could not make the English version in detail,” he said, explaining that issues with foreign credit cards also made service provision difficult.
“We assumed that most rail customers are domestic travelers. We admit that we’ve lacked the promotion for foreigners who might use Korail on the website or at the station,” said Dan.
Read more in the article, in the accompanying Dave's ESL Cafe thread, and the thread that started it all on March 31st. That foreigners can make reservations online in English at all is an accomplishment: just a couple years ago the options ranged from doable with a Korail pass acquired via a Korean-language form, to impossible because the English-language option was removed.
Paying the full fare is I guess a, um, price of living overseas. I'm happy that it's not nearly as bad in Korea as it is in, say, Taiwan, where hotels often charge foreigners significantly more. Discounts are of course available to foreigners in South Korea, provided they can navigate Korean-language sites. If you're interested in getting the best available rates for hotels and airline tickets online---other industries that offer promotions not announced in English---as well as for restaurants or KTX tickets, it behooves you to check the Korean-language sites as well.
14 comments:
In all seriousness, I want to salute Mr. Dan for his comment, "We admit that we’ve lacked the promotion for foreigners who might use Korail on the website or at the station."
Admitting a mistake is, unfortunately, not common among Koreans. I like his straightforward answer.
Indeed.
I prepared this post about a day in advance and was looking at an older version of the article. If you click the Herald story now you'll see his name has been removed.
Hold on--it's not really a "discount" that we're talking about, right? It's a cheaper "class" of seats. Those "facing" seats are designed for groups/families, so they are cheaper. As far as KORAIL goes, it's sort of a minor loophole that really doesn't apply to a lot of situations. They SHOULD let foreigners know about the cheaper "facing" seats. But on the whole, I think they have done pretty well with getting their English-language site up and running. Lord knows I have some complaints about this country, but the train system is pretty damn good. Especially compared to the USA.
No doubt the train system is a lot better in Korea than it is in America. I've taken Amtrack twice in the past 5 years, and one of those times my train was delayed for two hours.
Amtrack is also super expensive. I bought two tickets for a two hour ride to Chicago one time and the cost per round trip ticket was $80. If I were to go from Jinju to Busan, one round trip ticket would probably be at most 15,000 won (There is no direct route between Jinju and Busan though, so the trip would probably take about 7 hours.)
That said, Amtrak's customer service can be pretty good. I made reservations one time on the Amtrack website, realized I made a mistake, and was able to call their hot line at 3 in the morning and get the problem taken care of.
Now with this Korean situation with Korail, I wonder how effectively a non-Korean could make a reservation on their website anyway. The Non-Korean person would need to have a credit card, and the website would also have to be able to accommodate non-Korean people, which is something that I'm skeptical that a Korean website would be able to do.
Brian, I want to post this to my FB, but I want to confirm that the story is accurate. The reason I ask is that I have NEVER been able to book online KTX tix as I am either running of my Mac or Firefox (a whole different story) and I have had the advantage of a Korean speaking helper who always handles it.
The only time I tried, which was a few years ago, I gave up on the Internet option and tried to use the phone system, but of course that failed as well (although I don't clearly remember why...I think there was a credit card issue??)
I'm not sure if the wording 'way more expensive' sounds correct when all we're talking about is a discount given to groups. I suspect the vast majority of people pay the standard price, minus the discounts given without needing a special code or URL (1% for buying from a machine, along with a discount for purchasing in advance). The number of foreigners that would want to take advantage of that discount is probably miniscule, and probably not worth the time to spend on the website development.
@Riann: try it for yourself, then post about your own experience :)
Yeah, Riann, go ahead and try it yourself. Mac and FireFox would be a different story, you're right, but you could try it at school or in a PC room.
From what I've read on Dave's, booking online in English used to be difficult if not impossible, so if their online system works now that's a big plus. The KTX people are right that most customers will be Korean, though offering it in English and other languages is a nice touch.
Maybe you're right, Chris, but people who read the article will see what we're talking about.
From what I've read on Dave's, booking online in English used to be difficult if not impossible, so if their online system works now that's a big plus.
Agreed. I remember when it first went live, there was no English service at all, and no way our foreign ARC numbers would work on the Korean side. When I asked an official why not, I actually got yelled at and told that the KTX was "for Korean people only".
I usually book my train tickets online in english using a Mac
Yes, Terry, but the point is, because you are using the English page, you are paying too much for those tickets.
Usually I see seasonal special discounts on the Korean web-page that aren't on the English version. That doesn't bother me much because I figure they don't have an English staffer to always update their web-page.
But this Korail/KTX issue is not a special discount, or event. This is an ongoing service, and it is provided by a large Korean (public?) company. I don't see that as much as a mistake or oversight.
A similar troubling one is SkyLife which has many subscription packages that disappear on their English page.
Thanks for researching and reporting this practice.
The issue is less one of paying a few won more for a ticket then the principle that foreigners shouldn't be subjected to de facto discrimination in the cost of basic public accommodations and services.
Another example, I believe, is Asiana's web pages, which ought to be investigated as well. It appears as if frequent-flyer miles may be exchanged for all kinds of attractive things on the Korean-language site (such as Kumho owned resort stays around Korea), but that these options are not available on the English language sites.
I would suggest the following standard: If a company offers its services on a non-Korean language page, it ought to offer the same services and prices as on the Korean language site. Period. No excuses. No one likes to be the victim of discrimination. A national commercial commitment to non-discrimination makes Korea a more welcoming and attractive destination for visitors.
Does anyone disagree?
The 'facing' seats are definitely only for groups of friends or family. Even other Koreans don't sit that way with strangers. If 3 passengers turned a seat around to face the other, and the 4th passenger comes along who doesn't belong to the group, that passenger will wait until they have turned the seat back again, or remain standing.
My personal opinion is that the Koreans don't really have the interests of Caucasian foreigners at heart. They are not a factor here- except for teaching English. And as I have gathered they are doing everything they can to get rid of the need for English teachers.
So, to me it is fantastic just to be able to do some degree of online shopping here, even if the English websites are way below the standard of the Korean side of the websites.
The only irritation is when a credit card is necessary for online bookings, etc. It's virtually impossible for a foreigner to obtain a credit card here, unless you're lucky enough to earn about 40 million won per year. If you earn that amount per year then it means you're not a teacher here. But even so, if you get a trustworthy Korean agent, traveling bookings can be done at a very cheap rate. I'm very pleased with my latest booking.
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