Current train ticket purchasing situations

[somethingfunny]

Hello,

 

Because I hate myself, I'm planning to do several long-distance train journeys over the Chinese New Year.  It's been a while since I've travelled peak period by train so I'd be grateful if anyone can fill me in on the current situation.  I take long distance trains quite often and generally have no trouble getting tickets but two years ago I had a real nightmare getting tickets during the October holiday.  I went to the ticket office the first day they were on sale (which back then was still only about 20 days in advance I think, not the two months you get now) only to find out that they were entirely sold out.  I seem to remember the ticket person telling me that they put the tickets up for sale by phone a few days early and they all go immediately.  I'm currently checking online for the route I'm planning on taking and the tickets for the latest date available (as in tickets that went on sale today) are already sold out.  My fear is that the tickets I want will go on sale in a few days and will all vanish immediately.  What can I do to get my hands on tickets?

 

I remember actually when I was booking those tickets a few years back it was for a journey starting in a different province to the one I was living in and just could not buy them.  Eventually someone at a ticket office told me you had to phone up the ticket hotline with the area code of the province you are starting your journey in, book them over the phone and then they just immediately printed them for me there.  At least it's not that much hassle now.

 

I had a look around for the specific, up-to-date information I'm after but couldn't find it so sorry if this has been posted before - just direct me to the right place.

 

Thanks.

[ChTTay]

My girlfriend uses this browser extension that refreshes the train ticket website constantly until tickets become available. Once they do, a train noise sounds on your laptop. Then the next step is to rush to your laptop and try to buy those tickets before someone else manages it. She has used this method the last couple of Spring Festivals to get tickets.

 

It's an arduous period though.

[889]

You need to buy your tickets online at www.12306.com. Either figure out how to register and do this yourself, or ask a friend for help. (You can also buy tickets online through agents like ctrip, but buying directly at 12306 gives the best access.)

Tickets are normally open for sale online or by phone 60 days in advance, but at ticket windows only 58 days in advance.

Extra train services are added for CNY, and tickets for those services go on sale online 40 days in advance, starting December 16.

https://kyfw.12306.cn/otn/gonggao/t20151126_3917.html

There's no guarantee you can get a train ticket over CNY, even booking far in advance. There are other folks who know the procedures inside-out, including the precise time tickets are released for sale each day, and they pounce, so study this list:

https://kyfw.12306.cn/otn/gonggao/t20141126_2316.html

Online sales are suspended overnight, and the system can become sluggish before closing in the evening; best to hit it when it re-opens in the morning,.

 

In any event, remember that tickets bought online are now easily refundable, so sold-out seats may become available later.

 

(There have been privacy problems with some of those third-party apps that help to buy tickets on 12306; I steer clear of them.)
 

[somethingfunny]

Thanks 889, thats the stuff I was looking for.

 

Whenever I use 12306 I always get a security warning on my browser so have avoided registering up until now.  I'm guessing the only way to pay is by card which I'm a bit reluctant to do if I'm not sure about the security of the website.

 

I remember a friend of mine helped me book a ticket by using some sort of app that bought a ticket for a journey that was sold out as soon as one was returned.  I can't remember what they called it exactly, something like 抢票 or was it 枪票?

[somethingfunny]

What about using the alipay app?  Or does that fall into the 3rd party apps you steer clear of?

[889]

If you're still getting a security warning on your browser, then install the 12306 security certificate, link here:

 

http://www.12306.cn/mormhweb/ggxxfw/wbyyzj/201106/srca12306.zip

 

Those apps that jump-in to buy your ticket have had security leaks. I don't think there's been a problem with alipay, which is a payment app*. In general, when you pay you're switched to your bank's site, which then processes your card and tells 12306 you've paid.

 

In my experience, getting the ticket reservation has not been a problem, but getting the payment to go through has. Bank sites often want you to download more security apps and will often only work on a small number of browsers. You only have 30 minutes to make payment, so it can be a rush if you're not prepared.

 

Don't forget that you need to have opened both online banking and online payment functions at your bank before using your card.

 

I've found the 12306 mobile app a bit more reliable than the desktop site, at least when it comes to making payment.

 

*There may be a rail ticket booking function on Alipay's Android app, but it works through a travel agent and there's a fee involved, at least as I recall.

[Angelina]

I almost managed to buy a ticket using WeChat, maybe I should try again. You should see how that goes.

[Goshujinchama]

Yes, it's impossible, I'd seriously give up.

 

I didn't find any train from Shenzhen to Changsha in the days around Qingmingjie, my company helped me booking a no seat ticket for the next day after I queued for an hour at the train station (ironically my profile picture is me queueing at the station, I could smile because the tickets were already booked online by HR staff).

 

My chinese friend just got himself a plane + train ticket to get back home for spring festival. Because there were no trains tickets to buy. now. for Sping festival. 

[imron]

My girlfriend uses this browser extension that refreshes the train ticket website constantly until tickets become available

The traffic this must generate to that website must be staggering, even if only a small percentage of the population use that extension.

[ChTTay]

To be clear, that extension isn't for "buying" the ticket (as per 889). It simply alerts you when a ticket is available, that's it. Once you've been alerted via the "choo choo" noise you still have to run to your laptop to select and pay for the tickets using the official train website.

[somethingfunny]

I downloaded the 12306 app to see if I could use it and it turned out I already had an account registered - I guess I must have tried this a few years ago when desperately trying to get tickets.  I bought one ticket and managed to pay through the 12306 app using alipay.  I still haven't figured out how I get my ticket exactly, I'm guessing I get it at the train station using one of those machines, although I wonder if I can pick it up ahead of time from a ticket office.  The most difficult part of the process was the captcha.  I needed a good 10 times before I managed to get the right number of bookcases and monkeys shown in the pictures.

[somethingfunny]

Also, I wasn't going to say anything but this:

 

 

 

Yes, it's impossible, I'd seriously give up.

 

 

Is really not very helpful.

[ChTTay]

You can pick up tickets bought online at any of those small ticket offices but need to pay a fee to do so - around 10RMB. Otherwise you can pick up tickets at the train station before your trip for free. As a foreigner, you cannot use the automated machines for ticket collection as they don't accept passports. At least they didn't in the past.

[somethingfunny]

Ah,

 

Thats a shame.  The queue for ticket pick up is usually longer than the queue for buying tickets.

[Angelina]

The first time you buy a ticket online, you have to show up at the train station for some kind of verification. I suggest you to do one test buying to make sure everything goes well.

[imron]

To be clear, that extension isn't for "buying" the ticket (as per 889). It simply alerts you when a ticket is available, that's it

Yep, and to do that, it apparently 'refreshes the train ticket website constantly'.

 

So imagine 1,000,000 people have this extension installed (a tiny fraction of the total people wanting to travel over Chinese New Year), and it refreshes the website once a minute checking for data.  That's 1,000,000 hits a minute, which is significant amounts of traffic.

[somethingfunny]

I think that might be the cause of this:

 

 

 

It's an arduous period though.

[ChTTay]

@Imron, what are you getting at?

[imron]

Nothing really except that if I ran that website I would probably hate that browser extension. Sorry for derailing things.

[Xiao Kui]

Sorry for derailing things.

 

Bahahaha!