Tickets to Java all sold out

Tickets to Java all sold out

BALIKPAPAN, East Kalimantan (JP): Thousands of migrants from
Java living here may have to postpone their plans to go home for
the coming holidays as tickets for pre-Christmas departures to
Jakarta and Surabaya through Sepinggan Airport and Semayang Port
here were all sold out, Antara reported on Sunday.

A staffer with travel bureau PT Bumi Sedayu Balikpapan,
Isnaini, said plane and boat tickets from the two major departure
points to Java were already sold out.

"Many people ordered tickets a month in advance," he said.

Separately, Darwin, head of operations at the local office of
PT Pelni, the state-owned shipping line, said that the company
would not allow its ships to be overloaded so as to ensure
safety.

"We can't up the passenger numbers like last year," he said.

But Antara also quoted an unnamed port official who suggested
that tickets were probably sold out because they had been bought
up by scalpers.

One passenger recounted that an economy class ferry ticket to
Surabaya had soared to Rp 230,000 (US$24.2) from the usual Rp
171,000.(hdn)