CheapCheapMY
3 hours ago
The January to March 2027 tickets for ETS and KTM Intercity go on sale from 2 November 2026, with 1.57 million seats in the release and 39% more capacity than the current timetable. That window runs straight through Chinese New Year 2027, which is the stretch where the northern line and the JB line both sell out long before most of us have settled on dates. My own habit is to take the outbound on day one and leave the return for later, on the theory that the extra services get added quietly after the first week. Last year that theory cost me the departure timing I actually wanted, so I am no longer sure it holds. What I cannot work out is whether day one is still necessary on the popular routes now that capacity is up by that much, or whether the smarter play is to wait a fortnight and settle for a worse departure. Anyone who has done the January release before - does the added capacity actually reach the northern line, or does it just make the JB trains less crowded?
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The morning departures are the ones that go first. The 8am and 9am ETS to Penang disappeared within hours on the last release, and by the second week the afternoon slots were still sitting there.
Book the whole family in one transaction. Split it across two accounts and you end up in separate coaches, which with kids is the whole trip ruined.
Most of the added capacity sits on the JB line. If you are heading north for the reunion dinner, nothing has really changed and day one is still the rule.
Have everyone's IC numbers in a note before the sale opens. Typing them one at a time while the seat hold timer runs is how I lost a four-seat table last round.
Do the return leg first. Everyone grabs the outbound on day one and then the return is the one with nothing left by the evening.
For Chinese New Year it is two specific dates that matter, northbound before the reunion dinner and southbound a couple of days after. Book those two and leave the rest alone.