Purchasing OBB Train Tix from the US

I ran into this same issue at the end of April . After trying four different Visa and Mastercards , I gave up and used PayPal . I had also had travel notifications on the Banks that carried the credit card accounts and they all assured me that they were accepting the cards .PayPal worked perfectly with no problems ., I also had the same problem buying tickets on DB , again PayPal was the answer . Two bookings - DB Paris to Munich and OBB Munich to Vienna

I wanted to book direct from OBB for best prices and to be able to
change reservations in country using the OBB app.

For any trip to or from Hungary MAV is generally cheaper than OBB. Sometimes a lot cheaper. The MAV website should work for you, the MAV App probably not, until you reach the EU. Then it will.

If you want to book on OBB, I bet your Debit card will work. Just a guess.

As for changing reservations ... tickets that you can change are substantially more expensive. So much so that I've never bought one.

I've used US cards multiple times with no problems with cards themselves. I have had problems with browsers.

As an example of ticket costs

OBB/MAV/Trainline/Rail Europe: Vienna to Budapest 09:40 train
RegioJet: Vienna to Budapest 10:27 train. (The only issue with the RegioJet is that it doesn’t go to one of the main stations in Budapest. The station it goes to is perfectly acceptable though. Just not one of the historic old stations. More like a cold war bus stop.)

Leaving tomorrow (buying the day prior to your trip)
MAV 25€ + 2€ seat assignment (second class, use it or lose it ticket). There are currenlty 120+ seats available. 23 hours prior to departure time.
OBB 53.30€ + 3€ seat assignment (second class but you can cancel it today)
Trainline 53.30€ + 3.50€ seat assignment (second class but you can cancel it today)
RegioJet 15.90€ including seat. (second class, cancel 15 minutes prior to departure)

AND THE WINNER IS! /s

RailEurope $77.95 + 4.50 seat assignment, which they choose for you. (second class, I never did figure out if you could cancel it)

Leaving 4 August (buying a few months is advance)
MAV 17€ + 2€ seat assignment (second class, use it or lose it ticket)
OBB 38€ + 3€ seat assignment (second class, use it or lose it ticket)
OBB 52.70€ + 3€ seat assignment (second class, cancellation up till the day prior)
RegioJet 15.90€ including seat. (second class, cancel 15 minutes prior to departure)

Do they sell out? The minute I say no, one will. Before the purest attack, my defiinition of selling out is no seat reservation available. But I would wait before I pay OBB 56€ for 27€ train ride.

And, while we are on the subject; once you pick a train, look at it today and tomorrow and go through the booking process until you reach the graphic seat selection page. If the the train only has about 15% of its seats available the night before or the day of departure and you see this as a fairly common occurance (by watching for a few days), then if it were me I would start considering 1st class for that route. The MAV first class is still cheaper than the OBB 2nd class for the trains above.

MY wife and I just returned from a multi-country European trip. This trip included two weeks traveling around Austria. We traveled via OBB trains and we had no trouble whatsoever booking and paying for our tickets through the OBB online app. To be honest, I can't remember if we used a credit card number directly through the app or whether it processed via our Google Pay account, but we definitely used credit cards for the payments with no issues.

I will share one bit of warning to you about a really bad experiecne we had on one leg of our OBB train trip. On our travels, one stop was in Melk along the Danube. After visting Melk, we were scheduled to take a short train ride early one morning from Melk to St Polten where we would then catch the train from St Polten to Salzburg. The St Polten to Salzburg leg (2 hour ride) was booked as 1st class. The train from Melk to St Polten was late, which caused us to miss the train from St Polten to Salzburg. While we were waiting on the late train to arrive in Melk to take us to St Polten, we called an OBB customer service agent. This was all on the phone. He booked us on a later train from St Polten to Sazburg, but he told us there weren't any seats available in 1st class and that he had to book us 2nd class seats. He sent us the new 2nd class seat assignments via email.

After we arrived in Salzburg and chcked into our hotel, we called OBB customer service about getting a refund for the cost between 1st and 2nd class seats given we were not able to get in 1st class. Austria is just like the USA, it's beauracratic and requires filling out a form (smiles). We submitted the required form on line while in Salzburg and now we've gone back and forth with them for several weeks. They've finally rejected our request for that refund (this just happened). They said their records show there were 1st class seats available and that we were supposed to get a "non-use form" from the OBB ticket person on the train to prove we did not use the 1st class tickets. So what we learned is don't trust what you are told on the phone. Double check when you get on the train. And most importantly if you are bumped out of 1st class because of a rescheduled train, make sure you get a "non-use" document. The OBB ticket inspector on the train went through the 2nd class cars and actually checked out ticket. He even mentioned we were originally booked in 1st class. We explained the late train leg and how the phone agent said there were not any 1st class seats available and that he had to place us in 2nd class seats. The ticket inspector just nodded and moved on to the next person. He didnt mention or offer us what is called a "non-use" document and we had no clue it existed or was needed or we would have asked for it. It's left a bad taste in our mouths to the point we aren't sure is next time we would likely just rent a car. Still, our overall trip to Austria was fantastic. The vast majority of our trains were on time, and easy to manage. Just be cautious if you get bumped out of 1st class.

I ran into this same problem yesterday, which surprised me because I had purchased train tickets from ÖBB as recently as last year without any issues. This time, however, none of my cards would work.

I tried on my computer, iPad, and iPhone, entering the card number manually as well as using Apple Pay. Nothing worked.

I called my bank, Chase, and they told me that ÖBB was rejecting the transaction before it ever reached them or Visa, so there was nothing Chase could do.

I also tried purchasing through Trainline, but it would not let me select a seat.

This morning, I created a PayPal account and was able to purchase my ticket successfully that way. So, if you want to buy tickets in advance, PayPal may be your best option.

Fortunately, I had read this thread a few days ago and saw Steven’s suggestion to use PayPal. Thank you, Steven!

Since EU consumer credit card transaction fees are capped at 0.3%, OEBB may have decided to no longer accept the US credit card fees of 3.0% or more.

Carrie , for the past 16 years , I had never had issues buying tickets on any European Rail agency , so this was a surprise for me . I think Sam's comments may be well founded , it will be interesting to see how this evolves .

Non-EEA Cards (Used in the EEA)If you are using a credit card issued outside the European Economic Area, the standard EU Interchange Fee Regulation does not apply. However, Visa and Mastercard agreed to voluntary caps on these inter-regional transactions to protect EEA merchants:In-Store Purchases: Capped at 0.2% for debit and 0.3% for credit cards.Online Purchases: Capped at 1.15% for debit and 1.5% for credit cards.

Almost forgot , pay attention to Mr. E's posts on this subject , also very useful !!

I don't know if this adds or detracts from this discourse, but...

In December 2024 I was able to purchase tickets and then separately seats on OBB for Vienna-Prague, and on MAV for Budapest-Vienna, using my standard Mastercard on my desktop iMAC in Safari, no issues. I would suspect I may have been requested to get a verification code texted to me by my bank for one of them.

I have no problrm with paying on the MAV website on a computer. The app generally doesn't work out of the EU. On ocassion when my credit cards dont work on something in europe i have a checking account with almost no money in it. I move enough cash to it for the expense then use my debit card. So far always works.