Tix for Railjet Vienna airport to Salzburg

I just looked at the train you want , and the demand for that trip ( RJX 168 , 15:03 ) is noted as being very high , even now . You can buy the tickets and indicate additional charge for reservations when you make the order . Worst comes to worst , you can take the S7 into town and take a train to Salzburg from Hauptbahnhof or Westbahnhof , depending on which service ( OBB or Westbahn ) you choose . Not the end of the world . EDIT I did a dummy run on the train with the reservation and it went as far as I could without actually making a purchase . So it seems you could still bring this off

I just tried it: There is no problem to book the seat reservations and the tickets from OeBB for the RailJet train you intend to go with.

It is for sure the most comfortable way to go directly Salzburg from Vienna International Airport.
The price for a ticket (2nd class) is about €58 for that particular train at 3:03pm (as of now),

If you want to save money, the you can go by Westbahn for a price down to €19 (WESTsuperpreis, only by online booking). But the Westbahn trains depart from Wien Westbahnhof (western train station), that is the downside.

To get from the Airport to Westbahnhof there are three choices having similar travel times of about 45 minutes:
1. Vienna Airport Lines bus #1, once an hour, departing 15 minutes past the full hour, direct, €8
Cheaper by train (€4.30, good for the whole ride), but with an extra change. You take next train (not the CAT) at the airport which departs, there is one every 15 minutes:
2. If it is RailJet (RJ or RJX) you go to Hauptbahnhof (only one stop, no seat reservation necessary) and from there with tram line 18 (departing from underground platform H) directly to Westbahnhof.
3. If it is a S7, R7 or REX7 you got to Wien Mitte (center train station) and from there with subway U3 (orange line) directly to Westbahnhof.

Thanks Steven and wmt1. I’m afraid I didn’t state my issue clear enough. I’m not going to know ahead of time which train I will need/want. My flight is scheduled to arrive at 8:20 am. The flight could be delayed or there could be a delay with passport control or collecting our bags.

So, my concern is this. If I do not purchase tickets ahead of time, it looks like there’s a very good possibility that the particular train we want (one 3 past the hour with no changes) will be sold out. Or at least all the seats will be reserved. We don’t want to stand for 3 hours.

But if I book the ticket and seat reservation ahead of time, I’d be guessing as to which train and it’s possible we would miss that train and be out the money for the tickets.

I didn’t realize so many people book the train from the airport ahead of time. But that is what it looked like when I was looking at upcoming trains.

So, I guess my options are 1) buy the tickets now and we’re out the money if we miss that train. OR 2) don’t purchase ahead of time and we’d risk having to take a longer train with connections. I really want to keep things as easy as possible after a long flight. So, I’m leaning towards buying tickets for the 11:03 train.

I like Switzerland better—no train reservations needed!! 😊

@Carrie

Thanks for clarifying. Now I understand on what you are ruminating. There is no need to worry. I would not buy any ticket in advance given your circumstances. All depends on what time you will be able to board a train after having passed border control, collected your luggage, and cleared customs.

I guess you are arriving by an Austrian Airlines direct flight from Chikago. Given that there is no big departure delay this flight tends to arrive on time or even earlier due to the tailwind across the Atlantic. (I did a short check on flightaware.com.)

Just keep in mind the different options you have. I assume that you will have a device (smart phone, tablet, laptop) to book train tickets (and seat reservations) on the spot.

Direct trains from the airport to Salzburg leave at 8:33am, 9:03am, 10:33am, 11:03am, 12:03pm. It is not likely, although possible, that you can catch the 8:33am train if your flight is early, e.g. arriving at 7:45am. More likely is catching the 9:03am train. If there is time enough prior to departure of the train you could try to book a seat reservation first, and if that is successful buy the train tickets afterwards. If you can't get this done just buy a ticket to Vienna city (€4.30), so you can board the train and decide later.

But you should be able to find seats without a seat reservation as those trains start at Vienna International Airport, i.e. they are empty when they arrive at the platform. The vast majority of passengers boarding the train at the airport will alight at the next stop, i.e. Hauptbahnhof, and vacate a lot of seats. The ride is between 16 and 18 minutes; during that time you should be able to walk through the cars and look for free seats. There is a small display ahead of the windows for every seat, showing its reservation status. That can be blank - good for you -, showing a track section, or showing "last minute reservation". The latter are seats which would be assigned to you if you buy a seat reservation less than several hours prior departure of the train.

Should it really happen that you cannot find available seats, which is hard to imagine, then I would suggest that you go using Westbahn instead of waiting for the next RailJet. The best way to do this is by staying in the RailJet until Wien Meidling train station, that is one stop further than Hauptbahnhof, and from there you take the subway U6 (brown line) directly to Westbahnhof. Buying the tickets online for Westbahn is cheaper than using a ticket vending machine or buying them in the train from the conductor. Westbahn claims that nobody has to stand in their trains, although they offer seat reservations, too.

All this is less complicated as it it might seem now. Buying tickets not in advance gives you more flexibility, but likely not the cheapest price.

OeBB trains don’t sell out. That’s just not a thing as there is no one collecting tickets as you board. Just buy a ticket and try to find a seat.

wmt1, thanks for the additional info. I really appreciate it!! It is very helpful. Yes, I will be on the Austrian Air nonstop from Chicago. Good to know it has a good on-time record. I do have the OBB app on my phone and I already purchases a cheap test ticket just to make sure there were no issues with my credit card. I think I just panicked when I saw so many seats reserved ahead of time. My sister has some health issues, so, I’m trying to keep things as easy as I can for her. But, I think you have reassured me that we should be ok. 😊

Emily, thanks for the response. Yes, I know trains do not sell out. My concern was if all the seats were already reserved, I did not want to stand for 3 hours on the way to Salzburg.