Train seat reservations

Do I need to wait until closer to September to purchase the seat reservations?

Exactly.

... regiojet train with automatic seat reservations, however, the reviews are terrible.

RegioJet uses older cars than RailJet trains. RailJets were introduced 2009, before that the cars RegioJet uses were the standard for long-distance trains and are still in use in most countries. RegioJet has an aggressive pricing, consequently trying to cut costs wherever possible. The trip to Budapest is less than three hours, for me not a problem in a RegioJet train.

Where are you trying to buy tickets?

There are two train companies that offer trains from Vienna to Budapest...OBB and MAV. You should buy direct from the train operator and not a third party.

It's also a little early to buy tickets and get seats. They are usually on full sale three months prior to the journey.

The "currently not reservable" is from the OBB website, & it already has two times that are fully booked. The mav website, does not show acceptable times. They are either at around 0400 or late in the day, but that may be user error on my part. I've already booked tickets/seat reservations from Berlin/Prague/Vienna. Thanks for the response, & I'll consider Rejiojet, the bad reviews are for being hours late & receiving last minute cancellations.

I can book on regiojet train with automatic seat reservations, however, the reviews are terrible.

First of all, it's way too early to worry about booking tickets on this route so far in advance.

As for RegioJet - I took them from Budapest Deli to Vienna back in December and it was absolutely fine - comfortable seat, good snacks available, arrived on time. I would take them again in a second. Look at a video or two on YouTube.

it already has two times that are fully booked.

No it doesn't.

Trains selling out months in advance is something that just does not happen. If trains sold out months in advance they would be useless.

So no, there are no trains that are already fully booked. September is ages away. What you are seeing is trains where you cannot yet reserve seats because no rolling stock has been assigned yet.

Thank you for the replies, as I will wait a bit closer to the actual date. Since I was able to book other cities for train travel, I assumed I could for Budapest as well.

You can buy your seat reservation a day before you travel from the OeBB office if needed. There will be seats - I have never heard of all of the seats being reserved on an OeBB train.

One reason that you often cannot reserve trains far in advance in Austria is that ÖBB is going through a bit of a fleet upgrade. They are replacing 1st generation railjets on some routes with 2nd generation ones. And soon there will be the double deck railjets. Some EC and IC services are upgraded as well. So that means that the system has the timetable, and the prices, but not yet the seat inventory...

Since people in Austria generally do not reserve seats (let alone buy tickets) months in advance it is not perceived as a big issue. European railways are not aware of the level of seat anxiety that some overseas tourists appear to suffer from :-)

When people are standing in the aisle it only means that all seats had been taken. It does not mean that all seats had been reserved, as Emily has mentioned. Clever travellers without a seat reservation always try to baord the train as early as possible, rushing the through the cars and taking the first available seat.

I consider a seat reservation at 3 Euro to be about the best travel bargain around. There is no need not to have one.

Nothing clever about not having a seat reservation. Nothing clever about rushing through the cars and grabbing seats you will get thrown out of when the rest of the passengers with seat reservations show up (I must do it on about half the trains I ride).

When I wrote clever I did not mean that it is clever to have no seat reservation, but clever enough to grab an empty, but not reserved, seat. Having no seat reservation and taking a reserved seat is twice as silly, because when you eventually have to resign the seat it is too late then to find another, not reserved seat. There is a display at every seat indicating whether it is reserverd or not, so it should be easy avoiding taking a reserved seat.

I have never these troubles because I always spend the €3 for a seat reservation.

This raises a naive question. If I have a seat reservation and someone is sitting there, just politely ask them to move?

George - yes, even though reservations are clearly marked, some people just don't understand or just are trying their luck. They will get up. In fact, I think Austrians in particular take pleasure from pointing out people's mistakes.

I think Austrians in particular take pleasure from pointing out people's mistakes.

I guess that is more German.

... even though reservations are clearly marked, ...

The possibilty of last-minute reservations has deteriorated the situation, as this information cannot be displayed or shown at the respective seats in real-time. OeBB - at least in RailJets - has a display text now like "open for last-minute reservation" which in fact is a non-information, meaning that this seat is maybe reserved or maybe not. So taking such a seat is kind of gambling.

In former times - the halcyon days - seat reservations were only possible until one day prior to departure, meaning accurate labeling of reserved seats.

Watching people being bumped from seat and watching people reading
seat numbers I think I am safe in saying that the majority of the
Hungarian and Austrians have seat reservations on this route; so I
guess they share in WengenK seat anxiety.

Reserving a seat on that route is smart. I would do so as well. However when I refer to seat anxiety I refer to people, usually non Europeans, getting worried if they cannot reserve a seat months in advance.

People, it's a train, not a Taylor Swift concert.