Eurail understanding we leave this week!

You need to be more specific about the exact type of pass you have, about what the rest of the trip is, what website you are using, what day/time this problematic trip is supposed to take placee, etc. Without these details, I am certain you will not get the help you need.

We have a four day global pass. Looking at schedules on eurail site. Its the freiberg to wengen that says pass not vaild.

Could it be because you need to change railways in Lauterbrunnen to get to Wengen and perhaps the pass isn't good on the Wengernalp Railway? Try searching for trains from Freiburg Breisgau to Lauterbrunnen and see if the pass is good for that trip.

Leslie thank you! That was it!

You can buy seat reservation for German trains at https://int.bahn.de/en. Cost is 5.50 EUR per person 2nd class, 6.90 EUR 1st class. Basel to Interlaken Ost is by IC train an seat reservations are at www.sbb.ch/en. There is one German ICE train direct to Interlaken Ost from Freiburg(Breisgau) at 11:02 am, so you would only need one seat reservation for that. Trains to Lauterbrunnen and Wengen have no seat reservations available. Until last year, the Eurail pass was not valid on the trains from Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen and Wengen, but you did get a 25% discount on tickets. Then they were valid in 2024. I leave to you to see if this is still the case. Last years info:
https://holidaystoswitzerland.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Eurail-Global-Pass-Switzerland-coverage-2024.pdf

The Eurail Pass is valid till Wengen, but only from Lauterbrunnen till Wengen, not eg. from Wengen onwards to Kleine Scheidegg. (This is announced constantly on the train nowadays, as many are unaware of this). And you only need to activate a travel day, that is all. My guess is that the Eurail Planner is unable to deal with the scenario where the pass only covers part of the network of a company.

You can see what is covered in Switzerland here:
https://www.interrail.eu/content/dam/_new-structure/doc/res/Switzerland_railway_network_Eurail_Interrail_2025.pdf

Reservations are not compulsory on that route. In my experience the trains are not that heavily loaded south of Freiburg. However if you want reservations you can reserve Freiburg till Interlaken on www.bahn.de, even in the case where you change trains in Basel. I would not split the transactions as that will only increase the price.

Also better use SBB or DB for schedules, not Eurail.

It is too bad that Eurail/RailEurope has such poor customer service that someone has to come here for advice. Isn't that why you pay the big $$$ for the pass in the first place, for customer service and convenience (as opposed to just buying the cheaper point to point tickets)?

Yes there is no customer service and frustrating when you have not been to those parts and dont normally travel by train

Maybe next time then just forget the expensive pass and just buy point to point tickets like a everyone else.

I agree that the Eurail app, RailPlanner, can be obtuse and inaccurate. It will sometimes tell you your pass isn't valid for a particular route when, in fact, it is. And it's also true that Eurail has absolutely no customer service. However, the online Eurail community is active and helpful.

I continue to regard the widespread disdain on this forum toward the Eurail pass to be ill-considered and, frankly, snobbish. Sure, they're not the best solution for everyone, but advising someone who has one to "buy individual tickets next time like everyone else" is spectacularly unhelpful.

Yes the eurtostar tickets for 6 kind of last kin was over half the price of a pass. Thats why didint get separate tickets

It’s funny. No European would buy a rail pass. I wonder why.

Many European people do buy the passes if they want to have the experience of travelling by train across Europe. That’s something that young people still want to do but now all ages fancy giving it a go.

Actually many Europeans would and do buy railpasses - Interrail as opposed to Eurail.
In 2022 some 600,000 were sold. There are still many cases for longer and more complex itineraries where they make perfect financial sense.
In fact the single country Austria interail is a case in point - 371 Euro for 8 days in a month (about 47 Euro a day) 1st class, 292 Euro in 2nd class. Less if over 60.
Even just 8 simple journeys in Austria would pay for that
Vienna to Innsbruck tomorrow is 86.30 Euro turn up and go.

I often get an Interrail Pass as well. Especially for last minute travel. I even get it for business travel.
(And get funny looks from our accountants...)
However I do not use the app for planning. I just add a trip, so a day gets activated, but then I pretty much ignore it, as the only thing the conductor wants to see is the QR code, and all that QR code says is "free travel permitted today".
So which trips you actually add to the plan do not even matter much.

For planning I always use the local app of the railway I am travelling on. And for reservations I now mostly use Rail Europe. I recently did a trip that involved travel first from Wengen to Barcelona, then onwards to Denia and Ibiza, and then back from Cagliari (after sailing a boat across from the Balearics to Sardinia). I reserved all my trains on Rail Europe, and then added the ticket codes I got to the RENFE and Trenitalia Apps, so I could keep track of my trains.

All went pretty much without a hitch.