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Reserving Seats on Trains

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My husband and I are spending 2 weeks in Europe (specifically in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands) this summer. We are at the point of purchasing our train tickets and would like to reserve seats when possible. My husband has a history of motion sickness so he would prefer to sit forward facing when riding on the train. So....

Question 1: How can we figure out which direction the train will be traveling so that we can choose seats that sit side by side and face forward? We briefly discussed buying seats across from one another so that we would always have the option for him to face forward but we would prefer to sit side by side.

Question 2: we each have a probe Bahn card and are booking through the DB Navigator app on our phones. Should we book separately through each of our phone apps with our own bahn cards or do we book together with one app and one bahn card? One of our longer trips charges a fee since it exceeds a certain price, if we book separate we avoid the fee but then how do we make sure we get seats together? Do the trains fill up so fast that the seats we want may not be available if we don't book 2 seats in the same transaction?

Question 3: do compartments have seats or just beds? Trying to figure out if it is best to book a compartment or open saloon on our longer trips (max trip is 7 hrs via train.)
Thanks!
Tiffany

Posted by
20395 posts
  1. Hard to say, as occasionally the train will switch directions along the way. That happens at "terminal" type stations like Stuttgart or Leipzig, and sometimes even at Berlin Hauptbahnhof. I always go with the "2 across from each other" method as my wife hates riding "backwards".
  2. Not familiar with this as I am a paper ticket dinosaur. I would say that it would be very unusual for you to reserve a seat and have its mate disappear in the 2 or 3 minutes between transactions. Especially if you select a aisle seat in an otherwise empty carriage and someone else chooses the window seat next to it at virtually the same instant.
  3. Compartments have seats facing each other, not beds. Older carriages might be convertible into beds, but not on daytime trains.

If you buy 1st class tickets, they come with seat reservations. If you buy early enough, sometimes 1st is just a little more than 2nd when you factor in the 4.50 EUR seat reservation fee. Not sure if regional trains even have seat reservations. If they do, I don't think they have on-line seat maps like ICE and IC trains.

Edit. Regional trains in some districts do have seat reservations, like Bavaria and Thuringia.

Posted by
2487 posts

The German IC and ICE trains are best travelled with a seat reservation. The website of the Deutsche Bahn allows you to select your seats. If you choose opposite seats (the best are the ones with a table), one of you is guaranteed to travel in the right direction.
Regional trains in Germany and all but the international trains in Belgium and the Netherlands don't have reservation. Outside rush hours they rarely fill up, so you can choose the desired seats.

Posted by
8889 posts

1) You cannot guarantee seat direction as:
a) Sometimes trains change direction en-route (Frankfurt (Main) Hbf and Köln Hbf are two major stations where this happens).
b) The direction is supposed to be fixed, and which coach stops where is listed at the station, but sometimes trains are "back-to-front".

3) The only beds are on overnight trains, and you pay extra for those.The seats are the same in "open" areas and compartments.

They have a rule on DB (German Railways). The seat reservations are shown on an indicator above each seat, e.g. "Köln-Frankfurt" meaning that seat is reserved from Köln to Frankfurt. 15 minutes after leaving Köln the display goes blank. If you have not claimed your set by then, someone else can use it.

Posted by
19159 posts

Sometimes trains change direction en-route (Frankfurt (Main) Hbf and
Köln Hbf are two major stations where this happens).

I guess this could happen in any station, even if the tracks go out both ends (like Köln), but trains going through Frankfurt have to change directions. Same is true of Stuttgart and Munich. Trains don't have to change directions in Köln.

Regional trains in some districts do have seat reservations, like
Bavaria and Thuringia.

I've never seen a regional train in Bavaria with seat reservations. I remember a time when the ALX train from Munich to Prag had reservations possible, but that is no longer true.

Posted by
3 posts

Thank you for the input! That helps a lot. If I book a train ticket tomorrow with a seat reservation, is it likely that someone who is getting on the same train 5 stops down the line can reserve my same seat and then I have to move mid trip?

Posted by
20395 posts

For Lee, looks like a new thing in 2017.
https://www.bahn.de/regional/view/regionen/info/sitzplatzreservierung-in-regionalzuegen.shtml

Edit:

If I book a train ticket tomorrow with a seat reservation, is it likely that someone who is getting on the same train 5 stops down the line can reserve my same seat and then I have to move mid trip?

No, can't happen. The computer remembers you have the seat, even if the light turns off. They won't let anyone reserve that seat until you get off. But if you miss the train, or decide to change seats on your own, someone else can sit there after the light goes out. These lights are only on ICE trains, not on older IC equipment.

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