Hello, All:
This issue plagues me in every country. When I am just looking at train times or options, the algorithm makes the price go up--literally by the minute. I am looking for fares to and from Amsterdam for Leer, Germany for August 29 and returning Sept 21 or 22. Yesterday the fare was $64 for two seniors, one way, without discount cards. Today, the fare went up from $94 to 114, to 164 literally in minutes! Surely this train is not that popular! I am sure locals have better luck getting reasonable fares. Even the Flix bus is over $100 for two of us from a not-convenient bus depot in Amsterdam. I cannot plan anythng without finding out the details of the places we would be going to. In other words, researching the specifics of the itinerary is costing me a ton of money because of the dishonesty of the algorithms on the websites. Please, does anyone have any magic bullet to kill this vampire?
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6875 posts
What websites are you looking at? Trainline is a 3rd party seller. Bahn.db is the German train company and for Netherlands, https://www.ns.nl/en. To learn about trains and ticket purchases, the best place to look to is, https://www.seat61.com/
Posted by
Citizen of the World
2622 posts
Different trains have different prices. www.Bahn.de shows Amsterdam to Leer train tix for as little as €45.90 on August 29 and a return train at 8am on September 21 for €24. At that price, I would jump on it.
Posted by
Republic of Texas / U.S.A. / Magyarország / Budapest
21976 posts
Maybe 3rd parties like the often recommended trainline do this. I really don't know. I hunt for tickets often on the national train sites DB, OBB, and MAV, and it's never been the case. Stay away from 3rd party sites no matter what recommendations you read and see if that helps.
Posted by
Northwest Arkansas
832 posts
First, agree 100% with using the national rail lines for researching prices and schedules. Second, use incognito mode on your browser when doing researching.
Posted by
West Michigan
282 posts
Second, use incognito mode on your browser when doing researching.
And be sure to clear cookies from your browser. Many browsers, like Firefox, have a setting to clear cookies automatically when exiting the program.
Posted by
Wengen
2897 posts
A common mistake made by non-Europeans is trying to buy tickets far to early. August and September are a long time away. And often schedules and ticket and seat inventories that far in the future are not complete, and you end up seeing all kinds of weird things.
I would suggest when researching trains to start by pretending you are travelling next week. That gives you a chance to find out what the usual schedule is, and you will learn that it is simple: Train to Groningen, and bus from there. And there is a connection every hour.
Then pretend you are travelling in a month. Look up again. If you see the same prices a month away as for tomorrow you know you are looking at a route where there are no advance purchase discounts.
Amsterdam - Leer, is a trivial regional trip. There is no need to book this in advance. Just get your ticket in Amsterdam when you are there.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6875 posts
I would agree with Wengen. When planing my travel, I often will look at train prices and schedules for the next day and then a month out and two months out.
I would be extremely surprised if train ticket prices are affected by customer searches. Some prices are fixed, some go up as the travel date gets closer, some are higher during "rush" hour, and some are affected by the number of tickets sold.