DB ICE train questions

Question 1, yes, at least near term (next 2 weeks) there will be stick figure icons for 1st and 2 class on the website. 1 stick figure, light loading, 2 stick figures, medium loading. 3 stick figures, high demand expected.

Question 1a, Tickets are for specific trains, so even with a flexible ticket, it needs to be changed. If you have the DB app on your phone, relatively easy to do. But regarding seat reservations, if it looks like high demand, spend 5 EUR and buy a seat reservation.

Question 2, Depends, Sparpreis tickets are grouped in tranches (buckets), so many seats in the cheap bucket, so many seats in the next higher price level, etc until all the seats in the buckets are sold and then only full price tickets are available. You can always check to see what the flex price (full undiscounted fare) vs the current Sparpreis ticket price.

Tickets are for specific trains, so even with a flexible ticket, it
needs to be changed

In Germany that is not the case. In the whole DACH area the default is still that tickets are for a route, not a train. Discounted tickets have "train binding", but you will still see the route listed, and the validity shown as one or two days (depending on distance).

There are a lot of cases that can lead the train binding to be lifted, and so discounted tickets often become fully flexibe, good for any train on the route, tickets as well. Note that if you have a ticket with train binding and the binding has not been removed you do need to take that train if possible. So when buying such a ticket I would just reserve a seat.

To see what the flexpreis is, just look at the price details. The flexpreis is always listed.

A lot of the bad experiences come from people having the wrong expectations (but yes, DB to improve as well). Train travel is not like air travel. in the DACH area you should see it as a long distance subway. Mass transit. And you are supposed to take your own initiative when needed. So you are supposed to check the schedule regularly, and just adjust your plans yourself if needed. There is rarely a need to go and exchange tickets for example.

The ICE will save you 30-40 minutes over the regional (RE1) on that route, and looking at the app on my phone it looks like the busiest time is the 0800-0900 slot. Saturdays look to be busier 0900-1100. Even that only shows medium demand mid-week. Comparing ticket prices for OCT now with buying to go tomorrow shows that buying this early costs about half the later pricing. (35.9 Euro vs. 65.9 Euro)

If you have the Deutschland Pass you can travel the RE1 on that for no added cost. (49 Euro)

thank you Sam, WengenK, and KGC!

I always appreciate your posts on the forum. Always something useful from what you share. Thank you

I have a list of times on the date I want to go (but no stick figures yet on DB site).
I got DB's app (re-loaded, I guess I removed it after last year).

I figured out (on my own) what "DACH" meant (Deutschland, Austria, Confederatio Helvetica, but I just associate "CH" with Switzerland. But I do not understand why "A" for Austria when it is Oesterreich (there do not seem to be umlauts on this text editor)).
I have heard Americans call "DACH" "GAS" (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), in the Rick Steves tour community: (I have not been on the tour, but there is a tour that covers those countries). A fellow traveller told me "Oh you would like the GAS tour! the trains are on time, it is clean, and things work." This is now an ironic memory.

I appreciate that Europe has and uses trains, and this infrastructure is there, so I will adjust my expectations accordingly for a mass transit concept. (Then, because the San Francisco Bay Area mass transit has currently a reputation for being dirty, ancient, expensive, slow, dangerous, and illogical... anything anywhere else in the world is pretty good!)

I will book ahead, try to leave for an earlier than normal time, and just expect a delay.
I need to arrive in time for an appointment but I have a "Plan B" if the train really does not arrive and I miss the appointment.

Ok one bonus: the DB train conductor last year on my bad day, was one bright spot on the trip. He was friendly, helpful, patient, and answered questions (about passport control) and made sure my family got off the train safely at the end of our trip. I know not everyone on DB is like that, but I won't forget him.

But I do not understand why "A" for Austria when it is Oesterreich (there do not seem to be umlauts on this text editor)).

"A" if for Autriche, the French word for Austria, French being the international language of diplomacy. Any German language word with an umlaut uses the "add an "e" convention when it get incorporated into the internet. Thus the website for the Austrian National Railway, österreichisch bundesbahn, is www.oebb.at.

DACH letters is coming from times when all cars after 1949 were forced by law to also have a whote round country code placed near their backward national car ID plate.

And you are correct by asking why A and CH came from French language (likely because decision conference were in Geneva) and D is from German language. I never thaught about this.

More about the International vehicle registration code.

why A and CH came from French language

The “A” for Austria is much older than any vehicle registration code; Austria is a Latinized form of ôstar(richi) (”Österreich”; with reconstruction of the ‘vulgar’ ô to its Standard Latin counterpart au), which had been used in Latin documents since the 12th century; hence the name of the Spanish Habsburgs Casa de Austria.
“CH“ is also Latin: Confoederatio Helvetica (”Helevtian Confederation"), introduced in 1803 as a linguistically neutral form for the multilingual Swiss Confederation.

Of course the single letters are older but the combination of these for German language cluster is from these is older.

By the way: also other regions speak partly German language, e. g. Northern Itlanian South Tirol or parts of earlier Bohemia.