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Does the BVG app work offline? Use credit card to buy?

I am arriving in Berlin on a Monday and fly out the following Monday.

For my itinerary, I plan to purchase a single trip ticket for my arrival day, and then a 7-day pass to use from Tuesday through the following Monday. I am still deciding on whether to do ABC or AB and just buy the extensions since I am not sure yet on any Zone C trips besides Potsdam (and since Wittenberg would need a different kind of train from what I can tell). I may get the ABC for peace of mind since that is 49 and the AB + round trip for Potsdam and the extension on departure day already takes it to 47.80

Anyway, my questions are:
1. Does the BVG app work offline? ie, if I wanted to pay for my pass ahead of time and have it starting the Tuesday I arrive, will the app work if data is off on my phone? I generally avoid using data when traveling and only do WiFi at the hotel as I plan my day. But if that would create an issue for being scanned and checked by the ticket checkers, I would just buy a physical ticket.

I actually prefer a physical ticket for these kinds of things, since I like souvenirs that don't take up a ton of space. This leads me to my second question.

  1. Is it possible at BER airport to pay with a credit card to buy a single trip ticket for immediate use as well as a 7-day ticket to begin the next day? I understand I'd need to validate the single use ticket before riding into the city and, I think, validate the 7 day one the next day and then just keep it in my wallet. I ask about the credit card because I have seen some older posts on other websites indicating the BVG ticket machines only took certain cards to pay that seemed only for locals. I hope that I can pay with a visa credit card, but figured to ask ahead of time to be sure.

  2. Can you get an area C-extension on a physical 7-day pass, or do those only work on the app? Thanks!

Posted by
3010 posts
  1. you need to be online for purchasing, otherwise mobile payment does not work. No ticket finally.
  2. 1. Normally you can buy a paper ticket and validate later. I never did with 7-day pass but this pass is sold in combi with tourist card, so think it would work.
  3. 2. You can add a single trip extension also to a 7-day pass but only one-way.

Just buy 7-day ticket for ABC and enjoy your time. The price difference is not worth my typing / answering time.

Posted by
2 posts

Thanks, Mark! I will ask about waiting to validate the 7 day paper ticket at the airport. If it does not work for some reason, I will just buy the single trip ticket to get to my hotel and worry about the 7 day pass on day two when immediate validation would work.

Thanks for your help!

Posted by
3010 posts

Welcome.
Normally I would post a link to a contact form here but BVG and S-Bahn are using stupid methods to avoid customer requests. So a contact form is no longer available by a direct link at both companies. If you want to try it, this form comes closest.