Frankfurt Metro ticket warning

Sorry to hear this. A one-way ticket would be 6.60 EUR per person, but you could have purchased a Gruppentageskarte for 21.40 EUR to cover both of you round trip (all day really for all public transport between central Frankfurt and the airport).

Single tickets are one-way only, no onward or return travel.
https://www.rmv.de/c/en/tickets/your-ticket/tickets-overview/single-tickets/single-ticket

btw: "Passengers can also use WiFi at all RMV machines with a WiFi sign. As on the S-Bahn and X-buses passengers simply have to turn on WiFi on their smartphone, tablet or notebook, select "WLAN@RMV"as network and confirm the terms of use. If you want, you can use the network for up to seven days without having to log in again. No personal data is evaluated by the RMV." (source)

And yes, travelers shall always inform themselves what tickets they bought. In your case asking other people would have avoid the situation.

All ticket options are available in English. I show people how to do this all the time. 2 clicks and you are at the appropriate screen.

As already mentioned, a group day ticket was what you needed. Frankfurt does not offer a round trip ticket or a 24 hour ticket. Only 2 options, single tickets and day tickets, which are valid til close of business.

There are lots of online videos showing you how to use the machines, but frankly they are super easy to use in the English version.
Yes, the ticket controllers do not often wear uniforms. It is how they catch people. Otherwise, those without tickets would jump off the train when they got on.

"push back" How? I wouldn't even think of it. Were any other passengers "caught" by the controllers?

The ticket I got in the past had the words "Ohne Umweg" That was good enough to go from FRA to Frankfurt Hbf. (central station. )

This was a tough lesson for you about the ticketing system. It is very clear that you didn't mean to do anything wrong, but put yourself in the shoes of the fare enforcers. Can you imagine how many "sad stories" they hear a day? Even though you meant well, you still made the mistake and they simply followed procedure in fining you. Picture if they didn't follow their procedures for everyone. There would be a riot of those who felt that others got off, why didn't they? The enforcers would be put in an impossible position of trying to tell who was accidentally making an error and who was scamming the system.

I have not used the Frankfurt syayem. Maybe things have changed but in at least 2 cities I have not seen every option in English in the past. In those cases I,knew that there were other options that I found by using the German option.

Sorry to hear about this. Of all the metro systems I have ridden over about 12 weeks of travel in Germany, the only ticket enforcement officers I have seen are on the Frankfurt Hbf to FRA S-Bahn.

Sorry about your plight. Despite the commonalities of the EU, individual countries have their individual ways, and visiting Americans often assume similarities between countries at their own peril. "Return" tickets on the "Metro"... this wording sounds like it was borrowed from London, Paris or Rome, and not just the wording, but the concepts. In Germany, local transport tickets come in two basic forms...

a) one-way
b) day-tickets (which allow multiple journeys on a specific route or on the entire local network)

...and there's no way the casual visitor can know this without asking. Signage that warns users about having a valid ticket is posted on trains, but it's in German, and it won't sell you the right ticket, and it is useless once you are on the train:

https://www.igp-warenverkauf.de/images/product_images/popup_images/24065.jpg

I see ticket checkers all the time. Twice I've seen North-American couples who thought they had a valid ticket getting rung-up by checkers for riding without a valid ticket - and of course I sympathized, but nothing can be done at that point.

The FRA airport "Regionalbahnhof station", where the DB regional trains and the S-Bahn trains leave from, has a new-ish information counter as well as a ticket counter. Future travelers making short stopover visits to Frankfurt, Mainz, etc. should stop in for ticketing help at one or the other:

https://www.fr.de/assets/images/33/313/33313369-hier-gibt-es-auskunft-2H4ugMhZYz70.jpg

Signage that warns users about having a valid ticket is posted on trains, but it's in German

Wrong information. RMV publishes multi-language information, so OP could have seen it on the first journey.
https://www.rmv.de/c/fileadmin/images/Fahrkarten/Fahren_ohne_Fahrkarte_EBE.jpg

And I do not understand the language issue in this case. Besides apps ( free wifi is available at most stations and at the airport) there are tons of people around travelers can ask.

"Wrong information. RMV publishes multi-language information, so OP could have seen it on the first journey."

Mark: Eagerness to label something "wrong" isn't grounds for doing so. Yes, RMV publishes multi-language information. Please re-read my post, as you seem to have missed my message.

First, I was not addressing the OP. My comments and advice about were not specifically about the RMV or about what the OP in this specific case saw, didn't see, or could have seen. All that is irrelevant now that the OP's trip is over, so there's no point... right?

My comments and advice WERE aimed at that general audience of travelers to Germany who may stumble onto this thread LATER ON, people who may wish to use public transport in Germany without the negative consequences that the OP experienced. My point to those people was this: no matter what town/city/station/airport you are in, do not make assumptions based on transportation practices in other countries. "Return" tickets do not exist. Understand that you are in a country that does transportation differently, and make good use of the resources at the station (DB-Information counter and ticket counter) before buying tickets.

Back to your comment in quotes above... Published RMV materials are of course available in English - I know that and you know that. But does someone stopping over at FRA for a short time on their flight home from Italy know that? How is it that you expect the OP to have known about the RMV (local transport authority for FRA area) and what it does prior to arrival at the station or to search for it online as a source of helpful information for this impromptu side trip? To me, "Let's go see a little bit of Frankfurt" means "let's get a ticket at the station and hop on a train to Frankfurt and back." Understanding all the ticket options and the fines for violations in advance by oneself isn't just time consuming, it's quite a complex task that is easily screwed up.

About my comment that signage on the train is in German - and useless once you've boarded... now, unlike online rules and regulations, that's something that a stranger in Germany might actually see, but only once it's too late. I've seen plenty of those 60-Euro-penalty signs in trains all over the country - in German only, not unlike the one I linked to. I'm pretty sure non-Germans have no clue what they are saying. Now, maybe the RMV signs inside the local trains from FRA are all multilingual now, and maybe they are good if you are staying in the country for longer than a few hours. But if you think I care about this multilingual sign in this circumstance, think again. What exactly is this impromptu traveler to learn from a sign in his own language? Will this sign explain that his/her ticket is one-way only? That he/she is already riding in violation of the rules on his one and only journey? No. He/she has assumed that the ticket is just fine. Will it sell him the right ticket? Of course not. So an RMV warning sign (or other transit-authority warning sign elsewhere in Germany) in any language is a useless sign for a one-trip visitor, no matter where they are in Germany... my point being that to avoid violations, one should consult with the ticket/info agents at the station before purchasing/boarding.

The transit authorities in Germany are many. See map below. Fortunately for those staying longer than a few hours in Germany, The Deutschland-Ticket resolves all ticketing issues and serves as insurance against violations.

https://de-academic.com/pictures/dewiki/75/Karte_der_Verkehrsverb%C3%BCnde_und_Tarifverb%C3%BCnde_in_Deutschland.png

Russ, our world has in many situations a binary logic:

• true or false,
  
• valid ticket or not valid ticket,
  
• English available or not available.

And in your case another time the information was factually false / wrong. Done.

OP just made a wrong decision and seems not to be able to simply reflect that it was his failure. There is simply no need to "be careful of metro ticketing in Frankfurt". The problem here was not the transport or fare system.

There is simply no need to "be careful of metro ticketing in
Frankfurt". The problem here was not the transport or fare system.

Of course there is nothing "wrong" with the system, and it's not the system's fault when a traveler fails to use it successfully. That's my point as well. But there is absolutely a solid need for caution on the part of newcomers who do not understand how the system works, not just in Frankfurt but all across Germany. Visitors to this forum should read and heed this advice. The system is complex and non-transparent to inexperienced outsiders who have not grown up learning the ropes as locals have done, "English available or not available." You might be a native English speaker with an M.A. in English, but visiting a ticket machine with no prior understanding of the system is still unlikely to make clear what your best ticket choices are.

The DB info counters and ticket windows at rail stations exist in part for this very reason. The system itself seems to understand the obvious - that it's complicated, and that Newcomers to German public transport usually need not just online help and translations but personal help to get things right, especially since they will be deprived of 60 Euros each for getting the wrong ticket. A naive customer should, after all, get a fair shot at avoiding the "offense" of misunderstanding. Right?

While the OP may be wrong to feel slighted by the system, it's a good thing that their experience was shared here for the benefit of others.

It’s tricky for people who don’t regularly use public transport, because you don’t know what you don’t know and it’s easy to make a mistake when dealing with something completely unfamiliar.

It’s not usual for local metro systems offer return fares - I can’t think of one that I’ve been on that had that ticket option. Anyone that uses such systems in any city would be more aware of what type of ticket they’d be likely to need, simply because they’ve used similar systems in the past. It’s a usually a choice between single tickets, day passes or multi trip tickets.

By the way, chatGPT is good at giving advice on ticket options. I couldn’t swear it always gives the absolute cheapest fare (I know there are people who pride themselves on this) but it’ll tell you enough in 30 seconds to get a ticket that works for you. I just checked for your journey and it does indeed recommend the group day ticket as the best option.

Just to add more fun stuff to this thread. I have been asked so many times at the station in the airport if the trains are free. Surprising the person who asks, who then runs off to get a ticket. They didn't use to have machines down on the platforms, but now they do. Perhaps this is why?
Obviously, there are lots of people who get on the trains believing they are free, and then get caught.

I think this warning will probably help others, so thank you for posting.

I have to admit that my husband and I are not savvy travelers, at least when it comes to tickets and machines in any language, so in Frankfurt locals often took pity just looking at us and without even asking, they offered help. And I'm glad they did. (BTW, I still go to the ticket windows for transactions in the Paris metro despite fifty years using the system.)

And in your case another time the information was factually false /
wrong. Done.

I appreciate facts too Mark, but about this binary stuff...

True, some things are pretty much binary by nature. And In Germany, there is probably a fairly strong tendency to use binary thinking somewhat reflexively in everyday life. And a tendency toward consensus as well. Walk on green, stop on red, for example. (I can only imagine how Germans might respond to a law that permits pedestrians to jay-walk at their own discretion - which is currently on the books here in California!)

An example of binary-by-nature and of societal consensus on "right vs. wrong" as well:
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61zljHLyVtL._AC_SL1159_.jpg

But binary thinking can be taken too far sometimes - as it has been on this thread. It's not possible to be "wrong" about the RMV signage when RMV signage was not my topic. My comment about signage on trains being in German was preceded by In Germany, local transport..., which provided the context for you. Binary thinking often leads its users to ignore context and fall into logic-traps like this. We can trade signs all day long over this comment of mine. Here's one. And it's actually inside a train (my context.)

But we both agree that factual statements matter, so... I think a wiser move would be to drop the binary labeling (if indeed you feel labeling others' comments is imperative) in favor of some non-binary labeling. A more accurate/truthful comment in this context might be something like... "...your information is not completely accurate (or only partly true, or?) - check out this sign that is used in the RMV trains" (if it truly is used in RMV trains, of course.) Fact-checkers provide a model for labeling statements of others, judging statements on a scale... true > mostly true > partly true > mostly false > false (or similar.) IMO, this sort of approach gets conversations closer to the actual truth, which is usually the goal.