When I was originally pricing out transportation for our June itinerary, the savings fare for Cochem to Munich was either 29E or 39E. I looked today at prices for 90 days out and now they are 50-80E for savings fare? Has anyone else noticed this?
Thanks for any guidance!
Jesse
Savings Fare tickets start at 29€ and there are only so many tickets at that price. When all the tickets at 29€ have been sold, the price goes up. I think the starting price for Cochem to Munich is still 29€; I see Saving Fare tickets at 35€ still available for one train.
However, it does look like all the Savings Fare tickets from Cochem to Munich are rather high. It's possible that they are now offering fewer tickets at each price level than before, and more have sold out, or that you're looking now at a more popular time of year and lower priced tickets have already sold out.
Try selecting less popular options, like early morning departure or late evening arrival, or go to "Means or Transport" and selct without ICE. I found tickets 92 days out for travel on an IC arriving after midnight for 29€ (that's an extreme case, but shows that some lower fares still exist).
I found another connection, for Fri, Apr 24, that uses the RE from Frankfurt Hbf to Würzburg Hbf for only 29€, but it takes 8 hours. (I had uncheck "prefer fast connections".)
Another trick, which probably won't hfelp much here, is to manipulate "stopover" to change the route. Sometimes you can find a less used route that still has the lower fares.
I don´t know how up to date this is!
But a few years ago it was so:
The Prices would go up the nearer the day of using the Train was, maybe it ´d also something to do with how much it was booked.
Thanks for you insight Lee. I know there are only so many savings fare available, so I have been trying to see how quickly they go away. Previously, it seemed it wasn't too difficult to grab that route for 29E but even when I search as far out as possible this whole week, I cannot seem to find any at that price range (at least not in the morning - which is really my preference). I tried clicking No ICE and had a little more success finding prices in the 30E range - thanks for that tip!
I used the link from here: http://www.bahn.de/p_en/view/booking/tickets-and-seats/sparpreisfinder.shtml and was able to more easily find what savings fares were available. Just thought I'd share.
Jesse, thanks for that link. I had seen the Sparpreis Finder before but never gone to it. (Darn: takes all the art out of finding one.) I did find that you get a little lower fares if you unclick "prefer fast connections", although the least expensive connections probably take more time.
The GDL union recently won a 5% wage increase and a decrease in weekly work hours. Normal fares have risen, and it's no surprise if indeed saver fares are becoming scarcer or more expensive.
Looks like you're checking fares for a single traveler. If the traveling "we" is a couple, checking fares for one person does not mean a €29 fare will cost €58 for two. Two would get a discount and pay €49 - so enter the # of travelers to get an accurate price estimate.
Russ - thanks for that tip! It significantly lowers the price per person.
Deutsche Bahn charge more for their services if booked on bahn.com or bahn.de than if booked on https://www.busliniensuche.de/bahn-spezial/ where they have to compete with long-distance busses...
Lee - you might find this interesting. As of today (well... 90 days from today), the 29E fare is back (for Sunday April 25, 2015, which is what I was searching over the weekend) ... but now Monday and Tuesday (April 27-28) are 85E. I wonder if a few days from now, I'll look back and the 29E price will be available. Maybe some strange glitch? Luckily - when I search using the saver deal finder, it shows be great prices.
I hope that made sense. At this point it doesn't really matter, but I do find it strange.
