Hello-
I just bought train tickets from Bahn.com and was getting ready to print them out. Bahn is saying that I need to print them in A4 format. I live in CA, USA. As far as I know, we do not use A4 paper. Is this A4 format mandatory? Will they still honor my tickets if I use the standard USA paper? Thanks.
If you need A4 (most people say you don't, that they printed on 8.5 x 11 with no problem), you can get some from Staples (from the in store kiosk or online). More important is that you have the credit card you paid for the tickets with.
In 2008, I went to great pains to print tickets on A4 paper, using both my home printer and the printer at my 1st host that trip in Germany (which were not exactly the same). I also brought along a printing from home on 8½x11. I gave the conductor in Germany the 8½x11 one and it worked. Last fall I just printed my ticket on 8½x11 and it worked.
Why do we assume that "Use A4" is meant for US customers. There are people in Europe printing these tickets, and there are a multitude of paper sizes in Europe. A4 is the standard letter size in Europe - a little narrower and longer than US letter size.
We have also had no problem printing tickets e-tickets form Germany, France, Italy, etc. on 8.5 11" paper. No key info is cut off at all.
This may have been a problem in the past, but not anymore. I printed on 8.5x11 paper last summer at 100 percent and there was plenty of white space around the bar code, so the conductor was able to scan it without a problem or even a second glance. I would not reduce the printing size unless that were the only way to get the bar code fully on the page.
Okay. Got it! Will print using our regular paper. Thanks for the advice.
The A4 instruction is not mean as in opposition to 8 1/2" x 11" paper, but to indicate you can't print on A5 (half size of A4) or other small formats that compress too much the bar code.
