Please sign in to post.

train ticket purchase in Frankfurt airport

Hello,
On Sunday I am flying to Germany from the US to attend a conference. I need to take the train from Frankfurt to Aachen where the conference will take place. I am arriving into Frankfurt on a Sunday morning, flight arrival time 9am. I am told the best thing to do is to buy, in advance, an ICE flex ticket for the train ride.

1) I am thinking I could also wait and buy (on location) a specific (nonflex) ticket based on my arrival time, and use the difference (flex vs. nonflex) to bump myself up a class. Based on your experience, is that a good idea?

2) I am guessing I'll catch an 11am train after immigration and customs. Do you think it will be any different, if I buy my ticket online from the US or wait and buy the ticket in person there? Could the offices be closed? Limited ticket sale hours? Anything else?

3) When it comes to buying on location vs. internet, is there or is there not a difference in price? Searching the internet, I've seen both mentions of buying ahead to save quite a bit of money, and of the advance online price being the same as the on the spot price.

Many many thanks,

Sonia

Posted by
2512 posts
  1. It's always unsure if there will be saver fare tickets availabe right on the day of travel and if so, the difference to the normal (»flex«) price will be minimal and not cover the difference to first class.

  2. There's no difference. Ticket counters will be open on sunday 6am - 10pm. If you don't want to queue up you can buy from one of the numerous ticket machines (they can be set to English).

  3. No.

My suggestion: 1. Don't buy a saver fare in advance even if the price is tempting: if your plane is late your ticket will be invalid. 2. Check with your airline if they participate in the Deutsche Bahn's Rail&Fly programm. A fully flexible ticket from FRA to any train station in Germany is approx. €30 (varying from airline to airline). The ticket must be booked with the airline.