On June 20 our family of 5 are traveling from Berlin to Oberwesel. Super sparpreis tickets are 73 euros, and flexpreis is 342 euros! Should I assume that the flexpreis is what the cost will be if purchased on the day of travel? Is that super high price telling me that it will be a high demand trip? Would you buy now? We aren't flying in that day, so we don't have that to worry about.
Posted by
Greeley, co, usa
2779 posts
If you will be in Berlin, then get the cheaper ticket since you will be able to get the specific train that the ticket is good for. No need to be flexible
Posted by
Schwerin
3965 posts
If you are very sure that you will travel on this day with exactly this train connection then it makes sense to book asap.
Check connections for tomorrow to see the high prices for short-term booking.
Posted by
Bavaria
2572 posts
You can also take a middle way and choose the saver fare instead of the super saver fare. This is not much more expensive (and certainly much cheaper than the flex fare) and you could, if necessary, cancel the ticket up to the day before in exchange for a voucher and a €10 fee.
Posted by
W. Washington
52 posts
Just wanted to add, in case you accidentally purchased tickets for the wrong day (cough...) DB is VERY prompt to provide you with the Sparpreis credit voucher-within minutes of cancelling. They're easy to apply to a new ticket as well.
Posted by
Green Bay
22336 posts
Is that super high price telling me that it will be a high demand trip?
No. it is just that that is the standard price. Your super low Super Sparpreis indicates low demand for the particular routing you picked at that price, plus the restrictions, like requirement that you take that particular itinerary and you must buy now to get that price and no refunds.
Posted by
OP
Seattle
60 posts
Thanks for the advice all!
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19444 posts
When Super- and Spar-Preis ticket go on sale there are a few tickets priced at a the lowest price. Then, as those tickets sell out, the next tier are a little more and so on until only full price (flexi) tickets remain. The sooner you purchase these discounted tickets, the less you will pay. But then, there is that pesky specific train detail.
However, what most people are not aware of is that ONLY long distance trains, IC/EC and ICE, are specified with Spar and Super-Spar tickets. For the regional trains, it's an open ticket, useable at any time that day, for any regional train on those routes, until 10am the next morning.
I knew that, and used it to my advantage in 2012, when coming back to Freising to fly out of MUC in the morning. I was stating at the train station in Bad Schandau. The shortest regional route was to Dresden, then Hof, then to Freising. I was planning on being there in May, but purchasing my rail ticket three month early.
The regional connection is by S-Bahn to Dresden (50 min), then regional trains to Hof and on to Freising. That regional fare today is about 95€. With a Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket it's 49€, or combined with other travel you could use a Deutschland, but they didn't have the D-Ticket in 2012. What I did find was that if I specified Dresden as a stopover and changed the Mode of Transport from Bad Schandau to Dresden to long distance trains, it would put me on the 25 min EC (that goes from Prague to Berlin) for Bad Schandau to Dresden, thereby making the ticket a Spar-Preis Ticket (they didn't have Super-Spar-Preis in 2012, but today Super-Spar-Preis is 26,99€).