Buying ticket on Trenitalia

search on the forum (top right box). Everyone has this problem!

I was told by Trenitalia (I got so frustrated I called them), DiscoverItaly.net and RailEurope.com that Trenitalia no longer accepts U.S. credit cards.

Very frustrating, since the site doesn't tell you that!

I ended up buying our tickets through RailEurope, and they arrived yesterday. I tried to use DiscoverItaly.net, but they also use Trenitalia's website, and THEY were having problems (not with credit cards, but other issues).

The RailEurope website looks good. How long did it take for your tickets to arrive after ordering them?

RailEurope charges significantly more for the tickets than Trenitalia. Unless you are taking a night train buy your tickets once you are in Italy.

I have my account set up with trenitalia online and have a US credit card... But my friends from the States had difficulty getting an "account" arranged.

Leslie when I called here from Italy they told me that if you're online, you have to buy from within Italy - in computer terms, they said you had to have an Italian ISP (Internet Service Provider)??? But based on the info I've seen on this site, many US ISP's are buying tickets, albeit with some difficulty...

I agree, use the trenitalia site for planning, but buy your tickets once you arrive in Italy at the train station.

My tickets through RailEurope were exactly the same price as through Trenitalia, at least up until the day I purchased them. What I mean is that, the day I purchased them (exactly 90 days in advance), they had made a conversion adjustment (they charge in dollars, but the prices don't constantly fluctuate with the Dollar/Euro conversion rate, so they need to make periodic adjustments). So, they ended up being $50 (for $870 worth of tickets) more than Trenitalia that day (but, with delay and credit card conversion rates, maybe less than that). As for when the tickets arrived, they came via UPS Air (2-day, I think) - it was quick!

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DiscoverItaly charges exactly what Trenitalia does (again, in dollars, though, so they must made periodic adjustments, like RailEurope), but, as I mentioned, they were unable to purchase our tickets, due to their own issues with the Trenitalia website.

As for Trenitalia accepting U.S. cards. Apparently, even though people have had problems forever, and some get through, I was told that, as of a couple of weeks ago, they just don't accept U.S. cards at all. At least, that's what I was told. Maybe, as Ron said, it's really based upon a U.S. ISP, which, in nearly all cases, anyone with a U.S. card would have?

In any event, good luck!

Well, I do know the trenitalia site takes Canadian credit cards. Just last week I bought 3 tickets using my Visa. When I initially tried with my Mastercard it was denied, but Mastercard called and said they had denied the charge until they could verify it with me. Visa put it through, then phoned the next day to confirm it was me making the purchase. Based upon the number of people having problems it seems to be either bank related or very hit and miss.

Leslie, did you get the Amica discount through RailEurope?

Tim - No, we weren't able to get the Amica discount. It only applies to AV, ES, EScity, IC Plus, IC, ICN, Exp, CC, WL, and we're on an EC (Venice to Basel) train.

When my cards (we tried 4) kept getting rejected by Trenitalia's website, I called 2 of my banks. Not only had they not rejected the charges, they saw no evidence of activity on my card. So, it was definitely not an issue with my banks.

Hi Leslie. When I said "banks" what I really meant was the communiaction between the Italian bank that Trentitalia uses and the North American Banks. From this and many other forums your experience is very common. So it would appear that the transaction request is not making it to some(many) US banks. That could be a security or ISP issue. Its really impossible to answer. I asked about Amica because I had been told that brokers such as RailEurope were much more expensive. Enjoy your trip. Cheers

I was pleasantly surprised that RailEurope was not (much) more expensive. The day before I purchased our 5 Cisalpino seats, the Trenitalia price was 515 Euros, and RailEurope's was $822 (~1.60 exchange - pretty close), but the day I purchased, it was $876 (~$1.70 - high, but not prohibitively so). So, RailEurope has to hedge its bets a bit on the exchange, without changing their prices too frequently.

For $54, I was happy to just be done with it and have my tickets in hand.

Hi Dara, I had the "exact" same incident and related problems as you are having. After many calls and many responses from travelers here at this website, I finally realized the way to go is just wait and buy them when you arrive. If you have the trains and times that you want with you when you arrive, just go to one of the machines or a ticket window and purchase them all at that time. Or just buy as you go along, buying in the city you arrive in for the next one you are going to. Don't go nuts trying to purchase from here!

Leslie H....just wondering what fare class and destinations you booked for your Cisalpino tickets? I'm showing fares as low as 44 Euro ($75) for Venice-Basel...RailEurope's cheapest was $148.

First class, Venice S.L. to Basel SBB, 2 Adult, 1 Youth, 2 Child tickets.