Help! Trenitalia Question

No. This is not an American airline checking you against the no fly list. All they want is a name and three tickets going to the right place. And, I think, you should carry the credit card used to purchase the ticket. Some discussion about whether it is need or not but I think good practice. Nobody checks passports are anything.

It's standard for train tickets printed at a ticket widow not to use names at all (printed on special ticket stock and are transferable to other travelers) and for online bookings just to use a lead name for the group (to help prevent fraud, such as photocopying tickets that you print at home on plain paper).

You should be fine. I have only been asked for ID once, about ten years ago. I have never been asked to show the payment card in Italy, just the ticket,

Thank you!! Was so crazy - seats disappearing faster than I could type in info!!

And now the price and seats are back down? May never use Trenitalia again:( Feel so ripped off:(

You weren't ripped off, I'm afraid you didn't understand how the system works.

There are discounted fares for advanced purchases called SuperEconomy and Economy. These fares are capacity controlled and come with restrictions on changes on refunds. They sell out very quickly and once they are all gone... you have to look for another train or pay the BASE fare.

BASE fare tickets can't sell out and can be changed and/or refunded up to one hour after the departure of the train. In short the BASE fare is the full price, the walk-up price you would pay at the station on the day of departure.

You were not seeing seats disappearing, but fare buckets. If you buy a SuperEconomy ticket in 2nd class 119 days before the departure you'll have exactly the same type of seat of the other traveler in your car who purchased the ticket a few minutes before the departure. The difference is that you paid only 9 Euro.

All these things are explained at www.trenitalia.com , you just have to click the small "i". Maybe you'd better use www.italiarail.com , Trenitalia's official US based re-seller whose site has been "kept simple" for American Customers.

I was ripped off. I went in to purchase Super Economy on one route and Economy on the second route (as Super was already sold out) for Business class. By the time I entered in the info for the 3 of us, and credit card info...and clicked purchase....the price went up 20 Euro on 1st leg and 13 on 2nd leg. Stupidly, I purchased, thinking they were selling out. I have just gone back later this evening and all the original prices were back in place. I call that being ripped off. I have traveled in Europe quite a few times, and have always used RailEurope...but had been reading that this would be a cheaper way to go...and seemed so based on evaluations...but that kind of practice, to me, is unacceptable.. I will never use them again!!

I have no worries about the names now...quite honestly to mad to worry!

Thanks, Dario, for your excellent explanation. It can be confusing to people not accustomed to the European train-fare systems. I almost never see super-economy fares appear once they are sold out, but I guess a lot of cancellations can put some of those fares back into the system.

At any rate, it's not a ripoff - it's timing. Sometimes it works in your favor, sometimes it doesn't. I always feel lucky when I look for fares and find a super-economy fare for the train that I want.