Does anyone have experience purchasing tickets from Trenitalia prior to leaving the US? http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ad1ce14114bc9110VgnVCM10000080a3e90aRCRD Are these posted fares much higher, and/or are tickets difficult to come by once in Italy? We will be there in September. I thought it might be one less thing to do, if we already had them in hand. Any comments appreciated!
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11359 posts
That URL doesn't return a result for me, Barbara. Where are you traveling (to & from) and what date(s)? FWIW, I've had great success with pre-purchase both in the US and in Italy. You can save a lot of $$ on the high-speed trains.
Posted by
OP
Seattle
10 posts
Hi Laurel, Thanks for your reply! Hmm...it was supposed to be just the home page of Trenitalia. I will be traveling from Milan to Florence, return, departing Milan on Sunday morning, Sept 2, and returning on Saturday afternoon, Sept 10.
Barbara
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23337 posts
Except on very rare occasions, trains in Italy never sell out so tickets are always easy to obtain the day of travel or before. The only advantage to early purchase are the discounts available, sometimes significant, but then you are locked into that tickets with very limit options for changing that ticket. The fare will not be higher than the standard fare that is posted.
Posted by
Bainbridge Island
3127 posts
For those dates, buying now on Trenitalia, they can get Milan to Florence for 29 euro instead of 50 (or 19 euro if they go in the afternoon); and Florence back to Milan in the afternoon of Sept. 10 for 19 euro instead of 50. That means they pay 76 or 96 euros total instead of 200. For savings like that I would gladly give up a little flexibility. Anyway, if they already have their plane tickets and other plans, what is the point of maintaining flexibility?
Posted by
OP
Seattle
10 posts
Thanks, All! I went ahead and bought them at the discounted price of 19E each way. Seems to have worked fine, and I now have print-outs, with barcodes, of my tickets.
Much appreciated!
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Way to go. Prices you see online now are not higher than what you will find while in Italy. Quite the opposite as you have found out. By booking early, you get the special low fares that will be gone by the time you get there. Also, on your ticket, the important part is the 6-digit PNR number. The conductor carries a wireless PDA and scans the number. Works great.
Posted by
Bainbridge Island
3127 posts
Good for you. Look at all the money you saved!