Do all trains that require reservations accept passholders? I went online and put in 5 different dates and found out that reservations were not available for passholders for any of my chosen dates. (I tried within two months, three months and 6 months ahead of time.) The rejection message said that the train was sold out or unavailable to passholders.If pass is only good for certain trains, is it even worthwhile to purchase a pass?
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23650 posts
Hard to answer you question without details. Which train systems, time of year, where were you looking for the reservation, etc. For the most part, rail pass are not the bargain they were twenty years ago. Reservations are rarely accepted beyond 60 days so you might look one month out. All trains requiring a reservation will charge a premium for that train. Only trains that don't require reservation allow a pass holder to jump on.
Posted by
OP
Midlothian
85 posts
Frank, I knew that reservations can only be made two months in advance. I was just trying to determine how much I would have to spend as a supplement. I first put in a date that was within two months of today and received the "unavailable" message. I assumed this particular train was "sold out" to passholders, so I tried a later date and received the same message. And so on...
Thanks for trying to help me!
Posted by
Minneapolis
1269 posts
Hi Gerri. Train passes in Italy are almost always more expensive and more hassle than buying individual tickets. I suggest buying individual tix online for the routes that are a big savings and you are willing to lock in your date / time. Otherwise, just buy a day or two in advance when you are in Italy. use trenitalia.com. Enjoy your trip!
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23650 posts
AGAIN, which train company? There are differences. The French do limit passes and the Italian's do not. Please answers the questions I asked you.
Posted by
Washington, D.C., USA
71 posts
Geez, Frank. Relax. If you don't have enough information from the OP to help them out, just move on to another thread.
Posted by
OP
Midlothian
85 posts
I'm sorry, Frank. I thought there was just one company. I will go back on Trenitalia's site and see if I can figure it out. Thanks for all of your help, anyway. I may just buy the tix individually.
Posted by
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
203 posts
Gerri, try plugging in a date that is less than two months away. Try the day of the week that you really want to travel but make it a few weeks away and see what happens. I think you are looking too far in advance. I priced out 5 point to point tickets and found it to be less than the pass. You have to sharpen your pencil and just do the math to figure it out.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23650 posts
And your contribution, Carrie, is ??????? Right ! nothing !!
Posted by
Washington, D.C., USA
71 posts
The point is this - if you need more information from the OP to offer advice and it is not forthcoming, I would suggest you move on and not further demand an answer to your questions presented to the OP. Perhaps they have figured it out and are done with the thread. Again, relax..............
Posted by
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
203 posts
Somebody, and I am not talking about Carrie, needs to get over themselves in a hurry..........
Posted by
OP
Midlothian
85 posts
One last comment and I won't bother you all again: I contacted "Euro Railway" support and asked my question, and they replied that they would tell me if those trains were available to passholders AFTER I purchased my pass! Are they kidding?
Posted by
Washington, D.C., USA
71 posts
Gerri, you are not a bother. Keep asking and fine tuning your questions, based on what you've learned. That is the how you get more answers from the board. Generally speaking, assuming you can use your pass and it is not a regional train, there is a seat reservation fee of 10 euro for each leg. So, if you want to 'ball park" your overall expense of a pass + reservation fee per leg VS. point to point tickets, you really have to sit down and go through the trenitalia.com website with your itinerary and price out each leg and total it all up and compare to the pass+fees. If you can't get an answer to your question regarding which trains will and will not accept the pass, try emailing trenitalia.com through the website. I have and did get an email reply about 2 days later. Correct me if I am wrong, but I am working off a big assumption that you are only traveling in Italy.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23650 posts
IF you are only traveling in Italy (one reason I was trying to obtain accurate info), then the pass is accepted on all trains. There is no limitation. For the record, the high speed are 10E premium and the IC is 3E. Technically speaking it is a premium fee to ride that train and it includes a seat reservation. However, most of us refer to it as a seat reservation since that is required on the train. The reason I was asking for the site you were using was because something was wrong with the error messages you were receiving. Trains in Europe rarely if ever sell out. If you were using a Rail Europe or Eurail site, that would explain the problem. Just trying for clarity.