Trenitalia

The key seems to be registering first, separately... waiting for your e-mail password to come back... then going back into the system to book. Many problems seem to have come when people started the booking procedure, hit the registration page, and tried to register then.

I'm setting up to make a credit card purchase on Trenitalia. I haven't tried the credit card but I know you have to register first and I have done that. Here's what has taken place thus far.

I went to the register page and placed my first name, last name and user ID which is something you make up. There's a link on the page for suggested user IDs based on the input of your name. I used something different. I then typed in my email ID and then confirmed it. I then agreed to the Declaration of Consent and pressed "GO". My registration was successful at that point and Trenitalia said that it would send the password to my email.

Within seconds a password was sent to me in the email. The message told me that the password was provisional and that I had to sign on and change it. I tried this about 20 minutes later and the password had expired. But, it gave me an opportunity to get another which I did. I then went on within minutes and changed it to my permanent password. I can now get on the site. The next step is to purchase my ticket. I'll document what happens.

Thanks. I will wait for your update:) Good luck.

I just booked a trip on Monday with no problems using my credit card. Of course, I had previously registered.

My problem is that I have to purchase 6 tickets per leg of the trip. The site only allows 5, so I plan to purchase 4 tickets, then 2 tickets. I have 4 separate trips so that is a total of 8 transactions. As anybody done anything like this?

Deb,

I have done this many times and it should work for you. If part or all of your journey involves reserved seats, Trenitalia gives you the option of requesting seats in the same car. You'll see that area of the reservation as you book.

I booked tickets for three trips in the last month. The first time it took my credit card and was a snap; the next time it wouldn't. After conversations with the bank, credit card company and trying all the usual advice (register first, type carefully, use a different email, use a different server), I finally got all three trips books. Each booking was on a different day and with different charge cards each time. Go figure! I'd suggest you try to book everything in one shot (ie, wait until all your trips are posted 60 days before departure).

I agree with Fran. I registered with no problems and purchased my first set of tickets (Rome to Florence) without incident. My second set, however, were a disaster--they wouldn't accept my card, I got locked out of my account, etc. I contacted my credit card company and they weren't even receiving the transaction requests, so it was all on trenitalia's end. I tried for weeks to get things cleared up via e-mail, fax, etc., tried using a different account, card, etc. and nothing worked. I ended up having to wait till I got to Rome last week to purchase my tickets from Florence back to Romek and wasn't able to get the train I wanted. Had I purchased all my tickets at the same time all the drama would have been avoided.

So I wonder whether I should buy all four tickets for the four people at one time on one credit card, then the other 2 tickets for the 4 trips on another credit card? We have 6 on our party and the site only allows buying 5 at a time.

I suppose with 6 in your party, you would want to buy your tix ahead of time. However, we saved quite a few euros by buying them at the station. Used the machines and had no problems at all. The tix lines in Florence, Venice, Lucca, and Pisa were not long. However, I understand that summer lines get rather lengthy. Good luck!