Trenitalia booking problem

Not sure what the problem is. What dates were you trying to book? I cannot duplicate it short of making the reservation. You have to be extremely careful when use the dating tools on a European web site. There dates are always listed as day,month,year. That makes sense when you thinking about moving from small to larger. Second, where I have had the most trouble is the calendar used when selecting dates often (not always) starts the week with Sat, Sun, Mon. So when I picked the second day of the week thinking it is Monday it is actually Sunday.

You are going to have to call Trenitalia directly and hope to find someone who will understand your situation.

You also need to pay attention to the time you're booking. The automatic default time is the time you're booking your tickets so nothing before that will show up unless you change the time in the time box.

Also, there is a red box to the right of the page through the entire booking process that shows which tickets you're booking. It has all the information including date, time and trains selected. It's always importation to review this box before purchasing in order to avoid purchasing the incorrect tickets.

Which date were you trying to book? I just did a dummy ticket without issue.

Donna

There is an asterisk next to every train time. our Italian friend translated, it means : time is for next day. IT's on EVERY scheduled train!

We cannot understand WHY would a website list every train but for the next day?

If it's late at night in Italy at the time you're checking, the next trains will be for the following day. Perhaps that's what you are seeing.

Donna doesn't have any problems. I don't any problem. You don't need a friend to translate. Just click on the British flag for the English version. The site, generally, works pretty well. Please indicate exact what you are trying to book so I can attempt to do the same. It could be in your computer.

To expand on Donna's explanation---if you do not enter a specific time as well as a date, Trenitalia will default to the current time in Italy, on the chosen date. You may not notice this. But say you are looking for a morning train on December 10. You fill in this date but not the time ( not realizing that is important). Say you are on the East Coast of the US, and it is mid-afternoon here. The time in Italy will be late evening, say 9 pm, and the results displayed will start at that time, innsequence by time. To see a morning train, you have to scroll down---to the following day. You may well not notice this new date, as there is no warning message in red, such as you see on airline schedules.

At least this is how Trenitalia worked the last time I used it. And it would be a logical explanation for what happened here.

Lola, raises a good point. Unless you change the hour (using 24 hr clock) the site assumes your are looking forward from the present time. That night explain the *. Just gives you dates and time so we can duplicate it. Please!

Ok. We went to Trenitalia website. Tried at 2 pm, 8 pm, 7 am.
1. Put in date: dec. 21
2. Rome to venice
3. Train times pop up
4. IT starts at 6 pm trains
5. We try to scroll up for earlier times, won't scroll
6. So we scroll down. It starts showing earlier times.
7. BUT, ALL train times have asterisks. Which states that they are for the next day. WHY?

Everyone who has tried for us cannot understand why every time option states that it is for the NEXT day. Why not just Just for THE ACTUAL date chosen?
Very confusing and confounding.
Mystery for the ages!

Try putting "00" in the "hour" ("ora di partenza") field to the right of the date and report back. I had no problem seeing the entire list of trains, including the next day (which were marked with an asterisk).

Also use Roma (tutte le stazioni) and same for Venezia...

Yes beubemoy, it's what others have already explained. Your search is starting at 6 pm, and then listing trains later, because it was probably 6 pm in Italy when you searched.

You just have to put an early time (for example 5 am) , so it shows all trains for that day.

Otherwise it will show you what there is from that time on.

beubemoy,
Because, when you go to the site, it defaults to the current date and time. They assume most people are already in Italy and want to find the next train, or next few trains.
Unlike airline sites, where there are only a few flights per day, trains are much more frequent and the train sites require you to enter a date and a time, and it shows you the trains from that time.

If you go to the site late at night (Italian time), and only change the date, you will have still have the late time, say 22:00. So it will show trains from 22:00, which might be 22:30, followed by 06:30 the following day, then 07:30 etc.

If you want an early morning train, be sure to enter a time of 06:00, or 09:00 or 00:00, whichever you want.

I am finding trains at 9:50, 10:35, 11ish...for 12 December (use the calendar function), Roma Termini to Venezia Santa Lucia.

I just got a seat selected and to the point of entering my credit card info for the 9:25 Frecciargento from Venezia S. Lucia to Roma Termini for Dec 21. Supereconomy for 49.90 EUR.

If I read the question right, you have purchased the tickets, but they are for one day late, and you are asking what you can do to change that.

Assuming the explanations provided above are correct (and I assume they are), Trenitalia will simply say you booked the wrong date, and that is the end of it, because the tickets are non-refundable.

Best contact Trenitalia ASAP to see if this is true (there should be a Customer Service contact phone numbernonnthe website). If it is, hopefully you can still get Super Economy tickets for the date you want. Or maybe change your plans to conform to the tix?

And if you do re-book, you could check the other train company (Italo). Their website is very user-friendly.

Are you on Trenitalia site?
Did you specify dec. 21?
are there any asterisks next to the times?
And let me know if you actually get dec. 21 ticket confirmation. Because we ended up with confirmation for dec. 22 tickets.

We looked at italo and go euro. Much more friendly user sites, very straight forward and no mysterious asterisks. Will book through them.
Regarding non-refundable super-economy tickets, cannot reach trenitalia by phone. Will cancel payment and wait for them to contest it. Maybe then we can get a response from them.

Trenitalia is a really easy site to use. I'm not sure what's going on - try using a different browser. Clear out your cookies too. Also, are you booking this by phone or tablet, or on a laptop? I'm trying to guess what explains the scrolling problem.

The asterisks are not mysterious, they are referring to trains on the next day from your search, as numerous people have explained. Additionally, before you pay, there is a recap of your booking, with date, time, place, so you make sure everything is okay before paying. You made a mistake, it happens... But many people have explained why, so next time you know

When you put in a date, did you also put in a desired time? As the others said, if you didn't do that the screen is going to show a schedule from whatever time it is at your current location when doing the search.

For instance, I just chose Dec. 21 but didn't input a time? It's 7:15 PM (19:15) where I am so the schedule is only showing trains on the 21st running later than that time. There's only one of those on the 21st - at 19:50 - and the next, with the asterisks, are all on the 22nd. If I wanted to see earlier trains on the 21st, I would input a much earlier time for that date.

You can look at later trains using the "next solution" tab but you can't really go backward from a time you've chosen or that the system is defaulting to if you haven't made a choice.

And let me know if you actually get dec. 21 ticket confirmation.
Because we ended up with confirmation for dec. 22 tickets.

If this comment was meant for Sam, I think he was only doing a test run and wasn't actually purchasing tickets. Unfortunately, I'm also pretty sure you'll still be required to pay for the tickets: super-economy tickets are non refundable, and that's stated clearly on the website so cancelling payment probably won't fly.

I am curious to see if your credit card company accepts your challenge to the charge from Trenitalia---actually I will be surprised if they do, as it Ppears to be an unfortunate mistake on your part, but a mistake nevertheless. Not a computer glitch.

Agnes---the "scrolling problem" is clearly explained above, by several people. Apparently, they did not choose a time on Dec. 21, and the website defaulted to local time in Italy---in the evening. So the trains displayed started with 6 pm. You can scroll down to later trains butit will not "scroll up" to earlier ones on that day because they were not loaded into the results. The later trains shown will run through the end of that day's s heddle and then kick over to the next morning----these trains are displayed with an asterisk and they did not realize that meant the next day.

I am going to do a trial run on Trenitalia and see if I can duplicate the problem.

Everyone has it explained it very well as to what has happen but you are just not hearing us. I think your mind set is that it has to be a system error and not yours. And your sequence proved it.

4. IT starts at 6 pm trains
5. We try to scroll up for earlier times, won't scroll

That is correct because it is only showing times from 6pm forward because the site thinks you have logged in at 6pm. You cannot go back. Set your time to 00 and you will see everything for that day.

6. So we scroll down. It starts showing earlier times.

Yep - for the next day and just to make sure you understand they add the "*" just so there is no misunderstanding that it is the next day.

7. BUT, ALL train times have asterisks. Which states that they are for the next day. WHY?
Because they are for the next day !! Simple. Not sure how it could be any more clear.

You can contest it on your credit card but you will lose. The credit card company will go to Trenitalia and they will produce the evidence that you booked it properly. Call it a learning experience.

.. I would imagine many others with the same problem.... No, never have heard of the problem before so it may be unique for you. Sorry you had the problem. Have a good trip and consider this a small bump.

I don't know if this will display, but here is the screen I got:

https://www.lefrecce.it/B2CWeb/search.do?parameter=searchOutputViewer&cFID=yNu4kHGdJpMA

I put in the date of Dec. 21 but did NOT touch the time. Interestingly, the default time was MY local time (17:25) on the west coast, not Italy time like some said. So the trains it showed were departing after 17:25---I think there were two more that evening, and one at 4:47 in the morning, with an asterisk to show that it is the next date.

Then there is a bar across the result page, with the notice that the date is now Dec. 22 for the trains below that line. These start with morning trains and they all have the asterisk. And no, you cannot scroll up to earlier trains on Dec. 21.

I put in the date of Dec. 21 but did NOT touch the time.
Interestingly, the default time was MY local time (17:25) on the west
coast, not Italy time

Sasha, it works that way for me as well: it defaults to MY local time and not what time it currently is in Italy. I'm guessing that it's detecting my location. Anyway, tall and short of it is that to see the schedules the OP was looking for, they needed to input a date AND desired time they want to take the train once in Italy.

Beubemoy,

Are you on Trenitalia site?
Did you specify dec. 21?
are there any asterisks next to the times?
And let me know if you actually get dec. 21 ticket confirmation. Because we ended up with confirmation for dec. 22 tickets.

I just did a trial run on the Trenitalia site & it does only show trains available after 18:00, because the website defaults to my local time (PST).
I do see the asterisks next to the times (starting at 06:50), but I also see this message (on grey bar) right above all the times with the asterisks:

Departure Date 22-12-2016

So... Once you're on the screen showing you the trains available after 6pm, you need to change the hour (time) to "00", located next to the departure date, then click on, "Refresh" (red bar) to see all the available trains for your desired date.

You can also change the time to, "00", on the first screen where you choose your date, departure & arrival stations.

There are still Super Economy tickets available for December 21.

One simple question: if i am booking for a date IN THE FUTURE (6weeks from now) what does the time that i am actually booking TODAY have to do with anything?

Only that the website will default to that time ( local time as of booking), unless you change it to earlier in the day. Only then will it show morning trains on the day you are seeking.

I have NEVER purchased any kind of ticket where the time of day i am on my computer is a factor. That is so odd. But, alas, it is what it is.
Thanks for all your sleuthing. I am sure it will be a great trip.
Thanks again everybody!

The Deutsche Bahn website also defaults to the actual time at the location of the customer.

If a site asks for an hour of departure why don't you enter it? Do you think that they put that drop down menu for aesthetic reasons?
And if you don't enter an hour of departure, isn'it it logic that the site defaults to the hour on your pc to avoid displaying trains that have already left?
The above poster is right, the German Railways' home page works in the same way.

We did not choose a specific time because we wanted to see the choices that were available. We had set our itinerary and booked hotels first, but were open to the time we were to arrive at each city. So we were scrolling to see what was available.
We are not very tech-savvy, which is why we missed the english version, which then led to the rest, i guess. Though we had 3 separate Italian transplant friends going to the site afterwards and they were confounded too!

And you speak as if i am booking on the day. I am booking 6 weeks IN ADVANCE, so why does today's time matter?

Because the time of day indicates what time of day you might be looking for a train. Gee, I need a train for 11 AM or later, or I need a train for 15:00 (3 PM) or later.

The time matters because no matter what day you choose the website's default for time of day is the current time in Italy. So if it is 11AM in Italy it will show you all available trains from 11AM for the day you are trying to book thereby excluding trains before 11AM of that day.

If it is 11 PM in Italy it shows trains after 11 PM and into the next day.

Therefore when looking for trains set the time for 7 AM, or earlier, for the day you want to book.

If i set the time for 11 PM (23:00) then i get trains for the next day.

I understand fully now.
Thanks for all the posts.