Trenitalia: Error code: 406 Enough seats not available!

stephen,

Try booking the same tickets using the www.capitainetrain.com website. If that doesn't work wait a few hours and try again, as it's possible they may be doing maintenance on the data system.

I'm getting to the page to enter names, is it after that?

Hi Sam,

It's on the page where you select the tickets. I complete my search for a round trip. I select my outbound ticket. Then I select my return ticket. It's at that point that I get the error message saying there's no seats available.

I was also receiving this error a couple weeks ago while trying to book travel between Venice and Florence. My solution was to purchase tickets on Italo. The Trenitalia error is an intermittent problem with their system... Two days later it was fixed but it then reappeared a day after that.

I'm still getting this error message on Trenitalia.

Can I browse tickets on www.capitainetrain.com without signing up, or do I have to sign up before doing anything on it?

I tried using Italo but it doesn't have anything earlier than 9Am, which is too late. We'd like to leave in the 7-8am range.

I think I've narrowed down the error message to the 7:30am Frecce (high speed?) from Termini to Napoli C.. Is it simply that they don't have any seats available for that train ride, but they're still displaying it as an available option?

Instead of trying to buy a return ticket, just buy two one-way tickets. There is no price advantage to buying a return ticket. That's where the hang-up may be.

Yes, that's what I tried, and that's how I narrowed down where I think the error is coming from.

Still no luck.

I'm using Internet Explorer and I do (just now ) get the error message on Trenitalia if trying to book 2 seats in 1st class about 7:35 on Sept. 4 for €48, but not if selecting 2 in 2nd class for the same price. I also had no trouble to separately select a return for 2 about 19:30.

I've tried about a dozen different ticket options, ranging from super economy to executive, 1 ticket, 2 tickets. different browsers, different computers. different times of the day.

Still, no change.

I went to go try again and now I'm getting this:

Error 500: javax.servlet.ServletException: Filter [PicoSessionActivityFilter]: filter is unavailable.

This is getting ridiculous.

Are there any other websites I can purchase tickets from?

When dealing with Italy in general NOTHING surprises me any more. I had 18 seats reserved in carriage #4 on the high speed train Rome -> Florence and guess which carriage the train did NOT have.

Rail Europe has the 7:35 departure at $45 for two people, plus $8 handling fee for the whole order (which can include the return tickets): http://ricksteves.raileurope.com/us/rail/point_to_point/triprequest.htm.

I got all the way to the checkout on the Rick Steve's link provided and got basically the same error:

""There are not enough seats available to fulfill your request. Please delete the item from your itinerary. If you would still like to purchase a ticket, please re-book a different train or fare." (0190)"

So... does this mean they're actually booked and I need to pick a different day? I've already played around with different times of the day.

It's not likely for trains to be booked up for Sept. 4 and I'd say not even this single train. It sounds like that error is starting from Trenitalia's database and following through to all of their agents. I would wait several days before trying again.

Ok I'm still getting this error message.

Is it even remotely possible to contact somebody at Trenitalia?

It just doesn't make sense that Trenitalia's ordering system is down for everybody. I've tried different dates, times, trains, browsers, computers.

stephen,

"Are there any other websites I can purchase tickets from?"

Did you try www.capitainetrain.com as I suggested in my first reply? That may or may not work, as I believe they access the same data system as Trenitalia. It's worth a try though.

Hi Ken,

I had asked if it required creating an account before searching for tickets but never got a response. I don't really trust sites that require you sign up before you can even look at their product. I've had bad experiences before :(

stephen,

I've used Capitaine Train a number of times recently, and it's worked very well so far for both Trenitalia and Italo tickets. Starting an "account" only involves an E-mail and a password, so not complicated at all. I recommended it as I've had such good luck so far. Their customer service is excellent!

You could also try www.italiarail.com (I'm not sure if they require users to sign up) but I believe they also access the Trenitalia data system so if there's some kind of a problem there, it may affect all of them.

Stephen

Have you ensured you have deleted your browser history before retrying?

I have put in 4 September for 4 people multiple times and have gotten to the payment page in every case. I use firefox for my browser.

Otherwise try italiarail.com They are reliable with a very minimal markup.

I forgot to mention the point that mph brought up. Try clearing your Cache and Cookies and try again. That may work? The experience that Laura described seems to indicate that the website is working to some extent.

I forgot to mention the point that mph brought up. Try clearing your Cache and Cookies and try again. That may work? The experience that Laura described seems to indicate that the website is working to some extent.

Yup, I've done all that. Let me reiterate what I've tried.

At work:
My old laptop with Chrome and IE.
My brand new desktop, straight out of the box, Chrome and IE.

At home:
My old iMac with Chrome, FF, Safari.
My brand new iMac (old one died last week), right out of the box, Chrome, FF Safari,
My old MacBook, Chrome, FF, Safari.

Both places, with wifi and just over cellular network:
iPhone 6

All browsers have been reset and caches empty.

I've tried all of the websites offered in this thread.

I've tried different days, different trains, different times.

I've tried the trenitalia website on english and italian.

I've tried booking two separate tickets instead of one round trip.

I've tried booking an unrelated journey, adding it to my shopping cart, then booking the journey I want and still get the same error message.

It appears the error message has changed, and now reads: "Error code: 406 There is not enough seat availability for this request"

I'm genuinely out of ideas at this point.

Before you started the process did you notify the card issuer of your credit card that you would be making purchases in Italy?

It sounds to me like an international denial of payment manifested in this different way.

stephen,

It's surprising that you haven't been successful with all the methods you've tried. The point that Nigel mentioned is certainly worth pursuing, as it's possible that your transactions have been blocked by your credit card firm. At this point, a phrase that comes to mind is "Eliminate the impossible and whatever remains, however improbable, must be the solution."

If you've tried Capitaine Train with no success, I'd suggest contacting their customer service as they're VERY responsive. They may be able to shed some light on the "Enough seats not available" message (which doesn't make sense in this situation).

Credit cards? I'm no where close to even getting to enter credit card information. I'm simply just trying to SELECT the train routes that I want.

I guess I'll try contacting that company directly.

Final desperation solution, go to www.italiarail.com. That will get you tickets at the same prices, but a small service charge is applied. You can buy them in euro and have your credit card take care of the exchange rate, or USD, with slight "rounding up" of the current exchange rate.

Stephen, regarding your comment:

It just doesn't make sense that Trenitalia's ordering system is down for everybody. I've tried different dates, times, trains, browsers, computers.

Since all schedule and ticket sales info starts from Trenitalia's database, it does make sense to me that an error there would also flow to any other vendor selling their tickets. All the suggestions you've tried could work in various scenarios, but just waiting for it to get fixed is sometimes also the solution.

As of today, without setting up an account and without entering payment, it does look like I can get two SuperSaver tickets into Trenitalia's shopping cart for either the 19:00 or 19:30 departure from Naples to Rome.

Holy crp, www.italiarail.com actually worked! I was able to purchase tickets.

For fun, I went back and tried to book the exact same tickets on Trenitalia's main website and got the same error message I've been getting. Makes me a bit nervous that these tickets will somehow won't be valid, though haha.

What a saga... thanks for everybody's help.

stephen,

It's great to hear that you finally have a solution (and some tickets)!

My next "grasping at straws" suggestion was for you to try and make the purchase using a friend's or a work computer. I've never heard of anyone having this much trouble buying tickets for Italian trains. Just curious, which internet service provider do you use?

stephen,

It's great to hear that you finally have a solution (and some tickets)! My next "grasping at straws" suggestion was for you to try and make the purchase using a friend's or a work computer. I've never heard of anyone having this much trouble buying tickets for Italian trains. Just curious, which internet service provider do you use?

Well that's just the thing, I tried TWO work computers, THREE home computers and my iPhone. Six devices. Just plain bizarre.

At home I have Comcast. For my cellular service on the iPhone is Verizon. I'm not sure what I have at work. I can look tomorrow if you're super curious.

Glad it worked. Italiarail basically is Trenitalia, at least their primary agent for ticket sales outside of Italy. I'd tell you to PM their manager, as he posted a couple of weeks ago. But the RS staff deemed it to be "advertising" and deleted his post.

stephen,

I'm not that curious about your ISP, and your recent answer was sufficient. However, I'm also curious on whether you contacted customer service at Capitaine Train, and if so what did they say?

This is a real mystery, but I suspect it was a computer issue, although not sure what the common factor is between the different computers you tried.

I did not contact anybody about the issue.

Honestly, I find it hard to believe it's a local computer issue. I tried multiple websites across six devices, three browsers, two operating systems, three ISPs, in two different cities. The sheer number of options I tried tells me the issue has to be on Trenitalia's side.

stephen,

"The sheer number of options I tried tells me the issue has to be on Trenitalia's side."

I suppose that's a possibility but.....

• ItaliaRail seemed to work and they access the same Trenitalia data system. I made purchases using Capitaine Train recently and no problems at all.
• Many other people have purchased tickets both from Trenitalia and other sites during the time you were experiencing problems.

Perhaps it was something unique to the route and time you were trying to purchase? One of the great mysteries of the ages!

YES. It was on Trenitalia's side. Then they fixed it. Not mysterious at all.

Thanks Laura! That explains it. Now we have a logical explanation for the problem, and this experience may help others in future (the next time Trenitalia has an issue with their data system).