Trenitalia vs Italo Seat Tickets

Seat reservations are required on Italian high speed trains. IIRC, sometimes you have to pay if you want to select your seat (or accept the assigned seat they give you) and sometimes seat selection is included (I might be wrong on that detail). In all cases though, you will have an assigned seat. The limited availability messages are likely due to those specific fare categories selling out.

'Evening, sanyaoak:

If it shows "subject to availability", then you may indeed have to stand (make sure to read ALL the "fine print"). If you book a trip which allows you to choose a seat, you will definitely get a seat. I've now booked three train trips in the last four years (two with Trenitalia and one with Italo) and always had a seat if I booked one. Also, book through the Rick Steves affiliated "Rail Europe" site, it's much less confusing than booking through Trenitalia's or Italo's sites, and has no trouble letting one use a US-based credit card.

Hope this helps.

Where are you seeing this "limited seating" mentioned? On Trenitalia there are either seats, or there aren't, and when there aren't you can't book that train...

When is you travel date?

Regarding the ticket types: On Trenitalia you have accomodation classes, and fare levels.

Standard, Premium. Business and Executive are accomodation classes, ie, the type of seat and service you get. Executive is the most expensive and luxurious.

Then normally you have "Base", "Economy" and "SuperEconomy", these are fare levels. Base is always available, that is what you pay if you buy the ticket a few minutes before departure at the station. The Economy and SuperEconomy fares you must buy in advance, but there are cheaper. Then there are all kinds of promotional fares that pop up at times. The "FrecciaFriends" you see is on of those. Look at the fine print if it at is what you want.

That "subject to availability" makes me think that there are limited fares in that fare class. They seem to be saying that this fare class won't be available all the time.

The only "above" regionale train that I haven't had a seat was a generic "express" or something (I only rode them twice) similar that was on InterCity trains and you just found whatever seat you could. It was like 20 years ago, and I only did them those two times over a 2 year period.

Up stream comments are good but -- maybe --- a bit confusing. In Italy ALL trains except the Regional trains come with a seat reservation at time of ticket purchase. The exception -- if you have a rail pass, then you need to purchase a seat reservation -- use to be 10 euro/train. Probably higher today. The Regional train is a bus on wheels. Get on and grab the next available seat or stand till a seat is available. The Italian is an easy system to use compared to other countries trains where the seating is a mix of reserved and unreserved seats.

With regard to the discount tickets -- Economy and Super Economy --- these tickets are limited in number per train. More available at off time and fewer at peak times. When those tickets are all sold that is it. But it doesn't mean that the train is sold out as a Base ticket is general available. A Base fare ticket can be purchased at any time. It is rare for a train to be completely sold out.

Hi everyone. Thank you so much for all the helpful information.

WengenK, I am planning to travel on August 18th. I am traveling with my family, so we would like to sit together. For some options I see "limited seat availability", so I assuming that it means that type of ticket is likely to get sold out? I tried to attach a screenshot below but I'm unable to share a screenshot.

That is what the most likely scenario is, limited seat availability, I would buy sooner rather than later.......but keep in mind the restrictions that may be with that fare rate

I am traveling with my family, so we would like to sit together.

Just go ahead and go through the motions of buying a ticket. Enter the number of adults and any children - Trenitalia will automatically offer available group discounts, for which you should qualify. Depending on the train you select, there still appear to be discount tix available - look at the 9:40 Frecciarossa to Salerno from Roma Termini. It's best to create a Trenitalia account first - you'll be asked to add a profile for each additional passenger as you go through the booking process.

Thank you so much, I will definitely create an account and go through the motions of purchasing tickets and see what it says. Thanks a lot!

Everything will be much easier for you if you create an account AND download the Trenitalia app. Their app is very user friendly.

Also, even when “going through the motions” of buying a train ticket, if you want to sit together, see where seats are located. On the app, when you get to a certain point in the ticket purchasing process, BEFORE you pay, there is a slider at the bottom to select seats; then you should be able to see where open seats are located.