B-O Pass Purchase

If you buy it in Luzern, it will cover your transportation all the way to Wengen. I would buy it online. While it should be available in Luzern, last year I tried to buy ours in Brig and they did not have them. In that case, I had to buy it using my phone on the BLS site then email it to the agent to print out for me. I was lucky she was so accommodating.

How many days are you in Wengen?

@Sam
3 full days. We are a group of 10 adult framily, all of whom will be purchasing the Half-Fare card. I am the point person for purchasing our train tickets with a discount of 30% off the half fare from Basel-Luzern, Luzern via Meiringen to Wengen, and Wengen-ZRH. I've done the math for purchasing a B-O pass for more than the 3 full days we'll be in Wengen (4 nights) and the savings is insignificant over booking trains as a group. There are a couple of mountain walks we can take from Wengen that don't require lifts if we have time on arrival and departure days.

So with a 4-day B.O. Pass, the Half Fare Card is 175 CHF, saving 95 CHF. In effect, the Half Fare Card is only 25 CH or the rest of the trip.

We are looking at 1st class group rate for our 3 SBB journeys. Would need 6-day 1st class B-O pass at 265CHF for all travel except Basel-Luzern which I figure to be @25CHF. 4-day 1st class pass at 210CHF only covers one of the 3 journeys. Fares for the 3 journeys with group discount are @100CHF + 150CHF non-first class 3-day B-O pass +25CHF Basel-Luzern equals 275 vs 290.
would the 15CHF savings be worth it if we didn't have to be concerned about group advance bookings? Maybe...

what journeys do you want 1st class?

would the 15CHF savings be worth it if we didn't have to be concerned about group advance bookings?

The reason we buy the pass is convenience first, but also because if we decide to take a lift or train we didn't plan on, we don't have to think about the expense. Pop up to Mannlichen for lunch? No problem! Joy ride over to Grindelwald because the weather is gloomy? Sure!

You might get a kick out of this report I did last fall https://girovaga.com/2022/09/30/more-rainy-day-plans/. Scroll down and read about Mountain Joy Riding.

@Laurel
We are buying the B-O pass for sure due to the convenience. The debate here is whether to purchase it for longer than the 3 full days we have in Wengen. I just don't envision us needing it on late afternoon arrival in Wengen when we will be settling into our penthouse chalet, purchasing some groceries and getting oriented to the town. Similar reasoning for departure day when our morning will be spent packing up, doing needed cleanup as required by airbnb, and organizing for our departure back to the US out of ZRH the following day.
Nevertheless, I'll run the B-O options presented here to our group when we gather at the end of this month to book our Thalys tickets from Paris to Amsterdam where our river cruise begins.

The Half Fare Card will save you on your journey to Lucerne as well as on your BO Pass and your journey to Zurich on the way out. You would need to save CHF40 to "break even" on buying the Half Fare for the entire trip. And regarding 1st Class, you have no idea how nice 2nd Class is on SBB. I would advise not purchasing 1st Class fares.

I will speak up in favor of First Class. We started getting FC passes and tickets in 2019 because the Lauterbrunnen Area was so crowded with large tour groups lugging giant suitcases that we were barely able to board the car. The people with large cases would group in the entry area by the door to the train carriage because they had nowhere to put their bags inside. This was mostly problematic on trains between Lauterbrunnen, Interlaken, and Spiez.

We continued with FC passes in 2021 to have more space due to the pandemic, and last year pursued the same strategy. This year, large tour groups will be back, particularly from Asia, so expect crowded conditions in the trains.

Once on the trails, we experienced no crowding.