Three of us are traveling in Switzerland from Sept 20 through 25 and are wanting to reserve VIP seats on the Golden Pass route from Montreux to Interlaken Ost (then on to Lauterbrunnen). If we get the Half Fare card and use it to buy the seats now, the card wont be usable when we are there, since it is a 1-month card, right?
So, the best plan is to get the card within one month of the last day we would be there and then reserve/buy the Golden Pass seats. Is my thinking correct? At that late date, what are the chances of the VIP seats being available?
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Your half fare card does not have to be valid on the day you buy the tickets or make the reservation, it just has to be valid on the date you travel. When you buy the half fare card, you specify its starting date.
So you order a half fare card valid from 20th September, and at the same time buy your ticket for 20-whatever September and make reservations for the same date. There is no check that you have a ½ fare card when you buy the tickets, it is checked on the train, if you have a half price ticket the ticket inspector will ask to see ½ fare card as well.
Posted by
OP
Parkersburg, West Virginia, USA
72 posts
Chris, thank you for your help on this. What you say makes sense, but the sbb web site does not make this clear. So, I'm off to order the card and make the reservations.
This is the type of issue that makes this board so useful to travelers! Thanks again for your advice.