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GoldenPass Express upgrade with Berner Oberland Pass

Posted by on

Hello everyone,

I think I understand how to do this, but would appreciate confirmation that I'm not missing something.

Let's say I have a 2nd class Berner Oberland Pass and a Half Fare Card. I'd like to take the GoldenPass Express from Interlaken to Montreux, but I'd like to sit in 1st class. It seems the BO Pass only covers Interlaken to Saanenmöser. Therefore, I should:
- on the GoldenPass website, purchase a 1st class reservation from Interlaken Ost to Montreux;
- on the SBB app, purchase a "point-to-point class upgrade" (with Half Fare discount) for the portion of the journey from Interlaken Ost to Saanenmöser, Bahnhof; and
- on the SBB app, purchase a 1st class ticket (with Half Fare discount) for the remainder of the trip from Saanenmöser, Bahnhof to Montreux.

Is that correct? Or, because I'm using two different tickets (BO Pass from Interlaken to Saanenmöser and a regular ticket from Saanenmöser to Montreux), do I need two separate reservations?

Thank you!

Posted by
17168 posts

We have not done this, but that sounds correct. The reservation presumes you will have a valid ticket in First Class for the entire journey, but they do not care what kind of ticket (pr pass) or how many of them you have for the distance. You may have to show the PTP tickets and upgrade payment to the conductor on the first inspection, so be prepared for that.

Posted by
4719 posts

Actually the easiest thing would just be to do it all with a conductor, wouldn't it? Unless there's some risk in that

Posted by
17168 posts

Do mean pay for the pass upgrade and the additional tickets on the train? We have done that in the past when we made a mistake on the coverage of our pass, or misread the class of the carriage we were sitting in. The conductor in each case acted annoyed, and could have fined us, but didn’t. But takes then additional time. Also, there is an underlying suspicion that you were trying to sneak in and were hoping not to get caught.

So I would not advise trying to do the upgrade and extra ticket on the train.

Posted by
2967 posts

In Switzerland, you need to have a valid ticket BEFORE the train departs. If not, you can be fined 90 CHF.

The trains are already very crowded this season. I do not expect the train conductors to have a lot of patience for those traveling without a valid ticket.

It wouldn’t hurt to stop in at an SBB office to double check that you have everything that you need.

Posted by
4 posts

Maureen - thank you so much for the confirmation, that's exactly what I was looking for. And thanks for the Gstaad clarification! I had previously seen something to the effect that the BO Pass only fully covers through Saanen, and then I separately saw the GoldenPass Express timetable list a stop called Saanenmöser (but it did not mention Saanen), so I had mistakenly assumed these were the same place. Now looking at the BO map, I indeed see that these are separate places and that Gstaad appears to be the final stop on the Express that is fully covered by the BO Pass. An important reminder for me not to assume anything! I appreciate the help.

Cheers!

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