Half fare card and BO pass (Buy online or upon arrival?)

I always buy my passes ahead of time so i can print out the QR codes and just use those instead of fiddling with my phone.

If you can buy online, there's no reason that i can think of that you'd need to go to the station unless you want physical copies. Just buy online when you get there if you want to wait.

There is no real advantage/disadvantage other than that they are non-refundable, so if you purchase now and something happens to your trip, you're out the money. Personally I recommend purchasing the night before you travel so you don't have to mess with it at the airport, as I like to get out of baggage claim and just go without any additional hassle suffering from jet lag.

New Feature: The one month Half Fare Card is now fully integrated into the SBB Mobile app if you buy it online. This is a recent change.

If you purchase it in advance via SBB, the card is linked to your account and automatically appears in the app. When you buy tickets, the app knows you have a Half Fare Card, and when a conductor checks your ticket, everything is visible in one place - they will know that you have the HFC, no need to show anything else.

https://www.sbb.ch/en/offers/swiss-half-fare-card

Take a look at the above link you will see:

Swiss Half Fare Card goes mobile. You can also show the Swiss Half
Fare Card in the SBB Mobile app. But only if you buy it online by
signing in with a login.

It is very easy to do:

• Register on swisspass.ch and choose “No SwissPass” (this will skip a lot of other steps that needed to purchase the year long HFC used by residents).

• simply add your name and birthdate (something you have to do to buy
  tickets on the SBB app anyway).

• You will get an activation code emailed to you, log in and purchase
  the Swiss Half Fare Card.

All the steps are detailed here:

https://www.sbb.ch/en/offers/buy-swiss-half-fare-card

they are non-refundable

The Swiss Half Fare Card is refundable before the first day of validity - so not part way through your trip, but if for some reason you have to cancel your trip, you can apply for a refund.

"Tickets are only refundable if returned to the issuing office before the first day of validity."

You can find that info on the SBB website, or also here on the official Switzerland Tourism website:

https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-ch/planning/transport-accommodation/tickets-public-transport/miscellaneous-provisions-swisss-travel-system

SwissNomad, I’m beyond thankful for your incredibly detailed info.

Thank you everyone!

After a lot of stops and starts with the website and initial credit card decline due to the system being updated at the exact time I tried to purchase (just bad timing!) and then had to get the credit card company involved because of the SBB website technical difficulties, the cc kept trying to go through multiple times which made the bank suspicious.

Anyway, bought the Half Fare Cards on the online website where I was logged in, and they immediately appeared in my SBB app ( I had also registered/logged into) before purchase. They are also in my Apple Wallet

And I just purchased our Berner Oberland passes (through their official site; not SBB) and now I have them in my Apple Wallet as well.

FYI, I used my BO pass in my Apple wallet (Aug 2026) and 2 days before it was due to expire it was automatically hidden in the “expired passes.” If this happens to you, just check your expired passes and unhide it. Also, as of January 2026, the cable car up to the Oeschinensee is no longer covered by the BO pass.

Thanks for the good intel sytwix!