Greetings all
I am trying to price out the fare from Wengen to Munich HBF w/a Swiss HF card. Using both SBB and DB, I get the same price (@117 euros for one adult) no matter whether or not I check the HF box when making the reservation. I am sure I am doing something wrong - do you only see the HF when you purchase in Switzerland? Should I assume 117 Euros is the full price, or that 234 would be the full price?
Thanks!
Try pricing out a ticket from Wengen to the Swiss border with the HFC (St. Margrethen SG is the last stop on the line in Switzerland on the way to Munich) and then a ticket from St. Margrethen SG to Munich. See what price you come up with doing it that way.
I'm currently working on getting our tickets from Munich to Murren (opposite direction of you) and I've priced out purchasing through DeutschBahn, purchasing through SBB and also doing the HFC to do half SBB/half DB. Every option was within $20 or so USD when converted between euros/chf....Pricing I'm getting for our ticket for end of July is around $100-$130 usd converted for the various options. I don't know how far out you are looking, but I do know prices get a higher for that route as you approach the date.
What I'm deducing from my research is that the HFC does affect it some, but not in a true 50% difference because DB and SBB are pricing through some intercountry algorithm that I don't fully grasp :)
The prices at DB are "starting from" prices and the cheapest are only valid for the three trains operated with DB participation (ICE and EC) and are train specific. On June 30, for example, tickets for the so-called "Super Sparpreis Europa" at. bahn.com cost €79.90 for the mornig train (ICE 278/567), 99.90 for the second train (ICE 276/569 oder EC 6 / IC 1101) and 91.90 for the afternoon train (ICE 274/1069: departures from Wengen 9:07, 11:07 and 13:07; prices at sbb.ch slightly different). Pure SBB prices, on the other hand, are based on the Half-Fare Card (within Switzerland).
You can “check the box” for a Half-Fare discount in Switzerland (CH) on bahn.de as well as on SBB.
I don’t know what process you are using to check prices, but I worked through the purchase process on both SBB and bahn.de and got very different results, depending on the date of travel.
For Wengen to Munchen on 12/06 3 days from now) on SBB:
With a Swiss HFC, 2d class, 109 CHF + 5 more for the reserved seat on the IC train Zurich to Munich
Without HFC, 132CHF + 5 for the reservation for a restricted ticket.
Full price flexible ticket w/o discounts, 161 CHF
For Wengen to Munich on 5/09, 3 months from now on SBB:
Super Sparpreis Europa, non-flexible ticket, 40 CHF with or without HFC
Flexible ticket with HFC 110 CHF
On Bahn.de for the same journey and dates:
For 12/06, €107 with the HFC; €131 w/o
For 05/09, Super Sparpreis of 39,90, no further discount for HFC
In summary: no difference in price between SBB and bahn.de. Both will offer the HFC discount. But there is a huge difference in price for date of travel. Tickets bought well in advance can be much cheaper if you choose the non-flexible Super Sparpreis— which is offered by SBB as well as bahn.de.
Thanks all, I appreciate all the helpful replies (as always on this forum!)
wanderweg, breaking them up into the different countries/respective dbb/sbb did help a great deal with seeing the difference on this trip with the Swiss HF - turns out, it is relatively minor, and that is why I was not really seeing a difference.
sal019 and Lola - thanks, I am looking at the Sparpreis (as opposed to the super for a bit more flexibility). good tips. I am looking now for July, so am trying to plan ahead for that best price.
Thanks!
