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Salzburg to Luzern via Buchs on RailJet

Posted by (Raleigh, North Carolina) on

We are traveling in September from Salzburg to Luzern via Buchs on a RailJet train (Salzburg to Zurich portion). Based on several tips on this forum, it appeared to be advantageous to book the Austrian and Swiss portions separately, so that the Swiss Half Fare card could be applied to the Swiss portion.

Booking the Austrian portion from Salzburg to Buchs was easy enough. We are traveling First Class and were easily able to select seats from a seat map of the coaches.

However, in trying to purchase the Swiss tickets from Buchs to Luzern online, the SBB website offered the discounted fares, but it would not show a seat map for seat selection. Instead it only offered "no preference", "central gangway", or "quiet zone". In fact, we had to choose one of those options before it would let us proceed. Choosing either of the latter categories caused it to assign seats that were either back to back or in a section where we were across the aisle from each other. How do we purchase these tickets and select seats that are together? Can we purchase the seats on the app without seat selections and then go back and purchase the seat selections separately so that we can choose specific seats?

The Man in Seat 61 site says that Austrian tickets go on sale 6 months ahead and Swiss tickets 2 months ahead, however the SBB website and app are offering tickets as of right now.

Our plan was to select the same SBB seats for the Buchs to Zurich leg of the RailJet journey and simply stay on the train for the 5 minute stop in Buchs. If we had to switch seats for the onward journey, that would be fine too, but we would like to be seated together.

Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

Robert

Posted by
5586 posts

My only comment is that I think First Class is wholly unnecessary on this route as the standard seats are also very nice and spacious, especially if you are looking to be economical.

FYI - TarHeelBred, GTHD, GDTBATH

Posted by
773 posts

Whoever gave you this information was incorrect. OBB & DeutscheBahn allow you to say you have the Swiss HFC at booking to account for the Swiss portion of the journey. -- On OBB select "Find Discount" and type in SBB Half Fare Card -- it shows up as "SBB Halbtax-Abo"

It really would have been best to book the whole thing on SBB or OBB because you're going to have a difficult time reconciling the seat reservations. If you haven't already purchased the OBB section or it's cancellable, do the whole thing on one reservation.

If you do it all through SBB it allows you to select seat preference (window/aisle) and wagon type and if you book the tickets together under one reservation they'll put you together.

Posted by
2 posts

wanderweg: Thanks for those tips and info.

I was able to book the entire journey on the OBB website thanks to you kindly providing the Swiss Half Fare Card code. That website allowed me to choose the seats for the entire journey.

Even trying to book the whole journey on the SBB website, the seating algorithm does not work correctly. I could not choose any option that would keep us in seats together.

Thanks again for the tips.

Emily: I like it! A Tar Heel in Vienna! Hopefully you have a good vpn with ESPN+ for all of the sports.

Posted by
773 posts

Glad you were able to get it to work with the code, happy to help!

Posted by
2791 posts

Even trying to book the whole journey on the SBB website, the seating
algorithm does not work correctly. I could not choose any option that
would keep us in seats together.

The SBB booking system will seat you together if possible. You may have gotten the impression you are not sitting together because the way seats are numbered.

Anyway, you are not glued to your seats. You can sit elsewhere if you want. Trains are rarely full in Switzerland. That is why few people bother with actually getting reserved seats.

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