SBB website bug. Arbitrarily changes DOB field

There may be a shift because of the time difference. Right now, it is Tuesday January 20 in Switzerland. Wait until the days are the same date, (after midnight in your time zone) and see what happens.

This morning (January 19) I tried to buy around 11 am Los Angeles time (8pm Switzerland time, January 19). It changed the birthdate for my co-passenger but not for me. I cancelled both and got a refund. As i said I will try again...multiple attempts and sometimes it works.

As you noted, try setting your computer to Central European time for an experiment and
see if that works.

At the same time, I can't recall ever being asked to provide documentation for birthdate
when having my ticket validated on a train.

Here are two other ways that you can purchase the Saver Day Pass, maybe one of them will work for you.

Use the SBB app.

Add your co-passenger(s) under your profile, then:

1. Go to ‘shop & services’. For me (iPhone) it is one of the options along the bottom row, directly beside the QR code symbol.
2. Under ‘Quick access’ (in red bar at top of screen) you will then see Save Day Pass as one of the options in the list. Choose this.
3. The next screen allows you to choose the passenger and the validity date of the pass. Click on them to change to another passenger and/or date.
4. Purchase one for each person traveling (must be done one at a time).
5. I usually just screen shot the QR code in case of connection failure for the app on my day of travel, you can also print out the email you will receive upon purchase if you want a paper copy.

Note: I purchase all of my Saver Day Passes either through the SBB app, or the website/app I will explain next. As a resident it has always worked for myself and any guests that I also purchase for. I assume it will also work for non-Swiss residents, but have no firsthand experience with that.

Use another Swiss train website/app. For example BLS. I also use this app occasionally. You might know BLS as they run the boats on the lakes of Thun and Brienz and many of the trains in the BO. They also sell the Berner Oberland Pass.

https://www.bls.ch/en/fahren/fahrausweise/billette/spartageskarte

One thing I like about their website is that you can view all of the available Saver Day Passes in one screen. Maybe not as helpful for travellers, but when I am looking for a cheap one, not really worried about the exact date, it is very helpful to have this complete overview.

https://shop.bls.ch/en/saverpass

Note on troubleshooting the issue:
I don’t think the time zone difference is the cause. A date of birth is a fixed calendar date and should not depend on the time zone of the user or the server. Time zones only come into play when a specific time of day is involved (for example, calculating an exact age down to hours or days). Since this is just a date, entering it from the US versus Switzerland should make no difference.


Also, on the train people are often asked to show their passport along with their ticket. For this reason you are being wise to be sure that the birthdate is correct!

Thankyou " shoeflyer". As noted the time change thing was also suggested by Google AI (Gemini). But I think Gemini was just scraping the Reddit threads and "SBB community" website forum from about 2 years back. Nevertheless, I will try this --- I only have one more set of point to point supersaver tickets left to buy. I will limp through it! Waiting for my last refund to show up on my credit card before retrying.

Thankyou "SwissNomad". That was very detailed! My instincts are with you ---a birthdate should not depend on time zone. And no my age is not near the boundary dates where a discount kicks in (ages 6, 15, 25, 65 etc?). But it is possible it does calculations for discount reasons and somehow alters the date (sometimes). As far as the app goes I am unsure how it will work form the US. I am a little bit wary of doing it from here and having a similar issue!

Clearly both the website and app have to work flawlessly in Switzerland or there would have been havoc by now. Plus the issues have been in the open for at least 2 years ---you think it might have been fixed by now! I had never thought of the BLS solution you suggest.

After my last supersaver point to point (yet to buy) I only have two Half Fare Cards left to purchase and I can do that when I land. I can do this in the app at Zurich airport (everything ---IP address and time) will be from Switzerland. My first saver day pass (half fare) is needed from the very first date...I will be using the "half-fare saver day pass" on the train from ZRH to Lucerne. So I guess there is some risk in attempting to buy the half fare cards at ZRH just before getting on the train.

I will update this forum with my ticket/pass buying adventures as it might help someone in the future.

Thanks again

This is so incredibly embarrassing!

As a computer scientist and programmer with more than ten years of experience, I can say with 100% certainty that this is due to a programming error, i.e., a bug. It's just not clear from the outside where it has to be located.

And it most likely has to do with a time zone miscalculation, although that should NEVER be the case with a defined date explicitly without time information (e.g. hh:mm:ss), such as a birthday.
Obviously, the wrong data structure was used at one point, namely one with time information and explicit/implicit zone information, which is then used incorrectly. That seems very obvious to me. Whether the date is stored incorrectly or "only" displayed incorrectly (on the website and ticket) can only be clarified by bug tracking all the code sections involved.

It's unspeakable! This is such a primitive beginner's mistake that I wouldn't even expect it from an AI. If one of my employees were responsible for this, I would be willing to cancel all of their bonuses; or they were simply evaluated too poorly when they were hired. In addition, the testing seems to be very incomplete, as well!

It is even more embarrassing that SBB has not fixed this error for at least three years! – Or they simply do not have control over the manufacturer of their software (UNIC AG, Zurich?); a clear management error.

Simply embarrassing. For several quality assurance levels, mind you.

Simply too embarrassing!

ref: Whether the date is stored incorrectly or "only" displayed incorrectly (on the website and ticket)..

Yes there was a thread on this...someone claimed that it is stored correctly in the SBB system but displayed/printed wrongly on the ticket. One person suggested to add 1 day to your birthdate and then when the system subtracts 1 day it will print correctly. I think this was on the sbb community forum.

Not sure if I am allowed to post this...
https://community.sbb.ch/en/d/38386-birthdates-dont-match-on-my-account-page-and-personal-details-page/7

Copy pasting a subset>>>>>>>>>>>
RolandPRolandP
7 minutes agoJoined Jun 21, 20222004 Best answers
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Best answerset by GiuseppeL Apr 14, 2023787
Hello Ganesh

We are aware of this bug; According to @RomanoS, SBB is about to resolve the technical issue.

To have your DOB corrected, simply see the travel center at the airport to have it rectified. Or send call SBB at +41 51 225 78 00 (stay in line until someone answers the call) or send a message to SBB using the complaint form stating your ticket number(s) and the correct date of birth: Claims and complaints | SBB help & contact → A ticket / travelcard / product.

Best regards,
Roland

As promised, here is my ticket buying adventure update:

After changing my desktop date from US Pacific time to Swiss time I was able to successfully execute 2 transactions on the SBB website.

So maybe that is all one needs to do? To be sure one may have to do many more transactions. Since these 2 were my last point to point supersaver tickets I am good for now! I only have the 1-month half fare cards to buy which of course I will deal with a few days before departure.

Hope this helps someone down the line!