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Swiss Travel Pass and Scenic Trains

Hi,

Our travel to Switzerland begins in three weeks.

I purchased two 15-day Flex Swiss Travel Passes. The website gave me a Reference # and stated I would receive an email with my booking confirmation and tickets to print at home. The website gave a Reference #. I have not received an email after two weeks and I cannot find any contact information on the website. How do I proceed?

I reserved two seats on the Golden Pass Scenic Train, but received nothing, no email confirmation, nothing. The only proof I have that I reserved seats is the charge on my credit card statement. I have been unsuccessful in making contact. Should I receive an email confirmation? If not, how do I prove I have two seat reservations? Can you please clarify how this works?

Thank you so much for your help,

Sue

Posted by
1654 posts

This looks like you have an issue receiving email. Have you checked your spam folder? Did you enter a correct email in the forms when buying passes and reservations?

Posted by
10 posts

I have no items in my spam/junk folder. I made a screenshot of the confirmation page for the Swiss Travel Pass; it lists my correct email.

Posted by
2673 posts

Which website did you use to purchase the passes?

When I have purchased my passes in the past, I receive an immediate email after the purchase and then a short time later I receive a second email with the pass and a link to add the pass to my iphone wallet.

Posted by
20096 posts

You bought your Swiss Travel Passes from a travel agency. Nothing wrong with that as it is a commissionable product. Rick Steves sells them too.

Posted by
10 posts

I didn't realize that. For clarification, Where are they to be purchase without commission. I don't see any clear information on the SBB site. Thank you!

Posted by
20096 posts

No, there are no commission-free sales. If you buy from SBB, they just make a little more money. They don't want to undercut their distributors.

Posted by
20096 posts

Thanks for double checking. Travel agents can always jack the price up by manipulating the exchange rate. I see that www.swiss-pass.ch quotes $524. It must know I am accessing from a US IP address. So they would be using an exchange rate of 1 CHF = 1.22 USD. So it would appear that www.swiss-pass.ch is adding 3% for their credit card clearing fee plus 4% "foreign currency transaction fee" to get from 1.14 to 1.22.

So best price would be to buy direct from SBB, where your credit card does not charge foreign currency conversion (Don't accept DCC). You still might have have 1% Master Card or Visa fee. Also, it would best be done in person at a Swiss train station, as on-line credit card transactions are problematic when dealing with SBB.

Posted by
1654 posts

One additional piece of information:

  • You do not need your Swiss Travel Pass in order to make reservations for scenic trains. So you can safely make these reservations early in your planning, and postpone the decision on whether you will buy a pass, and if so, which one, till later. And even just buy the passes here.

What matters is that when you finally board the train you have a valid ticket or pass.

Posted by
10 posts

I bought the insurance offered for the lasses. I'm going to check on getting a refund and repurchasing through SBB. I still could use some help with the Golden scenic train reservation. I have received nothing. The only proof I have for the reservation is my credit card statement. Any thoughts?

Posted by
37 posts

I would email them again. I emailed that address with a question back in April. They replied 2 days later. Try again and express more urgency.