I just purchased a Benelux-France Pass. I went to the RailEurope site to make a reservation on the Amsterdam to Paris Train. The "Reservation with Pass" site only offers something called a Passholder's Fare. It is $79! I can buy a second class ticket for $98. I think I paid around $11 in the past. What am I doing wrong?
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19227 posts
Just one more railpass trap.
That $79 "Passholder fare" is undoubtedly for Thalys. They consider Thalys to be a "Premium" train, for which the pass does not completely cover the fare. The Passholder reservation is really a supplement. Go to the German Rail website and look for regular ICs. You'll have to select "All without ICE" to screen out Thalys. They might charge a few Euro for a seat reservation, if you want one. They are slower than Thalys.
I just found some IC/RE connections with 3 or more train changes taking 7-8 hours (Thalys is direct in just over 3 hours).
ETO: You can reserve a seat in 2nd class for $49. And don't let non-refundable, advance purchase tickets from sites like Thalys.com and Bahn.de scare you. The "reservation" from RailEurope is non-refundable if not returned 3 days before it's date.