Global Rail Pass

We bought one over the winter when they were having a big sale. They recently extended our activation dates until 2022 so seems odd that you can’t buy now?

seems odd that you can’t buy now?

Not really when borders between countries are closed to non-essential travel during the pandemic and there is no definite plan and how that will resume.

I actually have one that I bought last year Feb. for a trip that didn't materialize. It's still good. My sister is now going with me on the trip and in trying to get one both via Rick Steves' website and Rail Europe, it was impossible, the reason (in small print) was that Switzerland was the only one being sold at this time. Of course, I will revisit the sites over and over until it's possible.

It looks like it is still on sale directly on the Eurail site
https://www.eurail.com/en/eurail-passes/global-pass

As mentioned, use the official website and not a third party reseller and the Global passes are available.

Hmm. An ad from Rail Europe/Rick Steves? just appeared in my box, for a "sale" on the railpass. I'm wondering if this is bogus. The senior Global Pass I purchased in Feb. '21 for $598 is now on "sale" for 10% off at $588. That's not 10% off. AND, no Rail Protection Plan is available. Not a good thing, as many things can happen on a trip. No refunds. The sale is on until the end of the month. I think I should wait til after the sale when I can get the Rail Protection Plan. Could this be a scam? Using Rick Steves' name?

if you think it is a scam hover over the email address of the sender and also the email and web address they want you to use. Do they smell right? Could there be a zero for an "O" or a 1 for an "l", etc. Do you have to click through or can you type in the publicly available seller website?

I just checked on Eurail and they are indeed having a sale. I don’t see anything for the price you have listed though. I would go directly to the Eurail website to purchase, but the sale is legitimate. Also, rail protection is available for $30 at checkout, and allows you to cancel for any reason

Rail Europe was my source for Switzerland only. Still exists.

It was the price I paid in Feb. of 2020. No sale. Also, Railpass Protection is available for paper copy for $17.

Have you looked on Eurail.com? They are the direct sellers of the rail pass. RailEurope might have been charging an up charge. What I am saying is when I checked the Eurail website, I didn’t see any Senior passes discounted at $688. They were all discounted to much lower than that.

And also as I said, if you buy a discounted ticket you can purchase a “plus” plan for $30 that offers protection and is available for both paper and mobile passes. Plus is only available for discounted tickets as the cancelation policy is quite flexible for full priced tickets. I purchased mobile passes that were on sale this past March and bought the protection and even clicked through the sale process yesterday to make sure it was still an option and it is.

Paper passes are able to have the protection plan for $17. That's what we're aiming for.

Ah yes, you are correct. I didn’t even notice paper passes were less to protect. My apologies. Well I hope you’re able to secure the pass you need and have fun on your trip!