Hi,
I just reserved seats on various trains in France and Italy by calling the Deustche Bahn call center.
However, I didn't get a confirmation number and I am a bit worried what happens if the order doesn't show up in my mail next week.
Does anyone have experience using the DB Call center service? Has it worked well?
Thanks,
Raji.
You can call your credit card company and see if they charged the tickets.
or call the train company again, and see if your reservations is in their system. If it is, get the confirm# and see if you can print the confirm receipt online.
Oh, I didn't realize that they should really give out a confirmation number.
The hotels didn't give us any confirmation number, and I was told that that is how it is over there, so I assumed that it works that way for trains as well. Is this not the case?
Thanks,
Raji.
And, btw, I called the Rick Steves' railpass people in WA just a while ago and they seem to think this is an uncommon way to get reservations and were even surprised I called Germany. Maybe I am just panicking (this is my first time travelling to Europe), I don't know...
What do you mean, "reserved seats".
If you are actually talking about reserving just a seat, I would say that it is a little unusual to call German Rail. Most people just get their reservations over there. A reserved seat on a German train at the station in Germany is just €4. In all my travel in Europe in the last 20 years, I think only once was I on a train that was completely occupied (SRO). Even then over half the seats were not reserved.
If you are talking about passholder reservations on night trains, which is actually a supplement for the accommodations, and which do sell out, it's not so unusual and far more sensible than reserving through RailEurope at an inflated price or paying the $50 fee to go through Euraide.
I recently purchased tickets online through DB because it was such a great deal. I did have to commit to a specific train, but the tickets were less than half the standard fare. I did not call, but the online purchase went perfectly. Seat reservations were included in that great price, by the way. The tickets arrived in my mailbox in the US exactly 6 days later, just as promised. The entire ticket is in German, but I read enough German to figure it out. So, in reference to your question, I would anticipate all happening just as promised. It would be nice to have a confirmation number though. I think I'd call them back.
Thanks Lee. Yes, I am making passholder reservations for trains that don't originate in Germany.
I called them again last night and apparently they don't give order numbers or confirmation numbers for orders made through telephone. I am quite surprised that their online and phone booking systems are so divorced from each other and there there is really no way to track a phone reservation!
I am just hoping that the tickets actually come by post in a week or so.
To be honest, I now think that Euraide would probably have been a better choice for peace of mind, even with their 50$ fee. :-(
Just wanted to post an update:
1- Yesterday, I received the passholder reservations by post from Bahn, 5 business days since we ordered them by calling them.
2- If you want to make reservations in future, call their service center (daily / 07:30 am - 9:00pm ) at +49 180 5 99 66 33 and then dial the 9 for an english speaking agent. I e-mailed [email protected] and got a reply back in English as well. Hope this information helps future travellers in not wasting time trying to get to someone who speaks English.
Thanks,
Raji
Raji,
I think that email address should be fah[email protected]
