rail pass

In the first place, you can make just seat reservations for the Munich to Dresden train (assuming it's an express - ICE, IC, or EC) online at the German Rail (Bahn) website. On all but a few express trains in Germany, seat reservations are €4 each, and German Rail does not limit seats for passholders. Chances are very good that there will be reservable seats available from the ticket counter in Munich when you get there.

Thank you for your reply. I understand that obtaining seat rsvns in Germany will be an easy prospect. My main concern is seat rsvns from Berlin to Paris Currently, the DB Bahn site does not have the rsvn only option highlighted only the ticket w/rsvn. This particular schedule, the 944 which leaves Berlin at 7h48 and arrives in Paris at 15h59 is the timetable I have been planning for two months. Today I receive my railpass in the mail and discover a disclaimer for procurring limited seat rsvn for railpass holders. Plus I haven't even begun to make my TGV rsvn from Paris to Lyon yet. Looks like the vacation is going to be full of surprises and delays.
Maybe Seat61.com is on to something and next time just go a la carte with the tickets. Not a happy camper right now.

That connection has a change of trains in Köln. You can reserve a seat on the Berlin to Köln section. The Köln to Paris part is on Thalys. I don't see anyway on the Thalys website to reserve with a pass. The Thalys train makes a stop in Brussels. I have heard of people being "stranded" in Brussels for days because pass holder reservations were sold out, even though there were seats available at full fare. But the fact that you cannot reserve a seat online for a train mostly outside Germany does not necessarily mean that they're sold out. I think it has something to do with other rail companies not giving the Bahn free access to their reservation system. For the ICE, a "reservation" is just that. A seat is reserved for you for just a small administrative fee. With Thalys you get a reserved seat but the cost is for more than just the administrative cost of reserving the seat. Thalys thinks they are too good to by covered by just a rail pass, so they add a surcharge for their trains.

Most countries require a seat reservation on their better trains. In some countries, it's 3-4E. Some charge more. However, the Thalys train is the worst at 30E-39E depending on the journey. Most of this reservation and seat information is actually on the Eurail.com website. They just don't bother to direct you to it. Here's the link. http://www.eurail.com/planning/train-seat-reservations/reservation-fees Secondly, some train systems limit the seats to passholders. It is not unusual for passholders to be held off until later trains. All of this is not new. They've been doing this for years. They're probably now including more information in their ticket packets. As for a travel agent for Germany trains, there isn't anybody better than Lee.

Why not avoid the high Thayls surcharge with an alternate route? There are plenty of ICE-only routes to Paris from Berlin departing all the time. Most of them are only slightly longer than the ICE-Thalys route. You can purchase all your reservations all the way to Paris on Bahn.com. There's an ICE departing Berlin at 08:31 with one change in Mannheim that arrives in Paris at 16:50. That's only 50 minutes later than your original plan, but will save you a ton of money and hassle.

For the travel within France portions of your trip, you have a couple options: -Pay extra for reservations on RailEurope.com if they're still available. Just because they're sold out on RailEurope doesn't mean they're sold out peroid, it means RailEurope sucks. -Call TGV's customer service line, I think you can make reservations only through them. -Wait til you get to Germany, go to a DeutscheBahn KudenZentrum (customer service center) and purchase the TGV reservations there. You can buy reservations for TGV trains in Germany. That way you don't have to sweat it by waiting til you get to France and risk having the allocated seats for passholders sold out.

Thanks to all with these very informative and helpful replys. Does anyone think an american travel agent is a good option for making train rsvns? or even if it's possible? Otherwise I"ll probably wait and do everything the minute I land in Munich.
Thanks again!

Pete, As a general rule I avoid the Thalys trains in going to and fro between Germany and France. Since you have a Pass and doing the Berlin-Paris route by day, I myself would and have done it this way: aim for the 1650 arr in Paris as suggested above, get the mandatory reservation for the, not Mannheim, but Frankfurt-Paris leg in Munich. Take the Berlin-Frankfurt direct ICE, this gives you more transfer time than you have in Mannheim and some time for lunch at Frankfurt Hbf before catching the 1301 Frankfurt to Paris. As pointed out there's no mandatory reservation for Munich to Dresden, via Berlin or which ever route you choose. I would take the Munich-Berlin ICE direct, then back track to Dresden. I have run into this "limited seats" for passholders...unpleasantly. That's why you avoid Thalys, and come up with a different route and schedules.

pete, Its not just the Man in Seat 61. There have been discussions here for months and months, at least a couple of years, all noting the difficulty pass holders have, and the additional charges, with mandatory reservations. Germany and Switzerland aren't usually a problem, but Thalys, TGV, and faster than milk run trains in Italy can really cause a problem. It really is the unpleasant underbelly of the railpass business.

Great advice, I can't thank you all enough!