Reservation for Select Saver Pass

Lee, thanks for your reply. Does anyone think it would be OK to take a chance that seats would be available? I have used Select Saver before but have always make a reservation when I arrieved at a station. I just wanted to make sure this leg of the trip was in place. Thanks. Tom

In general, rail companies do not offer passholder reservations for routes not entirely in that country. For instance I looked up Zuerich to Munich and Munich to Vienna on German Rail and for both routes, it said a "Reservation without ticket" was unavailable. Neither could I get a reservation without ticket for Zuerich to Vienna on Austria Rail, which would be through Innsbruck. So, I think you should break it up into country segments, like Zuerich to the last station in Switzerland (Buchs?) and the first station in Austria (Feldkirch?) to Vienna and try to get reservations online from the national rail company. Or, you can get Euraide to buy them from you at the Munich Hbf, and send them over here for $50 per order. Another thing to consider is getting advance purchase point-point ticket with reservations, like the Austrian Rail Sparshiene. You'l loose flexibility, but it might be less expensive than a Saver Pass.

Tom, I mostly travel on regional trains that don't have reservable seats. Only twice in ten years have I had to stand for a while. I've ridden on Express trains which have reservable seats. A few times I have not had a reservation and didn't need one. Three times I have had a reservation and didn't need one. Only once, on a national holiday, did I need a reservation and not have one. But I could see from the overhead lights that over half the seats were not reserved. It might be a good idea, for a long trip, to have a reservation, but you should be able to get it that day at the station. The day before would be better.

I personally never use seat reservations unless they are required. Full disclosure: I usually travel on a rail workers' pass. I still have to get mandatory reservations when required, such as fast trains in Italy, TGVs in France etc. Neither the Swiss national railway (SBB/CFF/FFS) nor the Austrian one Öbb (Oebb) require reservations. You would be able to knock me over with a feather if it was impossible, or even a little difficult, to find plenty of seats in mid October from Zurich to Vienna. In the beginning of June last year we hopped on a RailJet from Salzburg to Wien and quickly found 2 seats adjacent to each other.