The fares you requested are not available with the selected rail pass

The reason is either too many connections in the route you requested or at least one connection that is not reservable or not yet for sale. (Rules vary when you cross this many countries.) You could break up your request to only reserve the legs that require it.

But first, check schedule options with a search through the Deutsche Bahn link at Looking Up Train Schedules and Routes Online. As shown there, routes through Germany don't require reservations and are the most convenient for this trip, with only 3 connections. The last leg, from Visp to Zermatt, is by regional train that doesn't accept reservations. (Routes through France do require reservations which are fairly expensive.)

I don't understand "fares" with a rail pass.

Are you possibly trying to get passholder "reservations"? When is the trip? Thalys and TGV limit the number of passholder reservations. If the travel is near, the passholder reservations could be sold out by now.

We are traveling from May 12th to May 25th, 2018.

When using raileurope.com it lets you search for trains, and you enter your information with what kind of travel pass you have. And then it give me the "fares you requested are not available with the selected rail pass" I understand there may be reservation fees, but this just tells me we can not use our pass and must purchase a full priced ticket on the train.

The issue is when I try to book Amsterdam to Zurich it says its around $800 to go there as our travel pass is not accepted, That seems rather high for a reservation fee (?)

I thought you could book up to 60 days in advance, but possibly am confused, as we are still about 45 days out and seem to be having issues.

I will see if we book say Amsterdam to Frankfurt than Frankfurt to Zurich it makes a difference.

Perhaps you are trying to book a train through France, e.g. the Thalys dep 8:17 with a transfer in Paris. As Lee says, French long distance trains (Thalys, TGV) limit the number of rail pass holders; that limit already may have been reached. If you take the ICE dep 8:40 via Frankfurt instead you should have no problem whatsovever since reservation is neither mandatory on German trains nor are there any restriction for pass holders. If you want to reserve a seat (€4.50 in 2nd class) you can do so by looking up your connection at www.bahn.com and selecting seat only. There would be one transfer in Frankfurt.

It sounds to me as if you're bumping up against a rail-pass quota on seat reservations. You might be successful if you choose a itinerary on the same day.

And this is the very reason so many seasoned travelers here do NOT recommend Eurail Passes.

Yes I have been reading mixed reviews of rail passes, some good and some really bad. It is rather confusing! I don't understand how they can sell a train pass to someone then not let them use it.

I am looking into flights from Amsterdam to Zurich then taking the train from Zurich to Zermatt and then decide how to get to Paris later on. Also looking at booking trains separately with out a pass and seeing the cost.

I appreciate your help(s) and input on this. I am open to any other travel options or ticks you may have to share!

Sla019 has made a suggestion that might work. I hate to see you pay for a flight when you've already plunked down the money for a rail pass.

What I think about the rail-pass quotas is not printable.

1. Don't use rail Europe. They rarely show all possible trains.
2. Look up the trip on https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml. when you look at the details it will tell you which trains require reservations. If they are not required then just get on the train find a seat that is not reserved and show your rail pass to the conductor when he comes around.
3. Read the info on making reservations with a rail pass on https://www.seat61.com
4. I have successfully made reservations with this site - https://www.b-europe.com/EN

Thank You Everyone!

Thankfully we didn't buy the passes as of yet as we are both so confused why we cant use them on certain parts of the trip. We were looking into them more before the big purchase.

It seems to be cheaper to book everything separately on the websites you have suggested.

Forget reading the reviews. I've encountered the pass quota in France when I had a pass that included France, now I don't anymore, only use the Austria-Germany Pass now. I made the reservations usually a few days before or even the night before when it was a TGV ride.

Yes, sometimes I was told " no longer possible because of the pass quota for 2nd class." No big deal, I asked about a 1st class seat reservation as the 2nd class quota had already been met. I always got the 1st class reservations, all this was during summer trips and a few times the day before the TGV ride. Never had to alter the trip plans by having to depart at a different time because of pass quota. Just work around the pass quota.

There is direct connection between Amsterdam and Frankfurt on the ICE, I took that ride in 2014 as a day trip to Amsterdam. Tp avoid the Pass quota, take that route or another route to get you into Germany, such as Amsterdam to Duisburg, then to Frankfurt or Zurich. Duisburg Hbf is major transfer station.

With such a small amount of train travel is there a reason that you don't just buy point to point tickets, and take advantage of German Sparpreis and Swiss international saver fares? What is the reason for getting the pass? To save money? Time? Hassle? Or because you think that that's what folk like you do? Reading back that sounds a bit unpleasant, but these are genuine questions.

Don't use rail Europe. They rarely show all possible trains.

That's not the only problem with RailEurope. 1) They also don't show all the fares. 2) You can't get Länder tickets and regional passes with RailEurope. 3) Plus the charge more for exactly the same tickets than does the Bahn.

For five change of venues starting and ending at FRA, last October I spent $266.54. Even at today's exchange rate it only would have been $276.90. I just looked up those tickets on RailEurope and got a total of $489.00, almost twice as much as I would spend today.

So, not only don't use RailEurope to buy tickets, don't even use them for pricing. Trainline, on the other hand, was only 11€ higher for the total, because they apparently don't understand RMV pricing and were therefore more expensive from FRA to St. Goar. Otherwise, their pricing was right on. On the other hand, Trainline has an exchange fee for advance purchased regional tickets. Don't use them for those tickets that you can buy at the time of travel for the same price.

Basic lesson is do not buy a rail pass for this trip. And do not look at ticket prices on RailEurope.

$800 to go from Amsterdam to Zurich? No. We have tickets from Amsterdam to Basel, bought on Bahn.de. for 119 euros. Add a bit to get from Basel to Zurich, but the cost is nowhere near $800.

Thank You Everyone. Our TA told us to get a train pass, and after looking else where I have found way cheaper and better trains to take then raileurope.ca/.com can offer.
We will be booking point to point tickets.

So you learned a lesson without having it be an expensive one. Great!!
And next trip you will probably feel confident enough to bypass the travel agent (or at very least, find one who knows more about European travel.)