Maybe they Fixed It. The Hungarian Rail Service sure did a inconvenient thing.

Mr. E, please clarify the problem; I am confused.

Thanks.

You cant log into the MAV site in the US. Therefore you can not buy MAV tickets in the US.

International tickets are sold by both countries so you can buy Budapest to Vienna through OBB for often twice what MAV wants for them.

No thrid party to my knowledge sells MAV train tickets for local trips. Going to Eger for instance. So for those you just have to wait till you get here and pay a bit more because you didnt by them in advance, but trains within Hungary are pretty cheap so not a killer. Also, if you are 65 or over they are free.

Thank you.

I assume a VPN with an European exit would still work to buy tickets?

Here is a good solution for Vienna to Budapest and back. The thought of paying OBB prices turns me off so much, and the nonsense of MAV also turns me off. So, RegioJet to the rescue. The down sides are they only sell tickets a few months in advance which makes some folks nervous. As of today 30 January the furthest out you can buy a ticket to Vienna to Budapest is 28 March.

And then there are the stations which in Budapest are Kelenföld or Deli. Pick Budapest, Kelenföld (same train first stop, then metro into Pest).

I’m looking at tickets to/from Budapest and elsewhere and refer to man in seat 61 website.

Here’s what is said about country

When paying, enter your country as Egyesült Királyság.
United Kingdom in Hungarian is Egyesült Királyság, so start typing Eg and select that. Germany = Németország, Italy = Olaszország, Netherlands = Hollandia. Many counties outside Europe aren't recognised, so here's the easy workaround:
Simply start typing Eg and select Egyesült Királyság regardless of your actual country of residence. It makes absolutely no difference to the booking or payment, heaven knows why they bother asking, just typical nonsense you have to do to get it to work.

https://www.seat61.com/websites/mav-start.htm

Wondering if anyone has booked tickets on Mav this way

Karen, it seems to me that they fixed that issue, but I could be wrong. The US is Egyesült Államok if you wanted to check.

But thats not the issue. The issue is that with out an IP address from one of the countries listed above you are not going to be able to open the MAV website to begin discussing your problem.

Buy Regiojet tickets. Easier and cheaper.

I remember how in the 90ies the Hungarian railways sold cheap tickets to everywhere in Europe. And you could even buy very complicated routing. So a ticket Budapest - Vienna - Prague - Berlin - Amsterdam - Brussels - Paris - Zurich - Budepest., good for 2 months, would cost the equivalent of 50 euros. Since in most countries you could always travel a shorter route than what was on your ticket you could, with some clever choice of routings, almost get the equivalent of an Eurail Pass.

Someone in Budapest set up an operation in the (then nascent) internet, and sold those tickets on line. You ordered it with them, and he then went to the station in Budapest to buy the actual tickets. I would like to have seen the face of the ticket clerk, where that guy turned up again, to buy yet another set of Superstar tickets for complicated routings...

He then mailed them out. A lot of people had great train trips this way.

MAV is still selling tickets cheaper than other European railways, for the same trains. The railways are heavily subsidized, and pensioners travel for free. It is one of the ways Orban buys votes I guess...

But I guess that they do not want dirty foreigners to take advantage of that. Anyway, I am not going to jump through complicated hoops to save a few bucks. Easiest is to just buy tickets when you are there. And for Vienna - Budapest just buy with ÖBB.

Well, I am not happy about it either but let’s keep it pulled in a bit. Tickets are being offered online to 10 million Hungarians and about 450 million foreigners; not sure if they are dirty or clean. You say you live in Switzerland so you are on the list and not a dirty foreigner. No hoops for you to jump through.

The free rail rides aren’t for pensioners. You don’t need to have a pensioner card to ride free, it’s for anyone, even dirty (or clean) foreigners or locals over the age of 65. If Merz did it, it would be a great social justice, if Orban does it, its buying votes. Of course, the median net income in OBB Austria is around 4.000 euro a month while in MAV Hungary its about 1.100 euro so maybe a few subsidies are helpful.

MAV does have more discounted tickets than OBB so it’s often easier to get the cheaper ticket from MAV (sometimes). And when there is a savings with MAV it can be as much as 30 euro which in my lifestyle is more than "a few bucks". Most often CD and MAV want the same price on the Prague to Budapest run which oddly is usually cheaper than Vienna to Budapest.

Winter prices aren’t that bad on either OBB or MAV, but about mid-April the 50+euro tickets start showing up. Before I give OBB 50 euro for a 2.5-hour train ride, I will buy a 10 euro ticket from RegioJet and with the savings and some change, have enough for a flight to Montenegro.

Looking at RegioJet OK there are only 5 trains a day, but for the next train today if I just want a standard class seat- 11.9 Euro, cancellable until 15 minutes before departure, 1 Euro more for a standard class seat with free water and coffee (why wouldn't I take that option?), or 15.9 Euro for a standard class seat, free water, free coffee, free wifi, steward service and 'entertainment portal', better quality seats and their famous cheesecake for 50 euro cents a piece.

I'm not sure there is any real reason NOT to use RegioJet (even before this recent change)- and I speak as a Brit who can still book with MAV (allegedly). Also tickets are limited to the seating capacity, so there shouldn't be any standing.
It's almost certainly worth working round the lower frequency service, in my mind, and arriving at a much less exciting station in Budapest.

isn31c, i never trusted that RegioJet wouldnt just pack up and disapear. But its been many years and it hasnt happened, So i am with you. Yes, less exciting station in Budapest. BUT, lets say you are staying near the Opera.

Kelenföldi vasútállomás to the K+K by public transportation is 32 minutes and other than a short haul on a metro line (2 stops) you do most of it in a tram and get to see and cross the river, chain bridge, market hall, great synagogue, opera house. Wonderful orientation tour.

Keleti to the Opera is 8 min faster but not as interesting a trip.

So, yes, why the blazes would you hand OBB 50 euro? Especially knowing that MAV probalby has the same ticket for 19 euro.

Why does Regiojet have 5 trains a day while OBB has 16? Cause Regiojet is a business .... OBB just spends tax money. Subsidies are 65% of OBB's revenue.

We have another thread asking about getting from Budapest to Zagreb. Well, there's a direct train. Flights make no sense as none are direct and I am not fan of the bus. So the train would be my first choice. Problem is I cant find anyone but MAV that sells the ticket. So, any of your train experts have a suggestion? Am I missing a seller? I tried DB and OBB neither sell the ticket. I cant figure out the Croatian rail site.

According to The Man in Seat 61-

The InterCity train Agram leaves Budapest Déli at 15:35, arriving
Zagreb 21:59. The train travels along the southern shore of Lake
Balaton, a scenic section of line. The Agram has one comfortable
air-conditioned Hungarian car with open-plan 2nd class seats and one
air-conditioned Croatian car with 6-seat 2nd class compartments, plus
various older Hungarian cars only going as far as the border. There's
no 1st class and no catering car so take your own picnic & beer. Tip:
You can check the train formation, car numbers & car types using
www.vagonweb.cz. Change cs to English upper left, then click Train
formations, and use the search box to search for Agram. Fares start
at €17 in 2nd class if you book in advance. This is a
limited-availability fare, the price varies so book ahead. Buy tickets
at the Hungarian Railways website www.mavcsoport.hu, see tips for
using it. Booking opens 60 days ahead. You print your own ticket or
can show it in the MAV app on your phone. Suggested hotels in Zagreb.
If you don't succeed in buying online, simply buy at the station
either on the day or ideally a day or two beforehand. It's cheaper to
buy in advance, even close to departure date. The fare might be €39
bought 15 minutes before departure, but €29 if you buy at least 2h
before departure or the day before. [my emphasis]

Croatian Railways only sell domestic tickets (so from the border station at . But in other words his opinion is that the train does not sell out.

Travelling from Zagreb to Budapest-

You can buy transport and reservation tickets at the HŽPP
international ticket offices. We recommend that you buy your tickets
in advance at the international ticket offices. Tickets to the border
station can only be purchased at the full price on the train. Tickets
with special offers cannot be purchased on the train.

The trainline does not sell the ticket either.

Yup, the Man in Seat 61 is wrong. All you can do is buy them in Europre. Dang inconvenient.

So, this is only kind of related to the initial problem, but it sparked me to do a little experimenting.

I had a MAV account but was asked to download a new (OS) app. My log in credentials worked for the new app. I deleted the old one, since the old one was useless. It asked me to add a photo to my profile but didn’t seem to be picky about how good my selfie was.

I tried to buy a ticket Budapest to Zagreb both without my VPN and with my VPN (set to Budapest). While it would show me the schedule, it said Tickets Not Available with both methods. Just for the sake of it, I tried Budapest to Vienna as well, both ways. In addition to using my VPN, I also turned of Location Sharing for MAV, just in case it was sneaking in that way.

I then tried to buy a ticket Budapest to Pecs both with my VPN set to Budapest and with it completely turned off. While I didn’t complete the (free) purchase, it looked like it was going to work just fine - both ways.

My conclusion is I can buy train tickets from the U.S. for within Hungary, but not to a location outside of Hungary . 🤷🏻‍♀️

Interesting, because with my US IP phone its not a question about which tickets I can buy, I can not even open the site.

EDIT... Wait, I just used my US IP to book a ticket to Vienna tomorrow and the direct train to Zagreb two days from now.

Two days ago the MAV site would not even open. Maybe MAV has reopened to the world?

EDIT EDIT: I updated the MAV app on my US IP phone and it says it cant be used until the 5th of February because of system maintenance. But it did update.

Yes, I am now getting a message that tickets can’t be purchased online till 2/4. I didn’t have that earlier.

I think we are back to normal, but i will watch it for a week or two. They could have said in the email it was a short term thing. 🥳🥳

I am circling back around to my experiment. From Texas, I can book a trip to Pecs (didn’t try other locations in Hungary) for next week - withOUT my VPN. I got all the way to the point of paying. However I cannot buy a ticket for next week to Vienna. It shows me schedules but says No Tickets Available. I also tried Prague for next month - same. For international tickets, MAV does not appear to be fooled by my VPN. Just adding info.

TTM, are you using the App? The new one they made you download?

• On my US phone, on the website I can buy tickets to Vienna, no problem, but I can not using the new fangled app that updated the old one.
• So here is what is interesting. I opened my US IP phone app and it told me there was a new app, so i downloaded it. Looks very different than the old one and when i searched a train it said no tickets available.
• I tried the new app a second time, this time with my Hungarian wifi. No tickets available.
• So I went to my Hungarian phone and it still had the old app on it. But no request to update it. So I used it as is, plenty of tickets available.
• Then I used my US IP phone as a hotspot for my lap top and went to the website (i could do this one the phone, but its easier for an old fart to use a lap top), Anyway, with a US IP i opened the website and plenty of tickets available. I went through the whole process right down to seat selection. One more click and I would have had a ticket for next tuesday for 21 euro.

I think the problem is the new App.

As I've said, one of the big reasons I don't run Apps (unless I have to) is "they screw up the Apps all the time". And frequently the screw-ups leaves "holes" in the App that other people can take advantage of. That's more in the Android World than the Apple one.

If I wanted to use them traveling it would be on a "burner" phone that I didn't do anything secure on. Buying with a Credit Card is still protected from fraud so I'd use it for those type purchases on the phone.

My primary phone is a flip phone and I pay with cash that I get using a hand written check at a teller window. I make flight reservations through brick and mortar travel agencies and pay with money orders paid for with cash from the coffee can, and pick up the tickets at the airport. All my phones and electronics are registered under an alias so no one has my name or age or .......

You are right! (Why am I surprised?)

Yes, I started all previous attempts from the new app that I was forced to download and install. (And deleted the old one since it was useless.)

However I just tried again in the browser of my iPad (without a VPN) and was able to get all the way through to buy a one way ticket to Vienna (I mean really, why would I actually do that?) with seat reservation! Because I have had an account for a couple of years, it even had my cc stored.

So you are right - the new app is the problem!

(Edit: RobertH, I do live in Apple World.)

Well TTM, I beat it to death until I figured it out.