DB delays with ticket bought from SNCB

[in_luzern]

Asking for a friend who is currently en route from Basel SBB to Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium, with the entire journey booked in a single purchase from the SNCB website back in June.

She left Basel at 11:16, and should have arrived in Louvain-la-Neuve at 18:59, with changes in Köln and Brussels. Because of engineering works and replacement buses between Freiburg and Offenburg, she missed her connecting ICE in Köln (and another connection in Aachen due to a second delay), and is now expecting to arrive at her final destination at 22:01.

Who should she send her delay repay request to? SNCB who sold her the tickets, or DB who are responsible for the delay?

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

They should contact SNCB as the ticket seller. Their form can be found here: https://www.b-europe.com/EN/Contact/Client-Service#form

 

[in_luzern]

They should contact SNCB as the ticket seller. Their form can be found here: https://www.b-europe.com/EN/Contact/Client-Service#form

Thank you.

 

[Mike395]

They should contact SNCB as the ticket seller. Their form can be found here: https://www.b-europe.com/EN/Contact/Client-Service#form

That isn't correct as far as I'm aware, the original ticket retailer is irrelevant for delays where the journey was still completed (much like here in the UK) - SNCB will just refer you back to DB. They'll need to complete this form and post it back (yes, I know it's archaic!) or hand it into a German travel centre if they're passing back through Germany in the next couple of weeks.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

That isn't correct as far as I'm aware, the original ticket retailer is irrelevant for delays where the journey was still completed (much like here in the UK) - SNCB will just refer you back to DB. They'll need to complete this form and post it back (yes, I know it's archaic!) or hand it into a German travel centre if they're passing back through Germany in the next couple of weeks.

I've taken my advice from this:

Ihre Rechte als Fahrgast im Eisenbahnverkehr

Hier finden Kunden der Deutschen Bahn alle Regelungen zu den Fahrgastrechten im Eisenbahnverkehr.

www.bahn.de

Rights and regulations in international transport > Claiming compensation [Regelungen und Ansprüche im internationalen Eisenbahnverkehr > Beantragung von Entschädigungsansprüchen]

In principle, claims for compensation can be submitted to the Servicecenter Fahrgastrechte.

If your cross-border ticket or your ticket for international journeys was issued by DB, your claim will be processed directly by the Servicecenter Fahrgastrechte.

If your cross-border ticket or your ticket for international journeys was issued by another railway operator, that operator is responsible for processing your claim.

Claims submitted to the Servicecenter Fahrgastrechtewhere the ticket was not issued by DB will be forwarded by the Servicecenter Fahrgastrechte to the relevant company for further processing. To ensure faster processing, we therefore recommend that, in such cases, you send your claim directly to the issuing company. A list of contact details and customer service centres for international rail operators can be found in the PDF “International Conditions of Carriage” in Appendix 1.

You can also find the same rule on SNCB's page linked in my post:

Note: if your ticket was purchased from another company than SNCB-NMBS, you must contact the vendor of your ticket.

Within Germany, I also do it the other way around (I buy my Deutschland-Ticket from my local tram operator, they of course have no idea about rail delays on the other side of the country), but in this international case, the process seems quite clearly laid out by the websites in my opinion.

 

[30907]

She should be prepared for SNCB/DB to reckon the delay as under 120min, as the engineering works timetable applies, not the times given at the time of booking

 

[rvdborgt]

She should be prepared for SNCB/DB to reckon the delay as under 120min, as the engineering works timetable applies, not the times given at the time of booking

The timetable as given at the time of the booking is the only relevant one for your rights as a passenger.
Also, as far as I know, you need to claim compensation at the place where you bought the ticket.

 

[jpl]

Also, as far as I know, you need to claim compensation at the place where you bought the ticket.

This seems to be in coincidence with the UK delay repay, where compensation is claimed directly from TOCs, not from where the ticket was bought.

 

[Amalie]

I’ve purchased DB tickets from the NS before, where I managed to also get delay compensation via the NS. Using their online form was a lot nicer than needing to mail a letter or send a fax for sure!

 

[rvdborgt]

I’ve purchased DB tickets from the NS before, where I managed to also get delay compensation via the NS. Using their online form was a lot nicer than needing to mail a letter or send a fax for sure!

If this was for a journey between the Netherlands and Germany, then it was as much an NS ticket as a DB ticket, since the journey would involve both operators. DB have had online compensation request for a few years now.

 

[in_luzern]

The timetable as given at the time of the booking is the only relevant one for your rights as a passenger.

I would hope so, given that the engineering works were not announced when she bought the (non-refundable) ticket. Had she known at the time, she would have gone via Strasbourg/Luxembourg instead - slightly longer in theory, but quite a bit cheaper and less prone to long delays.

 

[DanielB]

Travelling via Luxembourg was not practical either, as there are ongoing engineering works between Metz and Luxembourg as well.

I was lucky myself on the 9th of August as timings of my trip enabled to avoid the track works by taking the route Basel - Strassbourg - Offenburg, but that doesn't always work due to the awkward frequency of the Strassbourg - Offenburg trains (which are also not really appropriately sized to cope with the additional demand)