Buying Swiss billets dégriffés

[Nicholas43]

We will be travelling from Montreux to Geneva on Wed 11 April. Am I right in thinking that we can get cheap(ish) billets dégriffés limited to a specific train? If so, how and when do I buy these? On the website, x weeks in advance, after first having acquired a swisspass login (but not wanting or needing a swisspass card) ?

 

[30907]

It's Supersaver on the English version, 30 days in advance, and you can book as a guest, online or App only.
At a quick glance the problem seems to be that you have to select your train before seeing the fares.

 

[Gordon]

Indeed.

I tested what happens: once you put in a ghost request for a date within 30 days of now, you can watch what happens then abort the process before going on to pay. The fare will be around CHF 15 without railcard discount.

I'd call that cheap, not cheapish, for 1h15 mins of very pleasant rail travel.

You don't need any railcards or logins - so almost better than some UK TOCs

.

 

[Nicholas43]

Thanks, 30907 and Gordon. And I agree that CHF15 is good value.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I think we'll see a lot more of these "Advances" as SBB converts to being a more UK-like fixed-formation multiple unit railway rather than the flexible LHCS formations they have used up to now.

 

[duesselmartin]

Considering Thema size of the country, any journey ist really local, extended only by loops up anderen down the mountain.
So Ist wonder if supersaver fares are a good Idea to have for national journeys.

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

Also note that SuperSaver fares are available right up to the day of departure (seems to be up to c.2 hours in advance), but of course these will be more expensive than the 30 day ahead versions or may not be available at all.
To date, I don't recall anyone on here querying what happens if you miss the connnection etc. etc.: but please note this is Switzerland, not the UK (I've made four long distance journeys there in the past three weeks and all but one have been 90mins or more late....)

 

[Bletchleyite]

Considering Thema size of the country, any journey ist really local, extended only by loops up anderen down the mountain.
So Ist wonder if supersaver fares are a good Idea to have for national journeys.

Geneve Aeroport to St Gallen is about 3 hours. Advances are available for far shorter UK journeys than that.

 

[Nicholas43]

Just to complete the story: thanks, I booked a couple of weeks in advance as a "guest". SBB emailed me the tickets in pdf, to print, CHF14 each. (So it's essential to double-check that you've typed your email address correctly!) A gorgeous journey with varied light on the lake, and sun on the distant Dents du Midi. Ticket inspector zapped the bar codes on my print-outs, but didn't in practice ask for our passports. Very comfortable train with many (8?) carriages.