Interrail Passes

[rvdborgt]

Yes, I checked that and it's about €22 single ICE Strasbourg to Karlsruhe a week in advance.

Assuming you're continuing in Germany the same day, then it's still more expensive that the €19 pass reservation.
Interestingly, if you only have a valid pass for Germany, it's €13, or only €15 with valid pass for France, bookable online. Not sure what the staff say (if anything) if you have a global pass with that.

 

[peteb]

Thanks. Not sure whether I'll get an IR pass, separate tickets or a mix including Bahncard.

Assuming you're continuing in Germany the same day, then it's still more expensive that the €19 pass reservation.
Interestingly, if you only have a valid pass for Germany, it's €13, or only €15 with valid pass for France, bookable online. Not sure what the staff say (if anything) if you have a global pass with that.

 

[rvdborgt]

Thanks. Not sure whether I'll get an IR pass, separate tickets or a mix including Bahncard.

Then, for regular tickets, a Probe-BahnCard could be cost-effective.
The mandatory reservations from/to France only apply to/from the first/last station in Germany. Of course, if you buy a Sparpreis-type ticket, you still won't be flexible.

 

[HS2isgood]

When does the Black Friday offer start?

 

[rvdborgt]

When does the Black Friday offer start?

Whenever they feel like it. Maybe in a month or so. Eurail don't announce anything in advance. We don't even know for sure there will be one this year.

 

[jamesontheroad]

When does the Black Friday offer start?

In past years, it has been quite a short sale, usually start in the week of Black Friday (last Friday in November) or even on the day itself.

I would expect -20% but only on selected continuous 1/2/3 month passes.

 

[Lemmy99uk]

When does the Black Friday offer start?

If you sign up for the Interrail newsletter you will be notified when it begins.

 

[dutchflyer]

In past year's, it has been quite a short sale, usually start in the week of Black Friday (last Friday in November) or even on the day itself.

I would expect -20% but only on selected continuous 1/2/3 month passes.

DO doublecheck conditions for any special offer-in the past it often was-for those shrewdly preplanning!- only for OFF-main summer- and/or NewYear seasons. As such understandable.

 

[jamesontheroad]

DO doublecheck conditions for any special offer-in the past it often was-for those shrewdly preplanning!- only for OFF-main summer- and/or NewYear seasons. As such understandable.

Yes. A quick search of this forum shows that in previous years you normally have to activate the pass before the 1st of May in the following year.

 

[MrJeeves]

I believe the discount this Black Friday will be 25%.

 

[DanielB]

Yes. A quick search of this forum shows that in previous years you normally have to activate the pass before the 1st of May in the following year.

Last year that wasn't the case: I travelled this summer with a pass purchased in last years black Friday sale.

 

[JB_B]

Last year that wasn't the case: I travelled this summer with a pass purchased in last years black Friday sale.

That's correct. Last year I bought passes mid Dec 24 in the black Friday sale which are last activation 17 Nov 25.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Good news. I was remembering the 2022 Black Friday sale, which had a shorter activation window.

 

[popeter45]

is there a cap on pass purchesses during the sale in the past?
hope to Grab 2 for seperate trips comming up

 

[JB_B]

is there a cap on pass purchesses during the sale in the past?
hope to Grab 2 for seperate trips comming up

I've bought multiple passes in previous sales. I don't think there's any limit.

 

[rvdborgt]

is there a cap on pass purchesses during the sale in the past?

Not that I'm aware of. I've bought up to 4 passes in previous sales. There are also multiple places to buy passes online and offline, so any cap would be hard to manage. I used allaboard.eu the last few times because they offer 100% refunds.

 

[Tester]

Not that I'm aware of. I've bought up to 4 passes in previous sales. There are also multiple places to buy passes online and offline, so any cap would be hard to manage. I used allaboard.eu the last few times because they offer 100% refunds.

That's a handy tip - thank you.

 

[rvdborgt]

That's a handy tip - thank you.

Do check the conditions of the passes before you buy. Allaboard seem to offer a full refund when the standard refund policy applies. Passes bought in the sale in September were non-refundable after 7 days and Allaboard also applied those conditions.

 

[Tester]

Do check the conditions of the passes before you buy. Allaboard seem to offer a full refund when the standard refund policy applies. Passes bought in the sale in September were non-refundable after 7 days and Allaboard also applied those conditions.

That's fair enough - I will check.

 

[zero]

Do check the conditions of the passes before you buy. Allaboard seem to offer a full refund when the standard refund policy applies. Passes bought in the sale in September were non-refundable after 7 days and Allaboard also applied those conditions.

Passes bought in the July sale should be fully refundable right? The emails I got from Allaboard do not say anything about refunds. However I did not buy in September so don't know if the emails would have mentioned the limited refund policy that applied then.

 

[rvdborgt]

Passes bought in the July sale should be fully refundable right?

Correct.

 

[peteb]

https://plus.interrail.eu/en/interrail-plus-pass

Has anyone been tempted by the plus pass which includes reservation fees?

 

[peterblue]

https://plus.interrail.eu/en/interrail-plus-pass

Has anyone been tempted by the plus pass which includes reservation fees?

It's very poor value for money:
-It does not offer additional flexibility (seat reservations do need to be booked in advance even if they end up being 'free')
-It's an extra 100 euros which is a lot for what you are getting.
-The free seat reservations are not even unlimited. You only get a few 'credits' to use, and after that, you have to pay the regular reservation fee like everyone else.

 

[peteb]

It's very poor value for money:
-It does not offer additional flexibility (seat reservations do need to be booked in advance even if they end up being 'free')
-It's an extra 100 euros which is a lot for what you are getting.
-The free seat reservations are not even unlimited. You only get a few 'credits' to use, and after that, you have to pay the regular reservation fee like everyone else.

Yes, it's not clear whether TGV in France or the France-Italy TGV, or the France-Spain services are "free" to reserve or not. Be good to get clarity on that because they are quite expensive to book. However at €30 each way, if the pass avoids Eurostar UK- Europe reservation fees, I guess it might be worthwhile for some trips.

 

[MrJeeves]

The free seat reservations are not even unlimited. You only get a few 'credits' to use, and after that, you have to pay the regular reservation fee like everyone else.

The credits are for "high demand" services (Eurostar, TGVs when beyond the cheaper fee tier and all international services, some sleeper services in seats only). Services that don't require credits don't have a limit on the reservations you can make (well, except the fair use policy).

I still believe it's pretty poor value for most people. For UK travellers who will need to endure a journey through the Channel Tunnel each way in most cases, it's probably not that bad given Eurostar's normal reservation fees. Even more so if you wanted to travel around/through Germany with DB's reservation costs too.

12.1.1. The Credits package for a Global Plus Pass consists of the following:

• Twenty-one (21) Type A Credits which can be used to book Type A Seat Reservations via our Website. Please contact our Customer Service team to see how many Type A Credits you have remaining.
• Three (3) Type B Credits which can be used to book a Type B Seat Reservation via our Website. The total number of Credits required to book a Type B Seat Reservation varies and depends on the service concerned and will be presented to you before finalising your booking. You can see how many Type B Credits you have left when logged in to your Account.

The total value of the Type A Credits is fixed at one-third of the Credits package, divided by the maximum number of Type A Seat Reservations that you may book. The total value of a Type B Credit is fixed at two-thirds of the Credits package, divided by the maximum number of Type B Seat Reservations/Benefits that you may book.

From https://plus.interrail.eu/en/pass-purchase-conditions

I think the fact the credit count is the same for the 5 and 7 day passes is a bit odd, personally. But I also think not that many people will be taking more than 3 services where they want "free" reservations per day. Or if they are, they won't be doing that for the whole trip.

Yes, it's not clear whether TGV in France or the France-Italy TGV, or the France-Spain services are "free" to reserve or not.

It's quite clear, in fact ...if you find the right page!

Interrail Global Plus Pass | Interrail.eu

Discover the new Global Plus Pass, offering you all the benefits of our standard Pass without the hassle of seat reservation fees.

plus.interrail.eu

I've trimmed the table to only those which cost credits, and included it below

Where can I make seat reservations with the Global Plus Pass?	Carriers that can be booked with the Global Plus Pass	How many credits will a seat reservation require?
International	Eurostar	1 credit
	ÖBB Nightjet (seats only, sleeping accommodations cannot be booked)	0 or 1 credit, depending on demand
	European Sleeper (seats only, sleeping accommodations cannot be booked)	0 or 1 credit, depending on demand
France	SNCF	0 or 1 credit, depending on demand
	SNCF International	1 credit for most trains (1st class seat reservations from France to Italy require 2 credits)

 

[andersj]

I used allaboard.eu the last few times because they offer 100% refunds.

At least last year they had a character limit for filling out your name. I contacted them and they claimed that applied for every Eurail/Interrail distributer and that you where supposed to just will out as much as possible. I didn't want to risk getting into a discussion with train staff about my and my travel partners name not matching the passports, so I bought them directly from Eurail where there is no character limit.
There is a character limit for paper passes, but not the digital passes.

It's a bit frustrating because I might have to refund one of the passes bought last year.

 

[DeverseSam]

https://plus.interrail.eu/en/interrail-plus-pass

Has anyone been tempted by the plus pass which includes reservation fees?

It looks potentially worthwhile.

The cost is 99 euro and for a first class pass, the maximum value is:

21 Frecciarossa reservations = 273 euro
2 Eurostar reservations = 80 euro
1 SNCF TGV "peak” reservation = 20 euro

Total 373 euro

 

[signed]

It's very poor value for money

I would agree for the Global, but the main value boost is the Italy pass, it's worth it after merely 1 train per day (over the 4 days)

 

[MrJeeves]

25% off all passes (except Switzerland One Country) sale starts 25 November, running until 17 December.

Same refund and exchange conditions as normal passes.

 

[MisterM]

As is traditionally leaked early by a TOC, this year SNCF: https://www.sncf-connect.com/en-en/catalogue/description/interrail-pass