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Interrail Passes
- Thread starter MichaelTrains
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RailUK Forums
Farigiraf
Member
Is Saarbahn and the Karlsruhe tram-train still permitted, or were these cut around the same time too?
Ringo2112
Member
Thanks, that makes sense. I don't even think Eurail even offers an expedited service like DHL or Fed Ex to U.S....they certainly won't answer phone calls. Well, if I can buy a paper pass for him in Vienna I will. I guess Zurich doesn't sell them any longer. Last resort, we just go paperless for him.
They should be. In Germany, all trains under the Deutschlandtarif are now included. There's no relation with included trains in Switzerland.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
ÖBB do sell paper Eurail passes at certain stations, including Wien Hbf. This page only mentions the Eurail Austria pass, but in the t&c they explicitly say that they sell the complete range of Eurail passes.
I've bought passes for friends before, albeit not from ÖBB, but if you have name, birth date and passport number, it should work.
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Ringo2112
Member
Thank you....appreciate it
railfan99
Established Member
Suspect you mean a paper pass, as they're the ones that are posted overseas by Eurail B.V.
D6130
Established Member
Sorry, can't do a link on my phone, but it's been reported elsewhere that Trenitalia Paris-Milan Frecciarossa services will be joining the Eurail/Interrail network imminently....with reservation fees of only €12/13 as compared to the rip-off €30 charged by SNCF for seats on their competing TGV services
This would be a great development for UK to Italy by rail (particularly as point to point return fares are often not much less than a Pass in peak season) - the timings work better and it's a nicer train!
It's already happened I think. Certainly they're in the railplanner app for today.
See also https://www.seat61.com/news.htm
Will be interesting to see how much Interrail availability there is.
If it's the same as the domestic Frecciarossa (Frecciarossi?) in Italy, it's last seat availability.
It seems to be priced the same as domestic: Italiarail is offering reservations at €13 in either class, but last I heard they weren't actually completing the booking. Interrail's reservation portal is €13 + €2.
Nothing on ÖBB or Rail Europe yet.
jpl
Member
The new customer point in Helsinki (Finland) is now in use. They continue to sell tickets despite initial plans. But when asked for clarification what they can sell, they answered Interrail reservations can not be bought at Helsinki anymore. VR now sells seat/berth reservations only by phone. The phone service fees are currently €3.55 per answered call + €1 per reservation.
Officially I think it's tomorrow for go-live. It's in various journey planners but I can't yet get anything to sell me a reservation.
Mainline421
Member
Only Eurostar and Brussels TGVs have quota, otherwise every space is bookable, so I highly doubt Trenitalia would suddenly start
That's good to know - is that documented officially anywhere?
I looked at seat61 ...
How to make reservations with an Interrail pass
A practical guide to making seat, couchette or sleeper reservations to go with an Interrail or Eurail pass.
www.seat61.com
... and searched for "quota"
As far as I can see it says that there are quotas for Interrail/Eurail for TGV France-Italy, TGV France-Spain, TGV and ICE France-Germany ( in addition to Eurostar incl ex-Thalys routes).
Is that information incorrect?
Seat61 is correct, all those routes have a separate Interrail quota.That's good to know - is that documented officially anywhere?
I looked at seat61 ...
How to make reservations with an Interrail pass
A practical guide to making seat, couchette or sleeper reservations to go with an Interrail or Eurail pass.www.seat61.com
... and searched for "quota"
As far as I can see it says that there are quotas for Interrail/Eurail for TGV France-Italy, TGV France-Spain, TGV and ICE France-Germany ( in addition to Eurostar incl ex-Thalys routes).
Is that information incorrect?
Mainline421
Member
That is incorrect and at least 5 years out of date. Only the two previously mentioned have a quota, for years now. You can check the journey planners yourself if you have any doubts. Germany to France can even be purchased on board, and I personally got France to Spain on the day in the height of summer last year too
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This is interesting (and I'm not saying you're wrong
) - I did notice that availability was much more common on these trains for Interrail passes (some of them historically were very restricted!) but I am not aware of any official announcement that this policy had changed and thus assumed the separate quotas had just been increased rather than removed entirely, do you know if this is documented anywhere?Do they have a low-level reservation fee up to a quota then a more expensive one until every seat is reserved, or is that just for domestic TGVs?
That's the system for domestic TGVs, international TGVs tend to be a single set price (with a couple of exceptions)
That system is only in place for the domestic TGVs and the ones to Luxembourg and Freiburg.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Indeed, although it's not that long ago that they still had quota. I believe the pass holder quota on Paris-Barcelona/Milan/Germany came to an end at the end of 2022, when also the SNCF/RENFE co-operation stopped. I'm planning to send Mark Smith some updates for his reservations page soonish.
jpl
Member
Also, based on some rumours I've heard, some VR's Interrail reservations fees face a price hike. During high season sleeper compartments will cost 20% more than usual. I expect that high season means the Christmas and holiday season and Easter holiday season. No information on exact dates so far...
Sleeper pass reservations are now 50% of the regular available fare. For seats it's 25%, which can be rather expensive, but it's also optional. This changed rather recently (IIRC 1.5 years ago) so are they now planning yet another change?
jpl
Member
Yes, this is correct. The 20% increase during high season is now also mentioned here: https://www.interrail.com/en/book-reservations/reservation-fees/night-train-reservation-fees Look under Domestic night trains per country -> Finland. (It's partially outdated as reservations cannot be made at a station now.)
Mainline421
Member
Dynamic pricing has been in place for a while, so I'm not sure this is actually anything new? Unless you mean that sleeper reservations will now be charged at 60% of the base fare, but if that were the case, I'd expect VR to announce it publicly. I already paid €120 just for a reservation, from Tampere to Tornio in December (just before the Tampere ticket office closed), so reservation prices clearly can vary quite a bit.
Reservations can still be made at the one remaining ticket office in Helsinki (confirmed by VR in 2026) so that remains (technically) accurate for now.
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jpl
Member
Last week the staff in Helsinki actually said when asked that they can't sell reservations. Who is correct?