Interrail refund policy

[YellowBrick]

I'm having a ... protracted discussion with Interrail to try and get delay compensation refund.

Put simply, I had three delays in a single day.
Train 1 to destination A was cancelled.

I then took Train 2 to destination B instead (this train was delayed), and then took Train 3 to destination C (this train was *also* delayed).


I presented them with these scenarios:

a) I travel A -> B, spend an hour at B eating at a cafe and wandering around the town, then get on another train, B->C. You will consider this a "connecting trip"?

b) I start my travels at C, go to D, then E, then F, and finally finish back where I started at C. By your definition provided above this is all a "connecting trip" because my "final destination" was Home (C), and everywhere else was a connecting point?

And what about this scenario, do you consider this a connecting trip:

c) I travel G->H, arriving at H at midnight (the last train) and going straight to some accommodation to sleep. I get up at 5am to get the first train H->I, that's obviously a connecting trip but one with a night somewhere off the trains, but do you consider it a connecting trip for refund purposes?

Their response is telling (my bold):

From your mentioned scenarios, and based on that our pass is considered a season ticket or day ticket, our compensation is based on each travel day, therefore the final destination is the latest trip added in your pass on that travel day.
a) Its a connecting trip.
b) it's a connecting trip as long as they are all done within the same travel day.
c)It's not a connecting trip since you have activated a second travel day to travel from H to I

My bold. Basically no matter how many delays you suffer in a day, on an interrail pass they'll only refund as if it's one delay.
Does this seem right? I can't see how it's in line with the principles of the EU's General Conditions of Carriage, or even their own Special Conditions of Carriage which don't state this limitation.

 

[glasgowniteowl]

Is this delay repay for a journey within the UK in relation to your port of arrival/departure?

Just as you seem to imply a journey that goes through "C" and then finishes back there, I wonder if that may affect things

Or is it in relation to travel overseas etc?

 

[YellowBrick]

Sorry, should have been clearer.
This relates to journeys overseas (Germany specifically). But I suspect they wouldn't care given their general policy is: One delay-refund per travel day.

 

[yorkie]

How much compensation are they providing, how much are you hoping for, and what is the cost per day of your pass?

Did you actually make the three journeys?

I am unsure what you did; I don't do algebra and it's not immediately clear to me what the planned itinerary was versus the actual journey details; this is complicated by the providing of scenarios; is that bit hypothetical?

This needs to be clear and concise in order to get what you want.

 

[YellowBrick]

This is more about the general principle, hence the hypotheticals.

To me at least it seems that a refund should be per journey, and if you take two, or three journeys in a day, and they're all delayed, then you should get refunds for them. As it stands, it seems the interrail policy is that you only get one refund per day based on the total delay to your "final destination".

So if we constrain it to the UK with a UK example, if I travel London to Peterborough, get off there and spend the day wandering around the cathedral, then get on a train to Birmingham, and if both trains are delayed, they'd only pay one delay compensation fee because I got to Birmingham late; doesn't matter how much time I lost in Peterborough. Hope that's clearer.

 

[yorkie]

What are the sums involved here, and how do they compare against the cost per day?

 

[30907]

Is interrail not treated like a Rover, ie the refund is a proportion of the daily cost?

 

[jeremyjh]

Delay Compensation

If your Interrail journey was delayed for more than 60 minutes, you may be eligible for compensation. Read this policy for more information.

www.interrail.eu

The amount of the compensation depends on the length of each individual delay, price, and validity of your Pass. You can find the compensation table here (PDF download). Compensations shall be paid in the form of money – in euros, through bank transfer. The maximum compensation amount is limited to 25% of the pass price. Please note that the minimum compensation level is €4,00.

Amount of compensation payable for individual delay as proportion to Eurail / Interrail pass price

Pass validity	Delay of	Delay of
(flexi or continuous)	60 - 119 min	120 min or more
1 day	1/10	1/5
2 days	1/16	1/8
3 days	1/28	1/14
4 days	1/32	1/16
5 days	1/36	1/18
6 days	1/34	1/17
7 days	1/44	1/22
8 days	1/40	1/20
10 days	1/50	1/25
15 days	1/60	1/30
22 days	1/70	1/35
1 month	1/90	1/45
2months	1/100	1/50
3months	1/120	1/60

 

[dutchflyer]

You´re more likely to get a funded answer on community.eurail- most notably from rian v.d. borgt-the expert in this field
It will not matter much what you feel that should be paid out, but what the rules are. In your (hypothetical? in DE it certainly is not-nor in FRance) case the delay on reaching B in the end is > 1hr and that is what counts. So would DB handle it.
However, I had a perhaps more convincing case-and yes, also (partly, but caused in) DE_ making a dayreturn from Hamburg to Odense, to visit its new tramway, on the way out overhead line failure-> +2 hrs late, partly SEV-bus, and coming back due to delay on DSB missed connection in Kolding-arr Hamburg some 1-30 late=>missed the planned overnight link from there, and partly hired of regio-taxi with some 3 other pax.
As this is a still running 2-month 50% discount pass from last years sale the payout (1% per case) likely not even surpasses the MIN 4€.

 

[trei2k]

Delay Compensation

If your Interrail journey was delayed for more than 60 minutes, you may be eligible for compensation. Read this policy for more information.

www.interrail.eu

Looking at this, it is quite interesting.

Summary:

• Minimum compensation of €4 is required
• Maximum pass compensation is 25% of the pass price

There appears to be amount of compensations for passes that don't exist. i.e. 1 day.

This doesn't address the OP's original point, but I suspect that we've become accustomed to a very generous delay compensation scheme in the UK, that looking at InterRail's policies, things seem particularly harsh. However, what is interesting is that delays are covered by their scheme, but consequential costs, the terms and conditions state that you need to claim from the relevant railway company directly. This appears to me as the way that they've structured their agreement with the relevant rail operators.

Based on having claimed for delays in the past - I suspect telling them that you were delayed and claiming for it, rather than engaging in hypotheticals with (likely) low paid, highly stretched employees is probably the way forward.

 

[30907]

Looking at this, it is quite interesting.

Summary:

• Minimum compensation of €4 is required
• Maximum pass compensation is 25% of the pass price

View attachment 133486

There appears to be amount of compensations for passes that don't exist. i.e. 1 day.

This doesn't address the OP's original point, but I suspect that we've become accustomed to a very generous delay compensation scheme in the UK, that looking at InterRail's policies, things seem particularly harsh.

As the compensation rate is the standard EU 25%/50% they are paying as if you did 8 journeys in 4 days, 10 journeys in 8 days, 15 journeys in 15 days.
That actually strikes me as reasonable - unless you have more than one serious delay in the same day on a short-period ticket, when you lose out as the OP has found.

 

[superalbs]

You´re more likely to get a funded answer on community.eurail- most notably from rian v.d. borgt-the expert in this field
It will not matter much what you feel that should be paid out, but what the rules are. In your (hypothetical? in DE it certainly is not-nor in FRance) case the delay on reaching B in the end is > 1hr and that is what counts. So would DB handle it.
However, I had a perhaps more convincing case-and yes, also (partly, but caused in) DE_ making a dayreturn from Hamburg to Odense, to visit its new tramway, on the way out overhead line failure-> +2 hrs late, partly SEV-bus, and coming back due to delay on DSB missed connection in Kolding-arr Hamburg some 1-30 late=>missed the planned overnight link from there, and partly hired of regio-taxi with some 3 other pax.
As this is a still running 2-month 50% discount pass from last years sale the payout (1% per case) likely not even surpasses the MIN 4€.

He's on here too. @rvdborgt

 

[Watershed]

As the compensation rate is the standard EU 25%/50% they are paying as if you did 8 journeys in 4 days, 10 journeys in 8 days, 15 journeys in 15 days.
That actually strikes me as reasonable - unless you have more than one serious delay in the same day on a short-period ticket, when you lose out as the OP has found.

They seem to be trying to have it both ways for the shorter-duration passes. They assume that you make more journeys than there are days on the pass (so appear to admit that you can make multiple journeys in one day), and yet only compensate for up to one journey per day or rather, they consider all travel across the day to constitute one journey, even if you intended to spend a considerable period of time somewhere.

 

[Flying Snail]

They seem to be trying to have it both ways for the shorter-duration passes. They assume that you make more journeys than there are days on the pass (so appear to admit that you can make multiple journeys in one day), and yet only compensate for up to one journey per day or rather, they consider all travel across the day to constitute one journey, even if you intended to spend a considerable period of time somewhere.

Of all the issues with Interrail passes, I would say that more compo for delays is right at the bottom of the needs fixing pile.

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

Yes, as someone noted above, the UK has a noticeably generous policy re delays (used to be only exceeded by RENFE's AVE service, which is almost never late anyway!) In most other places, you are 'largely on your own'. I tried to get some recognition for a 2 hour delay on a TER train in France that was supposed to take one hour. Three months later, all that I ever got was a further form to fill in!!!

One therefore might pay more attention to preserving the current National Rail scheme than focussing on IR. One has to recognise that the current IR prices are really quite good....