we were trying to keep costs down, the total trip had something like 15 changeovers, three in germany, and cost us €800.
Sounds like an Interrail Pass would have cheaper, and more flexible
what you’re describing is how regional trains work. not long haul express trains.
No that’s how Trains in all of Europe work with the Exception of
France
Italy
Spain
Norway
Sweden
Poland
i am european, i mostly travel by train, and we have mandatory seat reservation at no charge for intercity trains.
Yeah I doubt this part seriously, unless you only travelled in the countries listed above
it would never in a million years occur to me that people would be left without a place to sit for a nine hour trip. that’s just inhumane
No it’s inhumane to deny them boarding and don’t transport them for hours, days weeks or months just because seats are sold out, like they do in France.
People want to get home or to their family, or an important meeting,even when they can’t have a seat. (E.g. when it was spontaneous, an emergency, or they missed the last train)
Everyone can have a guaranteed seat for their entire journey for 5.20€
also, it would never in a million years occur to me that you could be fined for buying a ticket and a seat through the official system.
Yeah that’s bullshit too, they won’t sell you a first class seat to your second class ticket when trying to book a seat during the booking process of the ticket. You have to explicitly select first class on the Website, and then tick “I only want a seat reservation” and then it shows them to you. Also 6.50€ for a first class seat for 9h Long distance travel, would have given you a clue that this is not an upgrade. If unsure you could have asked the staff in the train which ALWAYS sits and has their office between first and second class in those trains.
we did look at interrail passes but they are not valid in my part of europe so they would have been useless for half the trip.
i’ve never travelled in france but here you can’t buy rail tickets on intercity trains. you need to buy them beforehand. that way you’re never stuck on a platform waiting for hours. regional trains go every 15 minutes and they work like you describe, with mostly tickets available.
they did sell me a seat reservation, and i did not react to any messaging that told me it was wrong. i still have the receipts.
i did see that office, but it was closed for the entire trip. we tried finding someone to ask but as previously mentioned it was after midnight and there seemed to be only two people working the entire train.
Sounds like an Interrail Pass would have cheaper, and more flexible
No that’s how Trains in all of Europe work with the Exception of
Yeah I doubt this part seriously, unless you only travelled in the countries listed above
No it’s inhumane to deny them boarding and don’t transport them for hours, days weeks or months just because seats are sold out, like they do in France.
People want to get home or to their family, or an important meeting,even when they can’t have a seat. (E.g. when it was spontaneous, an emergency, or they missed the last train)
Everyone can have a guaranteed seat for their entire journey for 5.20€
Yeah that’s bullshit too, they won’t sell you a first class seat to your second class ticket when trying to book a seat during the booking process of the ticket. You have to explicitly select first class on the Website, and then tick “I only want a seat reservation” and then it shows them to you. Also 6.50€ for a first class seat for 9h Long distance travel, would have given you a clue that this is not an upgrade. If unsure you could have asked the staff in the train which ALWAYS sits and has their office between first and second class in those trains.
we did look at interrail passes but they are not valid in my part of europe so they would have been useless for half the trip.
i’ve never travelled in france but here you can’t buy rail tickets on intercity trains. you need to buy them beforehand. that way you’re never stuck on a platform waiting for hours. regional trains go every 15 minutes and they work like you describe, with mostly tickets available.
they did sell me a seat reservation, and i did not react to any messaging that told me it was wrong. i still have the receipts.
i did see that office, but it was closed for the entire trip. we tried finding someone to ask but as previously mentioned it was after midnight and there seemed to be only two people working the entire train.
What is your part of Europe?