WillTravel

Given the impending German rail strike, I'm trying to keep all my options open and we will possibly change our itinerary at the last minute. Currently the itinerary for the component of our trip that will be affected involves Germany and Denmark. If the strike looks to be serious by mid-August, we would likely switch this component of our trip to the Benelux countries and France.

The main problem that arises is that last-minute train tickets seem to be very expensive (like even 4x as much) compared to deals you can get if you book 3 days in advance or more.

So I am trying to figure out various tips and tricks for getting cheap prices at the last possible moment.

I've found one possibility:
http://www.thalys.com/fr/en/thalys-night

You can get a cheap return Thalys ticket for very restricted times (basically it's to allow partying all night). But the price is cheap enough that it could be worth it to just use the first half of the ticket.

Similar tickets, for different destinations, are also available on the Belgian, German, and Dutch sites.

Any other ideas?

PalenQ

Look at the Germany-Denmark pass as you did a while back or France-Benelux pass or Eurail select as opposed to walk up fares for such a trip they could save tons. Any train any time except Thalys and TGV - have to reserve but still can take any train once reserved - if miss only lose the reservation fee.

WillTravel

The problem is I don't want to buy a railpass until I know how the strike is playing out. Getting a refund on the railpass if I'm unable to use it, after even one use, is very tricky if not impossible.

If it looks okay by August 10, then I will buy the railpass.

But assuming I don't get a railpass, what are the best solutions?

WillTravel

I see what you're saying though - if the strike looks bad by August 10, we could skip the Germany-Denmark railpass and get a France-Benelux one. So I'll consider that too.

PalenQ

Refunds on passes are easy to get but you pay a 15% cancellation fee - you have up to one year from issuance to return the pass to the vendor. Or for $10 or so you can have the pass re-issued as long as you are not downgrading the pass in $ terms (can re-issue at higher rate - say more days but not less)

so you go to Europe and worst case scenario can't use it you'd lose about $30 p.p. off the minimum of either of these two passes. Yet if you don't have the pass you could pay top dollar for walk up fares.

As to OP - check the sites for regular fares and if you have computer access abroad keep checking for discounted online fares - but i just did a rather exhaustive check on bahn.de for trains within a day or two of today and there seem no discounted fares on such short notice - only for some weeks out did they seem to begin to be available. I did not do a thorough search of every route of course - just the main ones.

And with a Berlin-Munich fare at about 100 euros or $145 the German pass seems a steal in any case if you don't go the advance and needing long range booking fares of 29, 39, 59 euros, etc. - sold in allotments at each level.

WillTravel

I was told I could get 85% of the value back if I didn't use the pass at all, but once I use it, I'm out of luck. So if I spend $500 CAD on a Germany-Denmark twin saver pass, I would lose $75 if I didn't use it at all, which isn't the end of the world of course.

But I'd hate to use it once, have the strike take a turn such that I couldn't use the rest, and be out of pocket plus having to buy expensive fares for our alternate itinerary.

gradyghost

Hello Will:

We are planning city-to-city rail travel in Germany in September/October. I looked at the requirements for refunds of a German RailPass and would like to check my understanding: If you do not validate the pass (and, obviously, do not use it), I understand that a refund of everything but a 15% charge is refundable if applied for within 6 months of the date of issuance. If this understanding is correct, I thought I would buy the pass in timely fashion while here in the U.S. and back that up with a rental car reservation. If the strike is ongoing when we arrive, I figured to keep the pass in my pocket and apply for a refund on return.

I would appreciate your comments and any others on this plan. While I'm not thrilled about autobahn travel in the North, especially around Cologne and Hamburg/Berlin, I see no other choice short of cancellation. There are no reliable intercity buses from what I've read. Thanks.
Gradyghost

WillTravel

GradyGhost, I certainly hope the strike is over by then (or that it's resolved before it starts, for that matter). But so far as I can see, that sounds like a good plan. Travel Cuts told me I can buy the pass up until the day I leave and they will print it out in the office. So double-check what the case is with your pass agent.

quokka

DB announced that they will refund point-to-point tickets 100% if they cannot be used due to strikes. I don't know if that applies to railpasses, too.

WillTravel

I think it's good they will do that sort of refund, but I can see where it might not work out too well.

For example, suppose
Ticket A to B is OK, with no strike.
Ticket B to C is not OK, as there is a strike. So you get a refund.
But then you have Ticket C to D with no strike, but because you never got to C in the first place you can't take it. Then you would not get a refund on Ticket C to D.

PalenQ

No once the pass is activated there is no refund - and the fine print says strikes are too bad. A definite problem with a pass. Fortunately strikes like this seem to be obvious a bit in advance.