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Reserving point to point train tickets and getting 8 seats together

Reserving point to point train tickets and getting 8 seats together

Old Jan 8th, 2016, 01:08 PM
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Reserving point to point train tickets and getting 8 seats together

I have 3 questions as I start looking into train tickets (see questions at the bottom if you're in a hurry).

I'm slowly working through my planning for our May/June trip. I need to book the following train tickets:
Amsterdam to Paris
Paris to Lucerne
Lucerne to Bregenz
Salzburg to Prague

Our group consists of 2 families with 4 per family (2 adults / 2 children per family, ages 13-18). We've traveled thru Europe on 3 trips previously and the last trip we took the children. Each of those times we purchased some type of EuRail pass. In 2011 when we took the children we purchased the passes about 6 months out and then I called EuRail exactly 3 months out and they made all of our reservations. We sat together on all of our trains and often had groups of 4 around a table, with 2 at the small table across the aisle and the remaining 2 close by. It made those long trips much more enjoyable being able to talk easily and play games along the way.

As I've been doing research for this trip's train ticket purchase I'm realizing that we probably paid a premium in the past to get the passes and I'm pondering getting point to point tickets this time instead. I'm sure I'll be coming back to this forum a lot during this process. But for now I have 3 questions:

Question #1: Is there a way to have as much control over the reservation locations when doing this on my own? Can I call each of the train companies I'll be using and talk to someone about how we'd like to sit? Or do I simply tell them there are 8 in our group and the computer decides where we sit? If that's the case then the passes are more enticing.

Question #2: When we purchased passes in the past the process was that we'd buy the passes at our leisure (step 1) and then wait until reservations opened up. Then we'd call the pass company back and finalize the reservations (step 2). When you're buying point to point can you even purchase the tickets before reservations are opened...or do you have do step 1 and 2 at the same time, and that's not possible until reservations open up?

Question #3: From monitoring a recent thread I noticed that it's now possible to make reservations more than 3 months out for some tickets. Is it certain countries or certain routes that do this? Or do you just have to try and buy each ticket you want and at that time determine how far out you can purchase?

Thanks for digging through all of this.
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Old Jan 8th, 2016, 01:21 PM
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I doubt the passes had much to do with your being seated together tbh.

Many longish European rail journeys that you book online now will give you the option to pick your seats ie you will be shown a seating plan and will be able to click on whatever you fancy (that hasn't alresdy been reserved). The further out you book the more choice you will get. You will buy the tickets and reserve your seats at the same time.
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Old Jan 8th, 2016, 01:29 PM
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It's 2 months often - three months in some and even more with others - you have just four train trips - the first is Amsterdam to Paris and that is on Thalys trains - www.thalys.com - just go in and see how far out you can book - three months for sure but maybe more and I think you can chose you seat selections when booking (not sure)

Paris-Lucerne - www.voyages-sncf.com is the French Railways site for deep discounts - they seem to have no seat minimum time but just come on, often more than 3 months in advance it seems - again just keep playing around - You probably book Paris to Zurich and then just buy a local ticket to Lucerne once there or in advance at www.sbb.ch - Swiss Federal Railways- unless you can get a Paris to Lucerne ticket from the French site do Zurich or Basel or Lausanne or Geneva - whichever one is cheaper - there are some Paris to Zurich trains but many more to say Basel - domestic Swiss tickets again are more a flat fare I believe. So Lucerne to Bregenz either at www.sbb.ch or just buy once there.

salzburg to Prague the Austrian Railways web site - www.oebb.com I think.

You do not purchase tickets before ticket sales are open - well that sounds obvious - the ticket and reservation are included in the price if the reservation is required or you have a discounted ticket.

It is hard to call train companies and have them do the work - it's all online and though I have not booked many tickets online from reading many reports usually you can chose your own seat from the same charts the railways would use at a ticket window or that RE uses - in fact you may want to see what RE is charging for those routes - they are more and more matching discounted ticket prices (but not nearly always!) and if in the ballpark you can then thru them be sure of getting seats together if possible (I'd call Byron at www.budgeteuropetravel.com - a RE agent I've used for years for passes and reservations - he will take a lot of time and no hard sell - I would price RE anyway as they can more and more be competitive - I just searched yesterday for Venice to Milan and they had tickets at $28 - as cheap or cheaper than Trenitalia.com.

One thing for sure you do not want a pass for those limited train trips (and Thalys trains charge a ridiculous $30 or so supplement for railpass holers whilst they sell 29-39 euro regular discounted tickets almost as cheap.
Check www.seat61.com for oodles of good info on discounted tickets and possible answers to your questions - for general info www.ricksteves.com and as mentioned about www.budgeteuropetravel.com.
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Old Jan 8th, 2016, 02:21 PM
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The Man in Seat 61 website probably has answers to all of your questions: www.seat61.com
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Old Jan 8th, 2016, 09:17 PM
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Amsterdam-Paris Thalys and Paris-Basel/Zurich TGV-Lyria now open 120 days ahead, or should.

When booking opens, it's just like booking a flight - the ticket comes with reservation included.

Most websites only allow 5 or sometimes 6 tickets at a time, so you may have to split the booking into 2 x 4 - just see what each site allows you to do.

Different sites offer different seating option capability - www.captaintrain.com should offer you the choice of club 4 face-to-face around a table, for Paris-Basel/Zurich (you can buy the Basel/Zurich-Lucerne sector at the station or at www.sbb.ch as no reservation needed for Swiss domestic trains, and just one fixed price)

Lucerne-Bregenz try both www.sbb.ch and www.oebb.at

In Austria use www.oebb.at

For Salzburg-Prague use www.cd.cz/eshop
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Old Jan 9th, 2016, 02:47 AM
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Paris - Lucerne: leave the TGV at Basel and change to a domestic train to Lucerne (easy to find free compartments if you board it 10 min or more prior to departure).

Lucerne - Bregenz: standard itinerary (via Zurich) or scenic itinerary:
Lucerne - Voralpenexpress - St. Gallen - Bregenz,
Lucerne - boat - Fluelen - Swiss postBus - Linthal - train - Sargans - Bregenz,
Lucerne - Schaffhausen - Rhine River boat - Constance - Lake Constance boat - Friedrichshafen - Lindau - Bregenz.
etc. etc.?
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Old Jan 9th, 2016, 01:00 PM
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There are two daily TGV trains I see on www.bah.de/en that go direct Paris to Zurich - no change at Basel - one leave Paris about 10am- you'll save a lot of time over any other connection involving a change at Basel or Lausanne or Geneva - so try to get that train whose fare will I think cover all of Paris to Zurich - Zurich to Lucerne is a short train ride.
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Old Jan 10th, 2016, 06:32 AM
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"There are two daily TGV trains I see on www.bah.de/en that go direct Paris to Zurich - no change at Basel"

Of course, even 5 direct TGV every day, but OP wants to go to Lucerne and not to Zurich!
Basel - Lucerne via Zurich is a huge detour and the journey gets 1 hr longer.
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Old Jan 10th, 2016, 11:59 AM
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"There are two daily TGV trains I see on www.bah.de/en that go direct Paris to Zurich - no change at Basel">

The quickest TGV route to Lucerne takes the Paris to Zurich TGV and switches off it at Olten - 1 change of train not at Basel - this is what I should have said, having done that before and that is the quickest route www.bahn.de says - Paris to Zurich TGV changing at Olten for Lucerne - quicker than changing in Basel and with Global Fares discounted on the TGV fromParis being at Olten,not Basel, to Lucerne and is thus a cheaper ticket to buy if they don't have a Swiss Pass or pass.

Changing at Basel can be nearly as quick sometimes but may take an hour longer at other times than the Paris-Olten-Bern itinerary.

But you are right - going all the way to Zurich is longer than changing in Olten or Basel by an hour or so.
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Old Jan 11th, 2016, 04:57 AM
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.... there is only 1 small problem: TGV trains Paris - Zurich don't stop at Olten (no stop between Basel and Zurich).
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Old Jan 11th, 2016, 07:46 AM
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According to www.bahn.de/en the Paris to Zurich TGV I looked up did stop in Olten - a Paris to Lucerne search gave taking the TGV to Zurich and changing at Olten for Lucerne. www.bahn.de/en is rarely wrong but could be. Check yourself - about an hour quicker - leaves Paris about 10am - perfect it seems.
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Old Jan 12th, 2016, 02:38 AM
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Fahrtinformationen
TGV 9211 (Fahrtverlauf vom: 19.01.16)
Halt Ankunft Abfahrt Gleis Aktuelles
Paris Gare de Lyon 10:23
Dijon Ville 11:59 12:01
Mulhouse Ville 13:03 13:06
Basel SBB 13:26 13:33 9 Fährt weiter als TGV 9211
Zürich HB 14:26 13

Verkehrstage: nicht täglich, 13. Jan bis 2. Jul 2016; 30. Jan bis 14. Feb 2016 Mo - Fr; nicht 3. bis 22. Apr 2016, 30., 31. Mai
Bemerkungen: Reservierungspflicht (Paris Gare de Lyon --> Basel SBB)
Globalpreis (Paris Gare de Lyon --> Basel SBB)
Bar
Rollstuhlstellplatz (Paris Gare de Lyon --> Basel SBB)
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Old Jan 12th, 2016, 08:45 AM
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Thank you all for the great info. I'm planning to dig through it all and hopefully purchase some tickets this weekend. I'm sure I'll be back with some follow-up questions.
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Old Jan 12th, 2016, 12:30 PM
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re-checking Paris to Lucerne TGVs I fail now to see a direct Paris to Zurich TGV with a change in Olten - si I guess neckervd as usual is right - you have to change in Basel to domestic trains - thus look strongly at the Swiss Transfer Ticket which gives you a trip by train from any airport or border station to any place inSwitzerland - i.e. Lucerne and then a trip back to any airport or border point and also gives you the chance to buy with it a half-off Half-Fare Card - which would give 50% off Jungfraujoch trains where other passes I believe will not. This ticket is not sold in Switzerland - there is no need to buy any Swiss Passes or domestic tickets very far ahead of time - Swiss Passes often have specials later in the spring IME - the French TGV should be booked ASAP however.
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Old Jan 12th, 2016, 05:23 PM
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PalenQ
So I'd book a ticket now from Paris to Basel on TGV (and do that very soon) and then use the Swiss Transfer Ticket to get me from Basel to Lucern? Then I use the other half of the Swiss Transfer Ticket to get from Lucern to Bregenz, Austria (just over the border)? Would I not worry about booking the trip into and out of Lucerne at this time and just do that during the trip on local trains?

We won't be getting to Jungrau this trip as we've done that in the past. While in Lucerne we'll either go up Pilatus or Rigi (leaning towards Rigi). On that day we'd probably take a mix of boats, trains, cog wheel trains and gondolas. If that's the only thing we're doing in Switzerland is it worth trying to get some type of card?

It's always the transportation that needs to much research. I really appreciate your help.
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Old Jan 13th, 2016, 02:35 AM
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standard fares:

Basel SBB - Lucerne 33 CHF
Lucerne - St. Margrethen (Bregenz) 55 CHF
Rigi roundtrip 70 CHF
Total 158 CHF

Swiss Transfer Ticket 141 CHF
Swiss Transfer Ticket with Rigi RT standard fare 211 CHF

Swiss Transfer Ticket and Swiss Half Fare Card Combi 201 CHF
Swiss Transfer Ticket and Half Fare Card Combi plus Rigi RT half fare 246 CHF
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Old Jan 13th, 2016, 02:40 AM
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To Palen (concerning Olten railway station):

Basel - Zurich trains don't pass through Olten railway station but use a short cut north of it
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Old Jan 13th, 2016, 10:16 AM
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Would I not worry about booking the trip into and out of Lucerne at this time and just do that during the trip on local trains?>

Yes just hop any train - very few folks in Switzerland reserve seats and you will always find seats - especially since the train starts in Basel - as for the Swiss Transfer Ticket you have to do the maths - neckervd's gives the fares above and in light of that I think regular tickets may be best - you seem to be doing relatively few trips - again no need to book any domestic Swiss train ahead of time - just buy a ticket in Basel and hop the next train.

Thanks to neckervd for all the great fare info.
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Old Jan 13th, 2016, 11:35 AM
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Man-in-Seat has provided some excellent advice. I booked tickets for 6 people last fall using the Trenitalia and SBB train websites. I could only book up to 5 at a time so I had to split us into 4 and 2. Even though I entered my booking within minutes after each other, the groups ended up in separate cars. I was quite surprised because I had booked three months ahead.

During the trip, if the nearby seats were not reserved or taken, we all ended up sitting together anyway even though our reservations showed other seats. The conductors didn't seem to mind as long as we didn't take someone else's seats.
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Old Jan 13th, 2016, 02:29 PM
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Thanks again for the great info. Here's what I learned so far after checking each web site.

Amsterdam to Paris
There is an international number I can call to get a group of 7 to sit together, which I will do, for a fee. It appears I can get those tickets now.

Paris to Basel
Can only book 4 months out...so can't book quite yet. (Trip is May 25 to June 10). I can't get all the tickets together so I'll get online in 2 groups. I don't see a number that I can call to do together. That's really too bad. I'd pay a bit extra for that.

Basel to Lucerne
We'll just do as the locals do and buy tickets at the station and hop on. OR SHOULD WE PRE BUY TICKETS BUT NOT RESERVATIONS?

Lucerne to Bregenz
Same as Basel to Lucerne

Salzburg to Prague
Can only book 60 days out...so will wait a while.
Will have to book in 2 groups...again...too bad.

PalenQ
Did I understand you in saying that I should check with Byron for getting all these tickets? I thought he only sold passes. If he does individual tickets would he have a better chance at getting us seated together?

Please note the uppercase question buried above.
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