Is this a good thing? I don't really understand. I will be in Italy Sept-Oct 2012 and was planning on train travel. Will this change anything?

You can follow their press releases here:

http://www.fsnews.it/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=1d27d5e57e30a110VgnVCM10000080a3e90aRCRD

Look down the list as far back as May 29th for an initial announcement of the new pricing structure - titled "L’estate di Trenitalia.."

For more, you'll have to wait... like the rest of us!

Peter

It's now past midnight in Italy on Sunday, June 10, 2012, and Trenitalia's hugely popular "MINI" fares have now been added to the "garbage heap of history", thereby joining the many other promotional fares offered for short periods of time over the past several years.

But don't fret, because Trenitalia's marketing geniuses have concocted two new promotional fares to replace the "MINI" fares: ECONOMY and SUPER ECONOMY (as highlighted in my original posting above). These new fares already appear on the LE FRECCE webpages of the Trenitalia website, for trains departing on and after June 10 (other webpages continue to reference the now defunct "MINI" fares).

COMPLETE DETAILS about these two new fares have not yet been published (apart from what I disclose above), and the Trenitalia website continues to be littered with pages on the "MINI" fares which, as noted, are a now a thing of the past.

Trenitalia's secret: keep changing the names of the promotional fares and the Bizantine rules attached to each fare (which are not always uniformly enforced), so that travellers will be hard pressed to remember the differences and changes over time .... Once travellers become comfortable with a particular promotional fare, it's suddenly dropped in favor of yet a new promotional scheme. And we're all supposed to muddle through this!

True to form, all of Trenitalia's marketing materials about these new promotions are in Italian only (making this posting and those in competitor travel websites the only English-language announcements to date). No doubt that Trenitalia will get around to providing some English translations in the days to come ...

One change you'll note: all "BASE" fares on the Frecciarossa and Frecciargento trains between Turin and Salerno are supposed to have been REDUCED by 5% (as previously trumpeted by Trenitalia). You'll note Florence/Rome and Rome/Naples are now all 43 Euros rather than 45 Euros. But this comes with an apparent further tightening of the rules for changes to "BASE" fare tickets (the particulars of which have not yet been clarified).

The super-cheap 9-Euro promotional fare: it's STILL OFFERED, but you'll be more likely to find it on the slower Intercity trains, at least without a long advance purchase.

Obviously, we'll all need to wait some time longer before the complete rules of the new promotional fares (and the "BASE" fare) are published on the Trenitalia website.

Fares and travel conditions for the unreserved "regionale" trains have NOT changed.

Stay tuned.

In the dead of night, while many of us slept, Trenitalia published the official rules to its new promotional fares, which replace the popular "MINI" fares effective today. Here is a rundown of the rules (which for the time being are in Italian only):


"BASE" fare

NO ADVANCE PURCHASE REQUIREMENT (as before)

Essentially no changes from before:

Reservation changes: unlimited PRIOR to scheduled train departure; once only up to ONE HOUR AFTER scheduled train departure. No premium or penalty for the change(s).

NOTE: This means that there continues to be a ONE HOUR GRACE PERIOD to make a reservation change in case you MISS your reserved train (even if not attributable to Trenitalia)

Refunds: 20% forfeiture up to scheduled train departure; 50% forfeiture up to one hour after scheduled train departure. No refund where the ticket amount is 10 Euros or less.


"ECONOMY" promotional fare (capacity controlled)

NO ADVANCE PURCHASE REQUIREMENT!!!

Reservation changes: ONCE ONLY prior to scheduled train departure (and not thereafter). Must pay DIFFERENCE IN FARE to the "BASE" fare (i.e. the fare advantage is cancelled). May change the date or hour of departure. Must keep same class of service and same train category. Apparently, the new reservation may be for an earlier OR a later departing train (this represents a welcome change from the more restrictive "MINI" fare rules).

BEWARE: If you MISS your train, even by one second, your promotional ticket becomes worthless, and you must purchase a brand new ticket. EXCEPTION: missed connection from another train, where the minimum connection time is respected. For this reason, it's imprudent to buy this promotional ticket on the same day as arrival by plane.

Refunds: NOT ALLOWED


"SUPER ECONOMY" fare (capacity controlled)

NO ADVANCE PURCHASE REQUIREMENT!!!

Reservation changes: NOT ALLOWED

BEWARE: If you MISS your train, even by one second, your promotional ticket becomes worthless, and you must purchase a brand new ticket. For this reason, it's imprudent to buy this promotional ticket on the same day as arrival by plane (unless the discount is so good that you won't mind a total forfeiture)

Refunds: NOT ALLOWED

NOTE: The 9-Euro fare is limited to the SUPER ECONOMY category


NOTE: The ECONOMY and SUPER ECONOMY promotional fares are NOT offered for the "Executive" level of service on the newest Frecciarossa trains. Otherwse, these fares are offered on ALL "national" (reserved) trains, in both first and second classes.

NOTE: Children's discounts are NOT combinable with the promotional fares. In some cases, the children's fares could be better than the promotional fares. Children under the age of 4 years and one day always travel FREE, without a ticket and without a guaranteed seat.

THESE FARES AND RULES APPLY ONLY TO THE RESERVED NATIONAL TRAINS AND NOT TO THE UNRESERVED REGIONALE TRAINS

COMMENT: All considered, these new fares continue the tradition of the "MINI" fares, with some noteworthy improvements.

Any idea what will happen to the MINI tickets already purchased online for future trips ? Do we need to re-book these ?

I have same query as Eric12. I have prepurchased mini tickets. They would surely be valid. Would be very unusual if not honored!! Haven't received anything from Trenitalia to the contrary.

>>>Reservation changes: unlimited PRIOR to scheduled train departure; once only up to ONE HOUR AFTER scheduled train departure. No premium or penalty for the change(s).<<<

Trenitalia says there is an 8€ fee and the difference in price of ticket.
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=19783101aa6c7310VgnVCM1000008916f90aRCRD

ANSWERS to questions:

1. "MINI" fare tickets purchased prior to June 10 CONTINUE TO BE VALID: no changes are necessary!


2. Kybourbon: the 8 Euro supplement refers to situations where a ticketed passenger ("BASE" fare only) elects to BOARD A LATER DEPARTING TRAIN WITHOUT MAKING A RESERVATION CHANGE. This is also allowed up to one hour before, and one hour after, the originally scheduled train. HOWEVER, a ticketed passenger who makes a RESERVATION CHANGE may do so without charge, within the parameters noted above.

These points must be stressed:

1. If you purchase an ECONOMY ticket and get "buyer's remorse", your ONLY option is to change the departure time or date of the train (keeping the same city pairs, class of service and train category) by paying the difference in fare to the "BASE" rate. This will take away the fare savings entirely. The change must be made before the scheduled departure time of the original reserved train. Only one change is allowed. The ticket is otherwise non-refundable.

2. If you purchase a SUPER ECONOMY ticket and get "buyer's remorse", you're STUCK with that particular train. No changes and no refunds are allowed

3. DO NOT BUY a SUPER ECONOMY ticket if you believe that you may wish/need to make a reservation change!!!

TRENITALIA HAS NOW TRANSLATED the rules for the "BASE", ECONOMY and SUPER ECONOMY fares on the English-language pages of its website.

Just when I thought I had this figured out.

So, if I am understanding this correctly...it looks like none of these fare structures require advance purchase.

For travel from Venice to Bologna in October, is there any reason I should pre-purchase? That is, is it advisable to reserve ahead of time? With a fast train every hour, is there a likelihood we would not get a seat? (We have no connections in Bologna we need to make, as we are staying there.) So, the worst that could happen, as I see it, is we would need to take the next train."

I see that the super-economy has limited capacity, so we may need to accept economy if no super is available. If that is okay with us (and it is) should I plan on pre-purchasing (and thereby have a schedule we would need to adhere to) or can I plan to merely walk into the train station the day of and purchase and reserve at that time?

Thanks for your experience and help, as always!

You don't need to pre-purchase UNLESS you want to get a very low fare (ECONOMY or SUPER ECONOMY, with are BOTH capacity-controlled) on the "national" (reserved) trains.

Remember that this discussion does NOT apply to the unreserved "regionale" trains (which have no promotional fares).

Between Venice and Bologna, there are both "national" trains (Frecciargento; Intercity) and "regionale" trains.

If you're happy with the "regionale" trains (slower than the others), there is absolutely no need or reason to buy in advance!!!

Bear in mind that some of the discounted promotional fares for the "national" trains will not be lower than the fares for the unreserved "regionale" trains. Only the deepest promotional discounts will best the low fares of the "regionale" trains.

Looks like the regionale trains take only about 30 minutes longer. I think we'll be good just walking in, with no worries of catching one particular train on the morning of our departure - sounds more our style. Thanks.

CLARIFICATION:

When searching for ECONOMY and SUPER ECONOMY fares for children between 4 years and one day, and 12 years, 0 days, you must count the children as "adults" (and NOT as "children"). Otherwise, the Trenitalia system will quote you the regular Child's fare (50% of the "BASE" fare).

Also check the Child's fare for the same routing, since it might be lower than either of the promotional fares (depending on their availablity at the time of booking).

Where the Child's fare EQUALS the promotional fare, you're usually better off with the Child's fare (which does not have the restrictions of the promotional fares).

If your child is UNDER the age of 4 years and one day, they are allowed to travel FREE, without a ticket and without a guaranteed seat. This is true on ALL Trenitalia trains, reserved and unreserved. DON'T COUNT THEM when booking seats! If you absolutely must have a guaranteed seat, you can always book a ticket as if they were between 4 and 12 (or using one of the promotional fares). But don't bother doing so on the unreserved "regionale" trains, where NO SEAT is guaranteed!

Also remember: the promotional fares are wonderful UNTIL you develop "buyer's remorse". Then they don't look so great any more. Proceed with caution, foresight and deliberation when booking these fares, and especially the nonchangeable and nonrefundable SUPER ECONOMY fare.

I have been tracking the Italian train tickets I require in Septermber on both Trentalia and RailEurope. It appears that the "old" tickets are still available on the RailEurope site at a very good price but no longer available on Trentalia. Is it a good idea to purchase these and will they still be honoured.

I would need to say "definitely NOT".

You can still get very good discounts with the ECONOMY and SUPER ECONOMY promotional fares, which have replaced the "MINI" fares.

Here are some great examples of the incredible cost savings which can be had by booking the SUPER ECONOMY nonchangeable, nonrefundable promotional fare VERY far in advance (up to 120 days beforehand):

Torino/Napoli: 9 Euros versus 105 Euros "BASE" fare on the direct Frecciarossa train;

Milano/Lecce: 9 Euros versus 98 Euros "BASE" fare on the direct Frecciabianca train;

Milano/Salerno: 9 Euros versus 97 Euros "BASE" fare on the direct Frecciarossa train;

Venezia/Napoli: 9 Euros versus 96 Euros "BASE" fare on the direct Frecciargento train;

Milano/Napoli: 9 Euros versus 95 Euros "BASE" fare on the direct Frecciarossa train

And so on .....

NOTE: These fares are valid for the DIRECT (no connection) trains. Journeys requiring a train connection will cost more.

JUST REMEMBER: to get the 9-Euro fare on most long-distance routes, you usually need to book VERY far in advance. Otherwise, higher (but still very attractive) SUPER ECONOMY and ECONOMY fares are offered as well).

The maximum advance purchase is 120 days (and sometimes it's less).

And also don't forget about the possibility of "buyer's remorse" (except that for 9 Euros, perhaps you won't care that much!!).

Remember: the "MINI" fares have now been REPLACED by the ECONOMY and SUPER ECONOMY fares. However, "MINI" fare tickets regularly issued PRIOR to June 10, 2012 for FUTURE travel will continue to be honored by Trenitalia, and no additional action is necessary on the part of the ticket holder.

>>>I have been tracking the Italian train tickets I require in Septermber on both Trentalia and RailEurope.<<<

I'm curious as to why you would bother to track train tickets on RailEurope? They don't list half the trains that Trenitalia runs and they can't sell tickets that Trenitalia doesn't have. RailEurope also makes up train numbers (not the actual Trenitalia number) which is rather odd. They call trains by names that don't exist also. Why add a middleman to your ticket purchase?

I've just been able to book my entire family of four for 9 Euros each on the 12:57 Venice to Rome Frecciargento on 15th October on the Trenitalia website.

We had planned to travel that day anyway, leaving about lunchtime, but today was the first day that 15th-Oct tickets became available on teh website( I always thought it was 3 months max for advance tickets). Anyway the 9 euro tickets were only available on that train or the 06:00 for that day !

Of course I am wondering why that particular train in the middle of the day was so cheap....

Capacity control means that the lowest promotional fares are often found on trains leaving during non-peak travel times.

>>>I always thought it was 3 months max for advance tickets<<

It's 120 days. You got a bargain!

Of course I am wondering why that particular train in the middle of the day was so cheap....>>

because any self-respecing italian will be having lunch!

sjgontarek - were you able to purchase the trenitalia tickets from the US? I've read about some people having trouble with their credit cards going through, and I guess I won't know if mine works until I try to make a purchase. Also, do you receive the tickets via e-mail? I'm planning a trip for a family of 5 in November, so I want to be prepared to search/buy 120 days prior to travel. Thanks!

No tickets are provided. This is the MO:

You get a confirmation from Trenitalia with a reservation code, which you show the ticket controller on the reserved ("national") train. This is an electronic ticket.

YOU MUST SAFEGUARD THE RESERVATION CODE AS IF IT WERE YOUR "PASSPORT" TO BOARD THE RESERVED TRAIN. Write down the code on several slips of paper and keep them with you as you travel throughout Italy. Don't lose this code!!!

I suggest that you purchase electronic tickets ONLY for the reserved ("national") trains (i.e. Freccias and Intercity), and NOT the unreserved "regionale" trains.

If your trip ALSO involves the use of one or more "regionale" trains, I suggest that you purchase traditional PAPER tickets for these trains once you arrive in Italy (at the train station). These trains are all unreserved, and there is no price advantage gained by purchasing them in advance electronically. There are no promotional fares for the "regionale" trains (save for the Child's discount). You may want to buy these "regionale" train tickets all at once and even before you take your first reserved train. That way, you avoid having to stand in line later and possibly MISS a connection. PAPER tickets for the "regionale" trains are valid for two months from the date of purchase, as long as not validated. You should always wait to validate a PAPER "regionale" train ticket until several minutes before boarding the regionale train.

REMEMBER:

1. There are no promotional fares for the unreserved "regionale" trains

2. The "regionale" trains are all unreserved

3. You must validate your paper ticket before boarding a "regionale" train

YOU MUST DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE UNRESERVED "REGIONALE" TRAINS AND THE RESERVED "NATIONAL" TRAINS

"National" trains = Frecciarossa, Frecciargento, Frecciabianca, Eurostar Italia, Intercity, Intercity Night, Espresso.

The promotional fares (SUPER ECONOMY, ECONOMY) apply ONLY to the "national" (reserved) trains.

You should PRINT OUT all communications you receive by e-mail from Trenitalia which pertain to your train reservation.

You should also PRINT OUT the screen shots of your reservation which show the train number, date, time of day, railcar number, seat number, and reservation code.

Remember that what you are printing out is an ELECTRONIC confirmation and not a traditional paper ticket. The reservation code is the key feature of the reservation, and it is this code which authenticates your electronic reservation.

If you lose the reservation code, you'll need to contact Trenitalia and retrieve it before boarding the train. Otherwise, you'll need to show your passport on board and PRAY that the reservation system has accurately matched your name to your reservation (and not lost the electronic record). This should really be avoided.

The ticket controller referenced above is on the "national" (reserved) train itself for which you hold an Electronic ticket. He/she will be authenticating you via the reservation code. Personal ID (such as a passport) is usually not requested, unless there is some discrepancy or "suspicion" concerning the holder of the electronic ticket (e.g. the ticket unambiguously reflects a woman's name, yet the physical passenger is a male, and the ticket controller happens to notice this and becomes suspicious).

With an Electronic ticket for one of the "national" trains, you simply board the correct train, find your reserved seat, and wait for the ticket controller to come by with his hand-held electronic device to authenticate you.

With a PAPER ticket for one of the "regionale" trains, you must first VALIDATE the ticket in the little yellow (or green) machine at the head of the track, then board the train and find an empty seat. The ticket controller may or may not come by and punch your paper ticket (often, the ticket control does not occur on the "regionale" train because the trip is so short that the agent does not have enough time to come by your seat).

Thank you, GAC. Travel will be on the Freccia trains (Rome to Florence, Florence to Venice). I have travelled on the regional and National trains and am familiar with the difference, but I've never purchased tickets from Trenitalia in advance via the internet. That's great advice to print screenshots as well as having copies of all communications. I appreciate your detailed explanation - very helpful!

gtlc - For screen-by-screen directions to purchase online, scroll down on this link.

http://www.roninrome.com/transportation/booking-online-using-the-trenitalia-website-updated