Palenque

Nobody in their right mind of course would buy very many of RE's full price tickets as two of those would be more expensive perhaps than the German Railpass. It is my understanding that full price RE tickets for Germany can be used on any train within the two-month validity period - but i will check on that - always was the case but then i do not keep up with all this Byzantine fare stuff - was once so easy - it cost x $ or x euros to go between point a and b - one price and tickets could be used for weeks usually. Now you need a calculator - decide whether or not you want flexibility, etc. A nightmare for a novice to figure out and that's why so many throw up their hands and use RE i guess - not trusting just going to Europe and being able to buy a regular ticket easily on any of the usual two trains an hour lacing Germany. Novice travel angst where it ain't warranted but i understand the goal of having no surprises, etc.

Larryincolorado

Looking further into the Rail Europe "conditions",

"All refunds are subject to a 15% cancellation fee and are subject to a 5% administrative fee.

"Totally unused point-to-point tickets received by the issuing office prior to the first date of validity are refundable [subject to a 20% penalty and admin fee].

"Tickets received after the first day of validity are refundable [subject to a 20% penalty and admin fee] if canceled and stamped "not-used" by a railway official, at the station of departure.

"Tickets submitted after the first day of validity, which have not been cancelled, are not refundable."

So, for any unused RailEurope ticket which includes reservation, with a RailEurope face value of $131 to $176 (depending on how much was spent for shipping), IF you return it before the trip or go to the departure station and get it stamped "unused", will still cost more if not used than a Dauer-Spezial ticket at €29 plus reservation. RailEurope point-point tickets ARE NOT unrestriced tickets.

Larryincolorado

Yesterday I called RailEurope and got put on hold for ever. I finally sent them an email last night. As of this morning, I still had not heard from them, so I called again. This time I got through.

It seems that the only truly fully-flexible tickets are those standard fare tickets purchased over the DB counter in Germany. These are open tickets usable on any train after the 1st day of validity, and they can be returned for a full refund at any time after the first day of validity.

Next, almost fully-flexible, tickets are those standard tickets purchased online from DB. Those tickes are also open tickets, valid on any train and fully refundable up to the 1st day of validity. After that they are subject to a €15 ($24) return fee.

Tickets from RailEurope are not so flexible. They CAN be used on any train going between those stations. If they are not used as written, they can be refunded ONLY IF they are returned to RE before the first day of validity OR returned to RE, stamped as unused at the station of departure in Germany. In that case 80% is refundable. If not, they are fully NON-refundable.

Note that for that ICE from Berlin to Frankfurt, the $175 fare included a reservation, which RE sells for $11. The reservation fee is non-refundable. If not used, the ticket, less reservation, is refundable for a 20% charge. If the ticket is $164 ($175-$11), and IF you returned the ticket to RE before the 1st day of validity or had it stamped unused in Germany, you would get back $131.20 of the $175 you paid, so you lose $43.80. If not you lose $175. With a Dauer-Spezial ticket, use it or not, you spend about $44

Larryincolorado

BTW, there are some interesting features to the Dauer-Spezial fares.

First, they are from any station in Germany to any station in Germany. They include travel by regional train to the station where you connect to a high speed (Fern) train plus travel by regional train from the last station accessible by high speed train. This feature, referred to as Vor- und Nach-Lauf, is not train and time specific. You can take any regional train after midnight to get to the high speed train that day and any regional train following your high speed train travel, as long as you complete the journey by 10 AM the following day.

Another feature of the Dauer-Spezial fare is called the City Mobil option. For an extra €2,30, you can take local transport in the city of your destination to get to you final address. For €5,80, you have unlimited use of the local transport in you destination city for the rest of your day.

Some of these features might also be available with a standard fare ticket on the Bahn; I don't think they are available from RailEurope.