The Deutsche Bahn website is quite good for searching for trains, but when I try to find a price for a sleeping car or couchette for a night car, it asks for my credit card before it tells me how much the fare will be. Does anyone have any experience with the site, or pricing sleeping options on night trains? I'm trying to price these options from Milan to Frankfurt for June 12. Does it first ask for your credit card number, then show you the price, then ask you to confirm? The "help" section doesn't answer my question.
I've looked at the Rail Europe website, but they don't give me nearly as many options as Deutsche Bahn.

Take a look at this http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...e/t0300mil.htm
for some ideas on prices. On your question about how the DB website works I can't help you. Sorry.

You may have more luck using the Trenitalia website (www.trenitalia.com) but as a general rule (TrenHotel trains excepted, of which yours isn't one), sleeping car accommodations can usually be booked NO MORE than 60 days/nights ahead.

Hi christy,

The problem is that you are booking an international train to Italy and Italy has different rules.

If you ask the raileurope people for a price quote, the cost will be no more than that from Bahn.de

Raileurope will charge you $162 for the train fare - second class - plus sleeping options, ranging from $32 for a couchette to much more, about $70-90 p.p. in a private double, plus a $15 booking fee. If that's not the only train trip you'll be doing investigate the Eurail Select pass - five days of unlimited travel in a two-month period in Germany, Switzerland and Italy for $316 each - first class only if over 25; cheaper if under with a youth pass. You still pay the sleeping charges as the pass covers only the train fare. Try the Trenitalia site to see if they have specials on this route - they do from Italy to Munich or Salzburg or Vienna but not i think from Frankfurt - to see about booking in US i always recommend calling BETS (800-441-9413) whom i've dealt with for years - a RailEurope agent, their staff is uncannily helpful and expert in all things European train.

All credit card companies require that merchants tell the customer what a total cost will be before the customer finally signs the online contract. No merchant may get a customer s agreement to pay any sum, whatever it turns out to be.
For a few dollars extra you can deal with a human being, a travel agent. I like these.
You can use Euraide in Florida, http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...e/homepage.htm, telephone 1 941-480-1555 fax 1 941-480-1522 [email protected]. Thereis a note on how Euraide eork at www.ricksteves.com/news/travelnews/euraide.htm. Also you can book through four firms in Britain:

Trainseurope Ltd, of Cambridgeshire and London, take credit card bookings by phone and mail tickets to any address. Have the widest access in Britain to rail systems and tickets. http://www.trainseurope.co.uk/ - E-mail [email protected]. Phone 00 44 900 195 0101 - calls from Britain cost 60 pence or 40 euros a minute, maximum 5, but if the enquiry results in a booking, the cost of the call is deducted from the final invoice. Phone Mon to Fri 10 to 5 British time

German Rail UK: www.deutsche-bahn.co.uk/ Phone : 00 44 870 243 53 63 then 6. Fax : 00 44 208 339 4700. E-mail : [email protected]

Ffestiniog Travel, site http://www.festtravel.co.uk, e-mail [email protected], phone 00 44 176 651 2400

Inside France (Canterbury). Phone 0044 1227 450088. 29/30 Palace Street, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 2DZ. Booking form on site www.rail-canterbury.co.uk/. Or e-mail [email protected]/.

For international tickets, berths and seats Trainseurope are ten percent cheaper than German Rail UK or Ffestiniog Travel. For domestic Italian trains they are cheaper again. German Rail UK are cheaper than Trainseurope or Ffestiniog Travel for domestic trains within Germany and may be competitive with them for international trips with a big proportion of miles in Germany. Trainseurope take Visa and MasterCard, but not Amex or Diners.

RailEurope take a thirty percent markup on other agents prices. You can include them in your check on what each office charges

The January issue of the Thomas Cook European Timetable gives examples of fares. The basic fare second class from Milan to Frankfurt is 116 euros. To this you add 4 euros for travel by the daytime expresses, 12 euros for travel in a crowded 6 berth couchette compartment, 20 euros for use of a 4 berth couchette compartment, and 45 euros for travel in a single-sex, 3-berth, compartment sleeper.

Please write if I can help further.

[email protected]

Also try www.euraide.com for your Milan/Frankfurt trip. They will charge the same price as you would pay in Germany + S&H.

Thank you! This thread was very helpful. I did manage to contact an english speaking Deutsche Bahn rep. via email who told me that as long as I made a note in the "special request" section of the order, my credit card wouldn't be charged until they got back to me with a quote. Strange. And Deutsche Bahn will let me make the reservation while Trenitalia won't since it is more than 60 days ahead. I will contact EurAide to see if they can clear my confusion.

Euraide was not only very helpful, they quoted a ticket price that was 50 euros less than the Deutsche Bahn site (and far lower than Rail Europe, which I know is expensive). I understand that Euraide only gives you estimates-has anyone had any bad experiences with their estimates versus what the ticket actually cost?

Can I bother everyone with one more question: I haven't had luck yet receiving an answer (to my emails) from some of the agencies listed above, and I'm uncomfortable with the Euraide method of guessing at the ticket price. Do agencies, in general, sell train tickets cheaper than the train websites (ie Deutsche Bahn or Trenitalia) do? Do they help you find the discounts, etc?