Hi,

I am going to be travelling with a group of 5 people on an overnight train. The train has 6 person couchettes. Is there any reason we can't buy a couchette reservation for the 6th bed, and just "throw it away". I figure an extra $30 divided by 5 people is a small price to pay to have exlclusiveness to ourselves in the compartment.

Has anyone done this before? Is it legit?

Wouldn't you need a train ticket or a rail pass in order to make a couchette reservation?

I've often wondered about this sort of thing myself.

And, I wonder if the person who supposedly was going to <b>actually occupy</b> that space didn't show up if the train official could legally sell it to someone else.

I realize it is splitting hairs and technically I would think your right to buy that space and then not use it would prevent its being re-sold.

I am not 100% positive about this, however I am pretty sure that once the train leaves the station in which the reservation originates and the space is unoccupied, the conductor can resell the space. I think this is true even if you buy a ticket in addition to the reservation.

How likely this is would depend on how crowed the train is an how many more stops there are until your final destination. If you are one of the last stops, then there is a good chance they will not resell the spot unless the train is packed to the gills.

A word of warning about this. I have travelled on a train before (France to Italy overnight) where one person did not turn up and the couchette was given over to someone else. Worse still, it was a male (in what was supposed to be an all-female cabin). Everyone was too shocked to complain, and the guy, obviously very embarressed spent most of the night in the corridor.

I often see people asking about this on Fodors and being advised they can buy privacy by purchasing all the berths themselves - but be aware it's not a cast iron guarantee.

We were told years ago that couchette compartments were not sold by gender. The T3 triple is sold by gender unless all three are traveling together.

With 6 people in one compartment, it has to be impossible to sleep.

The $30 is in addition to your ticket price or rail pass.

So... you need to purchase an extra ticket, purchase an extra couchette reservation, and still they might give away the bunk when they see it empty?

Doesn't sound like a very good plan ;-)

Hi B,

As noted, you have to buy a ticket plus the couchette, and you still run the risk of having someone upgrade to your empty berth.

Also, T6 couchettes aren't very comfortable, especially if you all have luggage.

What's the additional cost of 2 T3 sleepers?

What's the route?