DB Bahn - are Compartments flexible?
 

Greetings!

I am an American citizen that will be taking the train with my husband and 2 friends (one of them is German) from Frankfurt to Hamburg in June.

On the DB Bahn website, we discovered that there were 3 extremely discounted seats - *1st class* for only €109 total - so only about €35 each! We checked to see about 4 tickets the price jumped to €219 so we decided to just purchase the 3 cheap ones and made a second reservation for €69 (not nearly the same discount, but still a great deal compared to normal prices!).

I was able to select Compartment for both reservations, but had no ability to choose anything specific regarding where we would be sitting. I noticed on the confirmation page (once the payment was made) that it has the following:

- 1 Sitzplatz, 1. Klasse, Nichtraucher, Abteilwagen, 1 Fenster, Wg. 12, Pl. 56
- 3 Sitzplätze, 1. Klasse, Nichtraucher, Abteilwagen, 1 Mitte, 2 Gang, Wg. 12, Pl. 41 42 44

I understand that to mean # of tickets, 1st class, and the train/compartment type... but it looks like they assigned everyone train car 12 (good!) but seats 41/42/44 and 56 (not good!)

Is it possible for us to sit together even though the single reservation shows a different seat number? I've ridden on German trains before but in 2nd class, open seating.

I have emailed DB Bahn and requested this change, but I figured I should ask over here if that is even necessary.

Thank you!

You got it right. Your confirmation reads:

1 seat, 1st class, non-smoker, compartment wagon, 1 window, Wagon 12, seat 56
3 seats, 1st class, non-smoker, compartment wagon, 1 middle, 2 aisle, Wagon 12, Seats 41, 42, 44.

I would probably cancel the ticket for seat 56 - the others are tolerably close. And you wanted 3 seats, didn't you?

Do wait and see what Deutsche Bahn come up with - they might give you three together. Otherwise it is usually not hard to make a cancellation.

Lavandula

Sorry if I wasn't clear - there are 4 of us traveling together. Only 3 seats were at the cheap price, so we booked those and then made a separate reservation for the 4th ticket. I was hoping they would put us all in the same compartment, but they did not.

The train is on a Sunday so I'm concerned it might become full. Is that a possibility? It would be wonderful if we could all sit together in our own compartment without others.

How strict are the conductors about enforcing that people sit where they are assigned? Is it possible to trade seats?

Thank you!

Keep the four reservations. If you are lucky there is an empty seat left in the compartment where the 3 of you have their seats. If all seats are taken, ask the other passengers if someone (single traveller) would be so kind to change seats with the person in seat 56.

Forgot to add: do not simply take a seat for the 4th person that has been reserved by someone else. Your seat reservations are valid for no longer than 15 minutes after departure from Frankfurt. If person 4 grabs a seat that is then claimed by someone else in, say, Kassel and has to leave that seat, he cannot claim back his original seat 56 in the compartment next door.

That is very helpful, quokka! So just to make sure I understand - after 15 minutes of sitting in Seat 56, our friend can move to an empty seat in our compartment but still retain ownership of Seat 56? Does the conductor stamp your ticket or something to show that you are the permanent owner? Please clarify how that works. Thank you!

after 15 minutes of sitting in Seat 56, our friend can move to an empty seat in our compartment but still retain ownership of Seat 56?

Please read my posts again. No, as I said, he canNOT!!!! The reservation is lost after 15 minutes. If a reserved seat is not taken by 15 minutes after departure by the person who has the reservation and visibly occupied, it is free for everyone else to take and cannot be claimed back.

The conductor does not care who is sitting where. It is the other passengers, both the holders of other reservations and those who are looking for unreserved seats, who care. Occupying two seats on a crowded train while other passengers have to stand isn't good manners either.

The problem is that an unclaimed seat in your compartment may actually be a reserved seat for someone who is boarding at another stop. It would probably be a good idea just to stay in your original seats.

Thank you everyone for clarifying that! Hopefully DB Bahn will respond to my email and give us the same compartment when they issue our tickets, otherwise we just have to hope someone is nice and willing to trade!

The computer system has already given you your seat reservations. These are booked and rock solid now. DB will not "give" you anything different. Better not hope for a response. (Aren't these self-print online tickets anyway?)

It's too late now but the way to go would have been buying the tickets without reservation, then doing a separate "seat reservation only" booking for four seats together.

Once you are on the train you can ask the person in the 4th seat if they would mind changing. They may or may not - who knows?

Also - if that person isn't getting on until the next stop you will have to wait until then to see if you can switch.

Separately, does this really matter. I understand people traveling together expect to sit together - but it really doesn't make any difference unless small children are involved.

If you do ask that 4th person to swap - you'd better make sure they are going as far as your next stop, or your travelling companion may subsequently lose the seat to the next person who has reserved that seat from a stop further down the way (if anyone has). Tricky! :)

Lavandula

You could always go back to DB Bahn and try to reserve 4 seats together in 1st class. Pay extra for these seat reservations and ignore the original seat assignments. I think you can do this without having to rebuy the tickets. And I think the seat reservations are only 4 E each...so you would be out an extra 25 bucks or so but you would be seated together. Good luck...

As First Class is very rarely fully occupied, you will have a good chance that that 4th seat won't be reserved or occupied anyway. Seat reservations are not mandatory on German Rail in neither 1st nor 2nd class (and a huge deal of people does not make reservations), and especially in 1st the typical clientele are business travellers who just hop on any next train with an unrestricted ticket and won't bother a second about reserving a seat.
Reservations are shown (usually) by displays (or old-fashioned paper slips) at the seat. You will be able to see if that 4th seat in your compartment will be reserved from any station to any station in between Frankfurt and Hamburg. THe displays near your seats will read "Frankfurt Hbf - Hamburg Hbf", but won't show your names or ticket ID numbers.

Great suggestions everyone! So if we board our train in Frankfurt and there are no slips of paper (at all) on the 3 other seats in our compartment, is it safe to assume that no one else will be joining us at any point on the way to Hamburg?

No one with a reservation, I mean :) Of course people can choose to sit there on their own!

Your reservation involves two aisle seats and one middle seat, which allows some conclusions. Usually it's the window seats that go first, so probability is high that someone holds reservations for those. You may be lucky about the second middle seat, though. Fingers crossed.

Very good point about the window seats indicating that someone is probably already booked there. One final question and then I'm (hopefully) done!

If there is a compartment that is showing as available (no paper slips or anything indicating a part of the route is reserved) would it be too big of a risk to sit there? To me that would read as if no one booked any of those seats so it's "open" for taking.

Thank you everyone for your patience with me!

If there is really nothing written and there is no one already sitting in it, the seat is free to take. However, beware of those that say "ggf. reserviert" - those are the ones left for last minute reservations which are not stated on the display.

I decided to take Travelforbeer's advice and purchased 4 reserved seats on one transaction. I decided the peace of mind of knowing that everyone will sit together was worth the €16.

Also, they gave us seats 51, 52, 53 and 54 - and we already had 56 from before, so now there is a chance that only one person will be assigned to our compartment. I understand someone is able to take our unclaimed reserved seat since there are only 4 of us and 5 seats, but that is okay!

Thank you everyone for being so patient and helpful!