Entering Travel Dates on Eurail Selectpass
 

I'm curious about anyone's experience with this. When I purchased my railpass through AAA, the agent told me not to bother entering my travel date (we have 5 day passes) before I board the train, she said that they'll do it for me. Then she said that sometimes they won't check, and you'll end up with a "free" travel day. This sounds all well and good, but I read on Rail Europe that I need to fill in my date before I board or risk a fine??

"Sometimes they won't check..." Unless you are traveling somewhere such as between Schiphol and Amsterdam Centraal (as just one example) or using the pass on a state-run urban/suburban railway (an S-Bahn, for example) I suspect you are going to be "checked" (which really means being asked to produce a ticket).

Trying to get something for nothing often gets you "something" you end up not enjoying very much.

Hi are,

A. You must have your pass validated before you get on your first train. This is done at any train station.

B. You MUST enter the date of the day on which you are using your pass before the conductor asks to see your pass. If you do not you risk having your pass confiscated and paying a fine.

((I))

intrepid and ira speak the truth.

In Germany last month, after getting my pass validated the previous day, I forgot to enter in the date on the next travel day. We were lucky and had a very kind conductor (what do you call them these days in Europe??) explain that I must fill it in. I blamed the oversight on jet lag (it was true) and he was most gracious. There were several legs of our journey that no one ever checked my pass but I personally would never risk it. The pass provides a LOT of travel very inexpensively!

Nobody's going to "confiscate" your pass because you didn't fill in the date.

They WILL ask you to produce the pass. And if the current date hasn't been entered yet (by you), they'll ask you to fill it in (or do it for you). Then they'll usually punch it, or otherwise "cancel" that date entry.

Well not always - talked to a guy who had a Eurailpass using in Germany and he said he had not filled in the date as required and the conductor then filled in the date and another one as a penalty - used two days for one day because he had not filled in the dates. Many conductors may let you slide but not all - never heard of pass being confiscated but i was wrongly fined $50 by a Dutch conductor who claimed i had changed a date - not very hard to do if they don't punch it as many do now - I had not changed the date but he insisted I had and fined me on the spot and said he would confiscate my pass if i didn't pay. Fill in the date before getting on the train (or actually as you see the train coming in as strikes can occur and there may be no train on rare occasions. The AAA staffer gave reprehensible advice. If your date is not filled in you could be considered to be riding without a ticket and then have to pay for the train ticket plus a fine. I've used dozens of railpasses for years and conductors are cracking down more and more - not so laissez-faire as used to be. There are even squads of controllers who have checked my pass with magnifying glasses, looking for changed dates. One lady i talked to was fined because her date was blurred by water somehow so it couldn't be read!

AAA staffers probably haven't taken a train anywhere in decades and probably wish they would all go out of business!

I agree with the above advice against trying to beat the system. But I would change one minor point:

Don't fill in the date until you are aboard (and preferably not until the train begins to move). Obviously, this is less important if there are more trains to your destination that day.

But <u>do</u> be careful how you write the date (if the ticket doesn't have a date format printed on it). 6/7/05 or 7.6.05 are ambiguous, but 6JUL05 is not.

Good advice, Robes