German trains: what happens when reservations are sold out?
 

I'm having a panic because I've bought tickets on a 7.5 hour train trip on which no reservations are available! I'd like to know what it means when the bahn.de service team says "the train is sold out and no reservations can be made". Yes, I have sent email to ask them this question, but I am hoping for some advice from someone who might have experienced this. Does this literally mean there is not a single seat available on the train? Should we expect to stand the entire time?

The trip is this Saturday 8/11, Frankfurt to Vienna, 4 passengers, on Europa Spezial tickets (2nd class, non-refundable). The reservations system wasn't allowing non-smoking reservations, and when I tried to redo I inadvertently bought the tickets without a seat reservation for that leg - the translation was a bit odd so I misunderstood what was going on. It took many failed attempts before I finally found an email address, which produced the response I quoted above. I need advice, please!!!

I have another, more mundane question: On the return from Vienna to Frankfurt, for which we do have seats reserved, would there be any problem if we board the train at Linz instead of Vienna? I know this train stops there, and it's more convenient since we can get from Cesky Krumlov to Linz more easily than Vienna. But I don't want them to jettison our seat reservations because they don't see us during the first hour of the journey. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for a little hand-holding!

Hi SS,

>I'd like to know what it means when the bahn.de service team says "the train is sold out and no reservations can be made"....Does this literally mean there is not a single seat available on the train? <

No.

You get on board as soon as possible, grab seats and hope that you are not sitting in a reserved seat from which you will be ejected when the reservation holder arrives. Don't give it up to anyone except the conductor.

If you are lucky, you won't have to sit on your luggage in the aisle.

>..would there be any problem if we board the train at Linz instead of Vienna? <

Not usually.

((I))

Just wildly speculating here, but I wonder if the problem is that the system wants to give you reservations only if the seats are all together. Can you try for one reservation at a time?

I can't remember what is prompting me to ask this, but I thought I would suggest it.

Seat reservations are valid for no longer than 15 minutes after departure. So if a person doesn't show up, someone else may take the seat.

I suppose this rule is the same in Austria, so if you board the train in Linz instead of Vienna, the reservation is lost.

On a train that's completely booked, you'll probably find a seat for at least a part of the journey if you're lucky. Often people don't show up because they missed a connection or whatever. Four seats together will be almost impossible to find, though. But be prepared to stand for a while.

Try getting last-minute reservations at the ticket machines in Frankfurt. A number of seats are kept for these express reservations, which can be done till 5 minutes before departure. You may be lucky that there are still seats available. The cost will be 3 or 3,50 Euro (not sure) per person.

I recommend you stop into a DeutscheBahn office at any train station or travel agent (look for the red DB logo) at your earliest convenience and ask them in person.

This can be in Frankfurt or anywhere else you happen to be.

I suggest you call the DB Call Centre. Dial 011 (international access code for the US and Canada) + 49 (country code for Germany) + 1805 - 996633.