Germany Trains? How strict is it?
 

I will travel from Paris to Stuttgart by TGV train. I will buy TGV tickets online and print e-ticket. However, I will be using my sister's bank card to make the e-ticket purchase. I don't belong to a bank or use credit card, so I gave enough money to my sister so that I can use her bank card to make train reservation for e-ticket.

My question is, will I need to show the original bank card along with the e-ticket and my ID to the conductor? I heard that the german trains are very strict and sometimes you need show the bank card too, to prove you purchased the ticket. I would not be carrying my sister's bank card because she needs it, so I thought I would prepare a photocopy of it/and my sister's ID.... not sure if that helps the situation.

What do you think? Will the above situation bring me too much trouble for riding TGV train?

I would prefer to pay for TGV train ticket in person with cash at the TGV station, but I heard that if you buy tickets at the station, it costs more than if you bought it online. What is the truth?

I will arrive in Paris on August 18, could I buy TGV ticket for reasonable price to leave on August 20th? I hope to keep the price of the TGV ticket under/around $100.00...

Please, if you are able to give me some insight, I would appreciate it so much!

Well, without the "real"credit card, I could stand at the Stuttgart train station and sell copies of both the ticket and the photo-copy of the credit card all day long to folks for $10, and make a fortune. Anyone can make copies, so yes, you would need the credit card.

You MUST have an ID with your online ticket. This isn't "sometimes" but always. Without, your ticket is not valid.

Yes, you do need the credit card the ticket was bought with and they ARE strict about it. If it was a short distance train you might sometimes not get checked but on an IC/ICE you will get asked for the ticket and an ID.
Hope this helps.

Ask your sister to get a duplicate credit card that you can take with you for ID purposes on the train.

The least expensive TGV tickets can be purchased 90 days before the travel date. There are limited discount tickets and the closer to the travel date the more expensive the tickets will be. It's not that the tickets cost more at the station but the discount tickets probably will have been sold already. Although you may get lucky and get a discount ticket on your travel day.

The German Rail site allows booking for oneself or for a third party. Booking for a third party requires registering on the site.

When you buy a ticket through the SNCF or tgv-europe.com websites, it's their terms which apply and not those of German Rail. You will be travelling with a "French" ticket.
http://help.tgv-europe.com/en/france...another-person

When you check fares, keep in mind that 2nd cheap fares ("PREM" fares) often sell out quickly while 1st class might still be available if you can live with being restricted to a certain train and no refunds for cancellations.


When you buy tickets via bahn.com for trips either within Germany or starting in Germany, then you also can buy tickets online for someone else.
BUT: That "someone else" needs to have a form of ID which the online booking system accepts:
> a major credit card OR
> a maestro debit or "bank card" OR
> a national ID card from Germany or neighboring countries OR
> a "Bahn Card".

If you do not have one of those cards, you cannot legally travel with an online ticket from Deutsche Bahn.

I would suggest you check if similar restrictions exist for tickets bought from SNCF.

Thanks everyone for your quick and informational responses.

It seems a bit too complicated with using my sister's bank card to purchase an e-ticket. Although getting a duplicate card sounds like a good idea, however, it may still cause confusion or problems because they might not believe me? I don't want to take that risk..

I decided I will wait until I am in Paris on August 18 to buy my TGV ticket for August 20. I hope the price won't be astronomical. If it is, I might as well buy a plane ticket instead or rent a car.

Thanks again!

How do you plan to book a plane ticket without a credit card?
How do you plan to rent a car without a credit card?
And, if you think about using the car just one-way, you will pay a hefty drop-off fee for not returning the car in the same country.
And, in general: How do you plan to travel across Europe without a debit and/or credit card? I hope you don't think about travelling with a big amount of cash in your pockets?!

Another option for those who don't mind to sleep on the bus:
http://www.eurolines.fr/
The fare is €61 for the service on August 20. Select Paris Gallieni as starting point for travels to Munich.

<<I decided I will wait until I am in Paris on August 18 to buy my TGV ticket for August 20. I hope the price won't be astronomical. If it is, I might as well buy a plane ticket instead or rent a car.>>

You might as well, since you're already WAY too late to get much of a reduced-fare PREM. You should have bought 2+ months ago.

But as Cowboy asks, how do you plan to do this without a credit card?

And are you prepared for about a $500 fee for renting a car in one country and dropping it off in another?

This Spring I bought 2 tixs on bahn.de for a train trip Paris to Munich in June. It had a train change in Stuggart. When booking online I was never asked for the name of the other passenger and I was a little concerned but figured we could sort it out at the station if need be. I never had anyone ask for identification for my self or the other passenger. Our tickets were checked several times, but no ID or credit card was ever asked for. Perhaps this was an oddity, but we had no trouble at all.

All that said I agree with Cowboy's post above.

I have never been asked for my credit card as proof of identity; the passport has been sufficient. In fact, the credit card would not provide sufficient information for the pre-printed PREM ticket since it does not contain the relevant information (date of birth) that shows that the holder is the intended traveler at the moment of purchase.

As Michael says above, neither have I. And in Germany I have used a passport for identity purposes without problems

I too am curious about the logistics of travelling across Europe without a credit card or a debit card. Do you use a pre-loaded cash card? Take a bunch of cash?

I am also curious about how a person lives in the 21st century without at least a bank account - other people's finances aren't my business, of course, but I am curious.

>I have never been asked for my credit card as proof of identity; the passport has been sufficient. In fact, the credit card would not provide sufficient information for the pre-printed PREM ticket since it does not contain the relevant information (date of birth) that shows that the holder is the intended traveler at the moment of purchase.

They are not interested in your identity. They are only interested in the fact that a particular ticket is only used ONCE. With a flexible ticket it could theoretically be reprinted and used on different trains by several persons. Thus, an unique ID is required - and a credit or debit card is sufficient for this.

We recently got back from our trip, which included two train and 2 bus trips with Deutschbahn, all purchased online. We were required to show the purchasing credit card on 3 of the 4 trips. The conductors ran our card through a portable reader.

In the past, we have purchased tickets on the day of travel at the stations and not had to present any identification on the train except occasionally our passports.

I wonder what would happen if you purchased in the States a ticket for your college age child to travel in Germany; that child would not necessarily have a credit card, or the right one.

No one - student or not - should go to europe without a credit card and an ATM card.

In fact, I can;t imagine any college student not having a credit card - and ATM for their checking account. How ever do they pay their bills?

<i>In fact, I can;t imagine any college student not having a credit card - and ATM for their checking account. How ever do they pay their bills?</i>

I pay mine with checks. But it makes no difference. If the parent purchases the ticket--let's say as a gift to the student--the student's credit card is not the valid one if the conductor is truly checking to see that it corresponds to the credit card used to purchase the ticket.

If the rules say that the person traveling on the ticket must present one of a choice of identification, then that person must have that type of identification. Period. If a person doesn't have any of the types of identification on the list, then he or she cannot travel using a ticket purchased online.

I can think of 2 ways around this for someone who does not have a credit card:
1. Purchase the ticket with cash on day of travel.
2. Purchase a rail pass.

Purchase a rail pass.>

If you are traveling on several trains on several days then a railpass may be a good idea - like the France-Germany railpass good, duh, in both France and Germany on any train anytime - in Germany you just hop on with no formality as nearly no trains there require seat reservations - in France on most long-distance trains and most TGVs you must make a seat reservation in advance - 3 or 4 euros usually. But if that is your only trip obviously a pass is not a good idea - anyway check out these fab IMO sources for loads of great info on German and French trains - www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Hi Sil,

If you go from Paris to Stuttgart, you will be on a French train.

IIRC, the French conductor will want your ticket, passport and CC.

((I))

I spent three weeks travelling around Germany by train - my tickets were nearly always checked and once they wanted to see my credit card as well.

<i>the French conductor will want your ticket, passport and CC.</i>

I surprised that the French are more meticulous than the Swiss, because that didn't happen to us while traveling in Switzerland--not even the passport.

Hi M,

>I surprised that the French are more meticulous than the Swiss,...<

I'd be surprised too.

I spent three weeks travelling around Germany by train - my tickets were nearly always checked and once they wanted to see my credit card as well.>

anyone traveling that much by train around Germany is probably missing the boat by not buying a Germany Railpass, where unlimited travel days after the base are only about 15 euros a day or so and no need to check anything but the pass.

The key here is the e-ticket purchase, which means they will, indeed, want to see the credit card.

ira on Aug 30, 11 at 7:51am Hi M,

>I surprised that the French are more meticulous than the Swiss,...<

I'd be surprised too>

well not on trains Ira - I have used Swiss Passes for years and rarely if ever does any conductor only make a perfunctory glance at it - I could be using the same pass from years ago and get away with it

In France however I have been on several occasions made to produce my passport and had my pass looked at under a magnifying glass.

>I surprised that the French are more meticulous than the Swiss, because that didn't happen to us while traveling in Switzerland--not even the passport.

Since in Switzerland standard tickets are not personalized, no Swiss conductor ever needs to ascertain your identity.
In France it is necessary because at least the PREM tickets are personalized.
It's not a question of meticulousness but simply different set of rules.

>I wonder what would happen if you purchased in the States a ticket for your college age child to travel in Germany; that child would not necessarily have a credit card, or the right one.

You would (for Germany at least) buy a ticket for a pickup at a ticket machine, and receive a 6 digit code. Once you enter the code you will get your ticket printed out. No credit card necessary.

<i>In France it is necessary because at least the PREM tickets are personalized.</i>

credit cards might be proof of payment, they are not particularly useful for identification purposes (no photograph, no date of birth), which is why identification is sometimes required when using a credit card. If ever I have the opportunity, I'll offer to the conductor a credit card other than the one used to purchase my ticket for German (or French) travel and see what happens. ;-)

And the Swiss did not even check our passports when entering the country by train from Italy.

>credit cards might be proof of payment, they are not particularly useful for identification purposes (no photograph, no date of birth), which is why identification is sometimes required when using a credit card.

No. You didn't understand me. Your credit card is registered in a central database, and when you present it it is checked off against this database. With a passport, the conductor would have to enter your name manually to invalidate the ticket in the database, which is very inefficient with an average full TGV or ICE holding about 800 people. Credit cards can be just pulled through.

>If ever I have the opportunity, I'll offer to the conductor a credit card other than the one used to purchase my ticket for German (or French) travel and see what happens.

Hopefully you have the right card with you too, or otherwise you might have to buy a new ticket.

>And the Swiss did not even check our passports when entering the country by train from Italy.

Why should they?

<i>Why should they?</i>

Because at the same time Swiss immigration pulled off someone from that train and obviously were placing half a dozen persons on a train going back to Italy; I guess we didn't fit the profile.

I have too seen Swiss immigrations guys take folks off trains going north - four Albanians in our couchette were roused at the Swiss border and turned back to Italy.

But perhaps now that the Swiss are in Schengen they cannot do this anymore - this was pre-Schengen - if they did after seems would be a violation of the spirit and law of Schengen for borderless Europe - once legally admittted to italy also to Swiss and other Schengen countries?

<i>But perhaps now that the Swiss are in Schengen they cannot do this anymore</i>

We saw it this past May.

Michael - I have also seen German goon squads come on overnight trains rousing folks from their berths - indeed it happened to me - was taken to the baggage car and had to empty every little item out for search and there was a body serach as well - nothing found and I am a middle age male - do not know why they selected me but it was in spirit I thought a violation of Schengen - anything can be done anytime it shows.

I am trying to book an e-ticket for my son. He will travel with maestro card. ON the bahn booking site, a sort code is required. Does anybody know, where this code is? The card issuer (Nova Ljubljanska Banka, Ljubljana, Slovenia) claim that there is nothing like "sort code" on Maestro card?

The SNCF will never ask to see your credit card if you already have your ticket. Anybody can buy a ticket for anybody else and they often do. You only need the credit card if you are picking up a ticket.

I am amazed that DB would ask to see credit cards on the train while checking tickets. Is it verboten to pay for a ticket for somebody else in Germany?

Ivan, for internet bookings European sites always ask for the security code now (also called cryptogramme) -- presumably it would be the three digit code printed on the BACK of the card. On an Amex card, it is the 4 <b>non-embossed</b> digits on the front of the card, just below the embossed digits.

Yes, it is extremely strange that cc is used for identification.

I am not asking for security code - on the bahn.com booking page "sort code" is required; and by the way, is is debit card (Maestro) not credit card. And I need it only for train identification, not for paying.

I want to pay with my credit card an e-ticket for my son, who will identify himself with his debit card.

A sort code in the UK is the number that determines I believe the bank branch that your account is associated with. You need an account number and sort code to do any sort of funds transfer.