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 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.