Hi all,

I thought I would purchase my tickets for my upcoming trip to Italy from Euraide, and sent them a list of what I needed.

I took the price of each ES* train from the trenitalia web site.

Euraide tells me that I must purchase the tickets PLUS pay $13.60 for each reservation.

I was under the impression that the price quoted by Trenitalia for ES* included the reservation.

Can anyone help me out with this?

Thanx.

Hi IRA,

The Trenitalia fares quoted on their website INCLUDE their seat reservation fee (€ 3.00 per seat, I believe). If you buy in Italy, the website price is the price you pay.

Sounds like Euraide are adding on their own fee. Why don't you wait till you get to Italy?

Steve

Hi Steve,

Waiting was my first idea until I went to the Euraide site where they said that they charged only the price you would pay in Italy plus a service fee.

I just found out about the extra charge for reservations.

ttt

Ira -

This is just a thought, but I wonder if there is some confusion with Euraide. The $13.60 looks like the supplement one must pay when travelling ES* on a railpass. Is it worth asking them for clarification? When I used them a few months ago, I was under the impression that their service was for railpass holders wanting seat reservations and/or high speed train supplements only, and not for point-to-point tickets. Maybe I am wrong. I was pleased with their service. I paid just for seat reservations on IC trains and supplements on CIS and ES* trains plus $35US for shipping and handling of the whole order.

Hi Rookie,

Thanks for your response.

I sent them a list of p-t-p tickets I wanted because I was aware that I would have to pay for reservations with a Railpass.

They told me that it would be cheaper to buy a railpass because they would charge me for the seat reservations in addition to the listed trenitalia fare.

Me again, Ira -

If I understand, you did purchase a railpass and want to use your railpass to ride on ES* train(s). If so, you do not pay the p-t-p fare PLUS the $13.60 for each reservation. With your railpass you would pay the $13.60 per seat INSTEAD of the p-t-p First Class fare. Also, I believe the supplement may be different for each train depending on distance travelled just like the p-t-p fares. The other railpass consideration with ES* travel is that supposedly they limit the number of railpass supplements they will issue for each train.

If I misunderstand, and you are trying to book p-t-p tickets without a railpass through Euraide, I didn't know they offered that service. Sorry if I've wasted your time with this babble. I hope you are able to get it worked out.

Has this been straightened out yet? The pass gets you onto the train BUT there is a seat reservation charge for Eurostar trains..Euraide is adding on their own service charge as well as does Raileurope.
If you simply walked up to the window or machine in Italy the cost of that seat reservation is built into the ticket.
If the Euraide thing doesn't work out I would get my seat reaservations for ALL the trips at once and as soon as I got there..it will be cheaper in the long run. You can usually do all the reservations for any country at one place. Most trains (except in Italy the Eurostars) do not require a seat reservation but in high season I think it is often smart to get one. Hope this helps more than confuses.

Hi Intrepid and Rookie,

The idea is to purchase p-to-p tickets from Euraide without a railpass.

The fellow from the US office just emailed me to say that it was Euraide policy that tickets would cost no more than if they had been purchased in Germany.

He is wiring the Munich office for instructions.

I'll keep you informed.

For those of you still interested:

Mr Wissen checked with the Munich office. The only way to get the prices listed on the Trenitalia site is in Italy.

He worked out for me how a combination of flexi saver pass and seat reservations would cost only $40.00 more than I would pay if I arrived in Italy without any reservations.

I decided to spend the extra and not eat as much gelato and drink as much limoncello.

Euraide are go people to work with.

Nice to see your persistence paid off Ira.
Congratulations. Enjoy your trip.

Thank's Rookie.

BTW, I meant "Euraide are good people to work with".

Hey IRA - One thing you WON'T want to economise on right now over there is gelato - trust me!

Hi Steve,

I thought that if I ate one less gelato every other day and drank one less limoncello on the alternate days, I would come out even.

Are you suggesting that that would be a false economy?

I'd just have 'limoncello gelato' for breakfast, lunch and dinner ... and economise on something else!!

Steve

Thank's for the advice.

just returned from 18 days in italy, also booked train tix thru euraide. be sure to get reserved 2nd class seats on any popular routes so you won't find yourself standing for 4 hours...by the way, the german office mistakenly charged me TWICE for my tix which i caught double-checking my credit card statement...herman (the nice guy in florida from euraide) called me every day and contacted citibank until it was resolved...so even when there was a problem, they were great...enjoy!

Thanks, cheryl