Just discovered a train strike has been called for October 21 9am-5pm

http://www.mit.gov.it/mit/site.php?p=scioperi

I am supposed to be travelling Spello to Pescara this day and have already booked mini fare on Eurostar Italia for the Foligno- Ancona leg.

I am obviously hoping that the strike will get called off, but does anyone know what happens with mini fares? Do you get a refund?

Kept getting error message when I tried to follow links on Trenitalia website.

Did you book a strike proof train?

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms-file/a...e/tgUmbria.pdf

Keep checking as not all scheduled strikes do occur ......

Italian Transportation Strikes >>>>
http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/italy_transport_strikes/


The is official site re: strikes, however is only in Italian >>>>
http://www.commissionegaranziasciopero.it/

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kybourbon

No unfortunately my train is not on the list- didn't even know about "strikeproof" trains till now!

Thanks for links guys, guess I'll have to work out a plan B or C.

Still like to know if mini fares will be refunded in event of strike.

Perhaps it won't happen. The link you gave says proposed strikes. The Commission doesn't seem to list this strike.

http://www.commissionegaranziasciope...oListNazionali

http://www.commissionegaranziasciopero.it/scioperoList

You can change a mini fare ticket in advance, but you lose some of the value. If you will be in Italy a few days before the strike, I would ask at a train station.

What is your train number?

Unfortunately the strike is listed now, probably wasn't up before because it was the weekend.

My train is Eurostar Italia 9324 which appears not to be running.

Need to be in Pescara the night of Oct 21, already booked hotel and have booked ES train ticket for Oct 22 Pescara- Brindisi

At this stage I think I will do nothing till I get there, worse case scenario we hopefully get some refund on mini fare and catch Regional trains- not fun with luggage- best case scenario...it gets called off!!

I would wait until there and change your ticket to the ES train that is running (9330) departs 5pm from Foligno if the strike is still on. There are also R trains running before and after the strike.

The rules for changing a mini-fare:

Booking/ticket change

Booking/ticket change is possible only once from the day the ticket/booking is issued and up to midnight of the day before departure, solely at ticket desks at train stations or at the travel agency where the ticket was issued. You are only allowed to change the departure date or time for the same category of train or service, subject to a change fee (equal to the difference to the corresponding full base price) and only for a journey to take place after the one booked. The new ticket will have the same characteristics as the Mini ticket. Tickets bought on this site cannot be changed online. For ticketless tickets, go directly to the station ticket desk or the issuing agency; as for tickets that need to be picked up at the self-service machine, you need to pick up the printed ticket and then go to the ticket desk.

The Trenitalia website explains that electronic tickets ("base" fare OR "MINI" fare) may now be changed via the Trenitalia website IF IF they were originally purchased on the "LE FRECCE" webpages (instead of the regular reservation webpages). Simple Reservation changes via the website to a different train (same city pairs, same class of service and same train category) are allowed for all the fast trains which require seat reservations.

Here is the official rule:

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...003f16f90aRCRD

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...003f16f90aRCRD

GAC - Am I missing something? Your first link is for base fares, not mini fares. I also don't see a requirement about booking on the Le Frecce part of the website to be able to exchange/refund. It only says you must have registered first instead of purchasing without registration.

Simple changes to electronic reservatons for the fast trains(same city pairs, same class of train, same class of service) can be made online ("base" fare or "MINI" fares) by registering OR by following the instructions for people who have not registered.

More complex changes (ticket exchanges) can be done online if the "LE FRECCE" webpages were used to make the electronic purchase. Otherwise, they must be done in person (face-to-face at the train station).

REFUNDS for electronic tickets ("base" fare or "MINI" fare) cannot be done in person (face-to-face at the train station), but only through the website or via the call center.

Here are the rules for the "MINI" fare tickets. The English language version is not coming up:

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...3f16f90aRCRD#1

Thanks Kybourbon and GAC for your advice.

The 5pm ES looks like a good choice.

So just to confirm, the mini fare ticket cannot be changed in advance online, only at a train station in Italy?

It depends what you mean by "changed". In the case of a "MINI" fare ticket, IF you mean getting a new reservation for a later-departing train between the same city pairs, same category of train, and same class of service, this can now be done online.

IF you mean a more complex change, it can only be done face-to-face at the train station, OR online IF IF the ticket was purchased on the "FRECCIAROSSA" (English-language) or "LE FRECCE" (Italian-language) webpages of the Trenitalia website (and not the regular reservation webpages).

See my previous responsive posting, above.

Italian trains have had strikes about every week for weeks now - actually about an average of every nine days - many are from late Saturday to late Sunday and though some trains are strike immune many of course are not

so when booking mini-fares try to book on trains that are supposed to run during the all-too often strikes. Mini-fares may not easily be exchanged it seems - though the info above presented does seems conflicting as to what is actually exchangeable and how easy.

As strikes may only increase as Italy's austerity measures forced by the current Greek crisis it may well be worth it to be fully exchanged refundable full fare tickets that indeed can be changed at train stations and not via some cumbersone flummoxing method online.