Rail pass question
 

My husband and I have bought railpasses from RailPass Express. We received them last night and are extremely excited about our trip. We have a really silly question though (I know, stupid newbie). Do we fill in our passport information now or when we have the passes validated at the station?

Though i find it rather amusing that if i bought a several hundred dollar item from a vendor that i would not contact that vendor for the authoritative answer - it boggles my mind

but OK - No - you could but no reason to and reasons not to - for one thing Europeans write in a noticeably difference numerical script so i let them right the figures - like the crossed 7s and ones that have flags on them that could look like a seven.

I don't think there is any rule on it (that's why i say contact the experts who issued it and ask them - because 'i think' is not always the correct answer)

i've used hundreds of passes literally and have always had the clerk at the window fill it in.

actually I did contact the vendor and they hadn't responded to me. and we didn't pay several hundred dollars, it was actually a much better deal than buying the tickets separately for each of us.

thanks for an informative if extremely rude reply.

The general rule for rail passes has always been that you hand the pass to the official along with your passport and the official fills in the passport number as well as the start and ending dates for the pass and then validates it with the railroad company stamp.

ilsallaslo - accept my apologies - i could have tempered my words better.

It's been a pet peeve of me that folks here often ask such questions but seem not to have thought of calling the vendor, like you would do with any product.

You had done this and my mistake was accusing you without knowing the facts and in any case not using the most polite tack. My fault.

And your question was such that many Fodorties would know the answer. It was technical but many other such questions are - about Customs' regulations, air plane ticket problems, etc. ask answers that only the vendor could definitely provide - so I' very sorry for my rudeness.

The only times you do not have to validate the pass at a train station ticket window is if:

You are coming on a train from outside the country - then the train conductor is supposed to do it on board. In effect i've found the conductor in these situations may not have the proper stamp and simply tell you to validate it at your destination station.

and you can have your pass pre-validated by the vendor who sells it to you. Someone landing at CDG airport and taking the TGV from there may opt for this rather the wait in the often very long lines IME at the airport train station.

But once a pass is validated it's no longer refundable (otherwise usually for up to a year for a 15-20% cancellation penalty. Thus agents are aloof to pre-validating passes as then the pass are no longer refundable and if the client gets hurt, ill, etc. there is no refund.

Some agents may re-issue your passes for a small fee - in case you will be using them after one year normal expiry date.

Agents