@#$%^ Railroads
 

Hi All,

This is a RANT, but it might be helpful to others.

We are planning to take the train from Lindau, GE to Strasbourg, FR on May 23.

Since July, 2007 I have been following the schedule on BahnDe and SNCF:
Lindau to Friedrichshafen Stadt
FS to Stuttgart
Stuttgart to Strasbourg.

As late as last week the cost was 50E for 2: 31E to Stuttgart, 19E to Strasbourg.

On Feb 23, at 18:05 EST (00:05) I went online.

BahnDe said it was too early.
It continued that way throughout the day.

SNCF said that the 19E PREMS fare was no longer available. New price 69E.

At 18:10 on Feb 24, I tried again.

BahnDe offered F/Stras for 39E.

I went through the whole procedure of booking 2 tickets.

"Sorry, we can't make this booking".

I tried three times.

On the 4th try, the 39E fare was gone.

So I went for the 58E fare:

Ditto.

Then that disappeared.

I went for the 78E fare.

Ditto.

Then that disappeared.

So I went for the full fare.

"Sorry, we can't make this booking".

I spent about 3 hr last night trying to make the damned thing work.

This morning, I was able to get tickets for F/Stuttgart for 59E, but can't get either BahnDe or SNCF to sell me the Stut/Stras leg.

I sent emails to the respective railroads asking for help.

I'll keep you apprised.

((I))

Ira: So sorry to hear of your frustrations. I hope you are able to book and all goes well. I know you had to be frustrated when I saw the title as Ira @#$%ing is a very rare event. Good Luck Jackie

Thanks J

ira:

CALL the SNCF people - they are very helpful IME.

Hi St C.

>CALL the SNCF people ....

Didn't help.

Since I will need the tickets in Germany, they sent me to TGV-Europe.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

....................................
I also checked out picking up a car in Lindau, dropping off in Karlsruhe, and taking the train from there.

Takes the a little more time and costs more.


Update:

I bought the tickets from RailEurope.

At least, I think so. They sent me a confirmation, and I should get the tickets next week.

Price was $8 more than purchase from BahnDe, if you count the conversion fee.

So my 50E pp tickets ended up at 77.5E.

Please, don'
t tell me I needn't have bothered and could have booked for the same price when I got to Lindau. :)

((I))

Looks like there are connections with TGVs included, others have one regional trains. The latter cost €39.10 pP for a regular and unrestricted ticket (which you could have bought same day at the station in Lindau), and those "slow" connections take only 30min more than those with a TGV for some part of the trip.

I got no clue what caused all those troubles with online purchase, though. Maybe the different reservation systems or deadlines for the French and German part of the trip with TGV included cause these problems, since reservations are mandatory for TGVs, but not for the alternative German trains.

sorry.. typo.. in 1st sentence not "one regional trains" but "only regional trains"

Hi C,

Thanks for replying.

The problem was not being able to get the TGV from Stuttgart to Strasbourg, which was supposed to be 19.5E pp.

It is now available for 39E.

I got the slightly reduced Lindau/Stuttgart fare.

((I))

ira

Sorry to hear about your frustrations:

For what it is worth, I have never had any luck trying to book cross-border tickets on-line (e.g., Verona-Innsbruck). (I waited until we got overseas before booking the cross-border ticket at the window; we got a somewhat reduced fare offered for two people traveling together.)

However, at least in that case the information about not being able to book on-line was offered in advance of having to got through all the other steps.

It seems you feel better about having the tickets further in advance than arrival, so take comfort that you got something for your extra cash!

Hi S,

Thanx for the reply,

>It seems you feel better about having the tickets further in advance than arrival, so take comfort that you got something for your extra cash!

I wanted to get tickets in advance because there is only one set of trains that would fit.

Otherwise I would have waited until we got to Lindau.