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Seat Reservations with point to point tickets

Seat Reservations with point to point tickets

Old Dec 30th, 2006, 07:22 AM
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kakiebell
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Seat Reservations with point to point tickets

I have purchased tickets from Rail Europe from Rome to Siena, Italy
Florence to Santa Margherita, Italy
I have purchased Comfort Flexi, 1st class tickets. Do I need to purchase a seat assignment in addition to these tickets?
I did not purchase a pass because we are only travelling to two cities.
Please help. The Rail Europe site is very confusing regarding this issue.
 
Old Dec 30th, 2006, 07:25 AM
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If you haven't hit purchase yet, then cancel out of the system. Buy your tickets much cheaper from the Italian train website. www.trenitalia.com

Rail Europe marks everything up.
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Old Dec 30th, 2006, 07:33 AM
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The seat assignments normally come with the raileuroope tickets. The seat and car will be marked on the actual ticket when you receive it.
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Old Dec 30th, 2006, 07:49 AM
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I'm not sure what RE is calling Comfort Flexi, but the trip from Florence to S. Margherita appears to partially be on an R train which doesn't allow seat reservation nor has a the flexi option as a different price than regular since your ticket would be good until you stamped it in the ticket machine. The cost is 5E for Florence/Pisa (where you would have to change for S. Margherita). The price to S. Margherita is 19E for 1st cl flexi on the ICplus train.

You will have the same situation on the Rome/Siena route as part of the trip will only have an R train available. Total price for this ticket with 1st cl on the Rome/Chiusi leg is about 25E.
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Old Dec 30th, 2006, 08:17 AM
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Hi K,

If you can get a refund on your tickets, I suggest that you do so and take the bus from Rome to Siena.

See http://www.senabus.it/

Also, I think that it would be a lot easier to take the SITA bus from Florence to Siena.

SITA bus schedules are at http://tinyurl.com/b9mja

At least part of your Florence/SML trip will be on nonreservation R trains.

If you have been booked onto an IC+ train, you have a reserved seat on that train.

In future, buy your tickets in Italy from www.trenitalia.com.

Enjoy your visit.

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Old Jan 6th, 2007, 11:18 AM
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I received the tickets that I purchased from Rail Europe and they have nothing on them but the city you are departing from and the city you are going to. There is not a time or date on them. Also, there is not a seat assignment for any of the trains on the tickets. I emailed Rail Europe and they said before I purchased these tickets that the seat assignment would be on the tickets. But after receiving them, now they say that they are open seating tickets. I paid $130 for the tickets from Rome to Siena for two people and $138 from Florence to Santa Margherita.
Can anyone advise as to whether Rail Europe is wrong selling 1st class tickets that you cannot get a seat reservation? Help.
 
Old Jan 6th, 2007, 12:10 PM
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Hi K,

They sold you tickets that are good for any IC or R train.

You do not have seat reservations.

Check the scheules at www.trenitalia.com

You will go 1cl on the IC.

R trains don't have classes and don't have reserved seating.

Can you get a refund on your tickets?

If not, don't look at prices.


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Old Jan 6th, 2007, 02:50 PM
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kakiebell
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Ira, sorry I put the last message out there not attached to you last reply. The tickets are refundable with a 15% penalty with Rail Europe but my main concern is if I purchase the tickets with Trenitalia, do they have seat reservations on their trains or are the routes I am taking just first come, first serve? I do not know if this is Rail Europe's policy to not have seat reservations or if this is just the system on these routes in Italy. I do not know how an open seating works. Like if you show up at the train station on a busy day, and you do not have a reserved seat, can you just be out of luck? I do not know if I would accomplish anything by sending my tickets back and buy my tickets with Trenitralia----what does your experience tell??? Thank you so much.
 
Old Jan 6th, 2007, 04:24 PM
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I'm not convinced of the value of seat reservations, unless you are going on a holiday, or a commuter train. Only once have we been unable to get seats, and that was on a fairly short trip on a train that had a lot of students and commuters.

We have bought tickets with seat reservations, and more than once have found someone in our seats, pretending that he didn't understand that they were reserved; his understanding invariably perked up just before the ticket checker arrived, but that can be well down the road; I once looked for the ticket checker to resolve such a problem, and never have been able to find one until they deign to start their rounds.

In your case, if the reservations are important to you, you should look into how much you will lose by returning these tickets and buying at trenitalial.com. I believe that, with the tickets you have, assuming the train is one on which reservations are taken, you could probably just buy a reservation by taking your tickets to the station, but I have never done that.
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Old Jan 6th, 2007, 04:42 PM
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Problem is that some of the trains the OP may want to take, like from Rome to Chiusi (to connect to Siena) are IC-Plus trains with mandatory seat reservations. So, I think the OP will need to get the seat reservations at a station before boarding. Maybe his 1cl tickets don't require extra payment, I hope.

Same thing for the Pisa to Santa Margherita portion of the Florence-S. Marg. trip. Again, those are IC-Plus trains.
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Old Jan 6th, 2007, 06:27 PM
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Thanks for your input. I do not know why this has to be so confusing but I see so many people travelling in Italy confused about train travel. If the web sites such as Rail Europe and Trenatralia were clearer about their policies, then it would not create such conflict for tourists. I think I will just keep the tickets I have purchased (probably overpaid for them but.....) and go to an agent in Rome where we are flying into. The last leg of our trip which is from Portofino to Zurich, Switzerland is a real toss up as who to use. I may just rent a car as after all this confusion, it may be the easier route. Thanks again but I am still as confused as I was as nobody seems to have a clear picture what the rail system is really doing!
 
Old Jan 6th, 2007, 06:33 PM
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The problem is with RailEurope, not Trenitalia. In general, friends don't let friends buy tickets from RE.
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Old Jan 7th, 2007, 06:04 AM
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Believe me I have learned my lesson. I am returning my tickets to Rail Europe even with the penalty and buying with Trenitralia. The reason I did not use them was because when I went to Italy three years ago, that site was only in Italian and I could not navigate it. Thanks everyone and wish me luck!
 
Old Jan 7th, 2007, 08:13 AM
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You can buy train tickets at the train station after you arrive, right? You don't have to buy them online ahead of time.
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