I should probably know this, but....

When looking at seat reservations on the train from Zurich to Salzburg (via Innsbruck), what is "saloon coach" and what is "compartment coach"? Should I have a preference of one over the other?

Sorry if this is a stupid question. ;-)

A compartments is usually a 6 seat room, and old style. Saloon? I wonder if that's an open style, like airplane seats. Majority of train coaches is like this today. Or there is a 3rd kind they call "saloon"?

I Googled it and found this:
While we never checked out the first class wagon, the 2nd class was great. You definitely want the compartment coach and not the salon coach. Compartment coach has the six seat cabins with a closing door. Door keeps the AC in and people are generally quiet and polite. The salon coaches are similar to our commuter trains, so you are not separated from any other conversations…it gets loud, especially if people have visited the dining wagon for a bier or two or twelve. And the AC is not contained so these wagons are HOT!

Read more: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...#ixzz1HOsWJoPi

It's compartment vs. open plan/airplane style (=salon) seating.
Long-distance trains have A/C in either.
Taller people should be more comfortable in salon cars cause you can stretch out your legs and those of your opposite seat neighbor don't get in the way.

And don't think there aren't loud conversations in those compartments and sometimes a lot of other distracting things

Oh I thought saloon may have meant the bar car!

Saloon has those swinging doors and a guy in the corner playing piano! LOL

Compartments are great if you're the only person/group in them. On a busy train, most passengers prefer open saloons as you're not thrown quite as intimately in with other individuals.

You can also see out better from an open-plan saloon seating coach, as you can see forwards (at an angle, obviously) through the many other windows in the car, but in a compartment with a wall behind you and a wall directly ahead of you, you can only see out sideways through the compartment's one window. With superb scenery on this route through the wonderful Arlberg Pass, that's a significant consideration.

But it's a personal thing.