mdod

Can someone clear up my confusion on buying tickets online. I have looked at the payment section on the Trenitalia site ( http://tinyurl.com/2emqdb ) but haven't tried booking anything yet.
There are 2 options that seem to be related to credit cards:
Paying by credit card and
Paying by Bankpass

I have read posts that mention needing to register first to receive id and password within 48 hours. Is that just for the Bankpass option? Also, is the Bankpass option just to address people's security concerns over web credit card transactions or is there some other reason to do that?

Also, for anyone that is interested, here's a link to their travel guide with info about missing trains, changing reservations, etc. http://tinyurl.com/2twv8z

Marcia

mdod

No responses???

Dukey

Topping again for you.

Ira is around somewhere and he usually has a pretty good understanding of the Trenitalia site.

zorba_01

You need to register anyway, no matter what kind of payment you make.
With Bankpass you give your credit card detail only when you register: after that you don't need to input your detail for other purchasing. It is for security reasons and good if you often buy tickets.

mdod

Thanks Zorba. That's what I wanted to know.

mdod

One more question. The Slowtrav site says you can generally get your tickets at the last minute except that around holidays when it still only suggests booking 3-4 days in advance. Does that apply to overnight trains too?

We are planning to take the overnight train from Naples to Venice on Sun, April 22- just over a month ;-). Since we only have a MC and Discover card (which is useless outside the US) I went ahead and applied for a Capital One Visa so we'd have a spare for emergencies and because Capital One hasn't jacked up their foreign transaction fees- yet. If I'm safe in waiting another week to book the train, I'd prefer to set up the BankPass account to use the new Capital One account.

zorba_01

Remember that April the 22 is in the middle of our holiday "ponte" (bridge), which is an Italian expression that indicates that adding one or two working days to pubblic holidays you can have a nice vacation. Trains will probably be crowded and you may like to book a bed in the sleeping wagon. Please be very carefull with your luggage in overnight trains and do not trust people walking up and down in corridors and looking inside comparments. We have had problem with thiefs lately. Police is taking care of it and will be allerted during holidays but....

mdod

Thanks for the heads up Zorba.

mdod

I'm getting closer. I registered last night and got my ID and temp password emailed immediately. I went to purchase the tickets, 2 person compartment, and it says" Enter the carriage and seat number beside which you wish to travel herequot; but there are just empty fields with nothing to select. I looked up "seat allocation" in their purchase guide and it said "choose the location of your booked seats before purchasing the ticket by clicking directly on the image and then choosing ticket delivery/pick-up options: Ticketless, Home Delivery or Self-service." It sounds like they combined directions for 2 different processes but I tried clicking on the picture of the train and nothing happened.

So...any problem with me leaving it blank? I don't care what car we're in. I just don't want to buy the tickets and then have a problem when I go to board the train.

navgator

I purchased ticketless tickets online last week and left the carriage /seat number blank as previously advised by other posters. If purchasing first class seats, the system will assign a reserved seat for you, with coach and seat number on your ticketless ticket.

navgator

a question I asked a while ago

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34935950

ira

Hi M,

>it says" Enter the carriage and seat number beside which you wish to travel herequot; <

That's only if you want to ride next to someone who already has a ticket.

Otherwise leave it blank.

mdod

Yay, I finally got the tickets after a few glitches! I got my log-in and temporary password right away but I got some webpage error message in Italian when I went to change the password. For a while neither one worked so I decided to wait until today to see if my Capital One card came, which it did.

Note: just because a seat option shows up when you are looking at various schedules and fares, it doesn't mean you can actually get it. I wanted a 2 bed compartment and it let me go all the way through to the final purchase and then said it wasn't available, try another option-argh! I ended up with couchette for "Comfort". We'll see about that ;-)

On teh seat descriptions I had to decide between Promiscuo and Donna and then there was a check box for Posto basso obbligatorio. I couldn't find any translation anywhere so I called my friend that was stationed in Italy and she didn't know either. We decided promiscuo was co-ed, donna was ladies only and post basso obbligatorio was a request for a bottom bunk. I hope that's right because I selected Promiscuo.

Thanks for all the help!

Marcia

ira

Hi MD,

Glad you got it worked out.

>Note: just because a seat option shows up when you are looking at various schedules and fares, it doesn't mean you can actually get it. I wanted a 2 bed compartment and it let me go all the way through to the final purchase and then said it wasn't available,...<

If you were buying only 1 ticket, it is unlikely that they would give you a single in a T2.

They are usually bought by couples.

mdod

Ira,
I was buying 2 tickets and wanted a 2 bed compartment. I selected "Compartimento intero" assuming that meant I wanted both seats in the same compartment. Was that wrong?

I also never received my ticket info in an email (at least not so far) but luckily I did save a pdf file of the confirmation page.

Marcia

mdod

Update: I got my email confirmation this morning. But I'd still make sure to print out the webpage confirmation, just in case!