trains in Italy for first timers

Old Jun 9th, 2006, 08:19 AM
  #41  
MaureenB
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The trenitalia.com site is notoriously confusing and unreliable. We recently bought tickets at stations, as we needed them, because we didn't want to lock in our itinerary based on train reservations. Also, my travel companion spoke Italian, was very knowledgeable of the train system and how to use the kiosks, etc.
If you want to have tickets in advance, another option is budgeteuropetravel.com, get their 800 number from that website. They are very knowledgeable and helpful. You can purchase tickets through them, too, with a slight shipping & handling fee to receive paper tickets in hand. It might be worth it for the peace of mind, if that's important to you.
I will caution you to be sure you have the correct tickets for the train you're on, and be sure to validate your ticket before departing on the train. We had two incidents where we paid fines for those reasons. In both cases, we'd just purchased the tickets from a window clerk in the train depot, were rushing to catch the train, which the agent knew, and the agent really could have helped us by: 1. printing out the correct train time; 2. validating for us. Because we were running to catch the train, and discussed the time crunch with the window clerk, we expected she had printed out the correct 12:30 train ticket. But, we discovered when the conductor looked at our tickets, they were for the 1:30 train, so we paid the fine, plus we had no seat reservations as we'd purchased them for the 1:30 EuroStar.
Be aware that conductors have little patience with passengers who have incorrect tickets. You'll pay a fine. Don't bother to argue, especially on EuroStar.
 
Old Jun 9th, 2006, 08:56 AM
  #42  
ira
 
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Hi andy,

When you go to buy your tickets you will see a pulldown menu "tarrifa".

It defaults to "intera" (full fare).

Pull down the menu and click on 29E.
If not available, it will tell you.

When you look for fares for 2 adults and 2 children, you want to get the "offerta famiglia" (family fare) which allows 1 child to ride free with 2 adults.

Click "aggiungi" to add a fare, and buy a ticket for the 2nd child.

This will usually be your lowest price, except for the 29E fare for long rides.







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Old Jun 9th, 2006, 08:58 AM
  #43  
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PS,

When you buy online, you will get an email confirmation with a number.

Your confirmation is your ticket.

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Old Jun 9th, 2006, 10:00 AM
  #44  
 
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Thanks a lot ira. Appreciate your help
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Old Jun 9th, 2006, 11:44 AM
  #45  
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You are welcome, andy.

Enjoy your visit.

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Old Jun 10th, 2006, 02:58 PM
  #46  
 
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bookmarking
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Old Jun 11th, 2006, 05:15 PM
  #47  
 
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Hi All, Im back. I booked the tickets on Trenitalia site (In Italian - Thanks to Ira) and got confirmation for 3 trips. But after 3 trips -My account was locked out because Bank of America (My Visa card) detected unauthorized activity and stopped the 4th transaction . I unblocked the CC by calling BofA - however Trenitalia does not let me login and tells me the following -

>>>
Gentile Cliente,
La informiamo che per motivi di sicurezza la sua utenza e' stata disabilitata.

RIABILITAZIONE UTENZA
Per richiederne la riabilitazione puo' contattare l'helpdesk del sito Trenitalia.com ai seguenti recapiti:

Telefono: 892021 opzione 5
Fax: +39 06.43622593
>>>

Does anyone know how to call this number from USA? I tried 011-39(Italy)-06(Rome)- 892021. But that does not work .. Also - Is there anyone who speaks English in customer service?

I want to unblock my account + book 3 more trips. Any help greatly appreciated.

Andy
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Old Jun 12th, 2006, 07:37 AM
  #48  
 
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I have only read the first couple of posts on this thread before responding, so forgive me if this has already been said. My husband and I just returned from our Venice-Florence-Rome honeymoon. After doing months of research, I read over and over that there is no point in booking your train tickets in advance - the worst that could happen is that you wait 30mns to take the next train. For us, this was very bad advice.

On June 1, we showed up at the train station in Venice at about 10a.m., only to find that Eurostar was completely sold out for Venice-Florence that day. The next train leaving was not until 1:30 and it was an inter-city train, meaning that we made about a million stops. The worst part - we were told that with the second class tickets (all that were left) reserving assigned seats was not possible. However, about 30-45 mns. into travel, commuters boarded w/ tickets w/ assigned seats. The outcome - Chad and I were booted from our somewhat comfy seats, and I ended up sitting on some dinky fold-out chair in the aisle, while my husband had to stand in the isle for nearly three hours.

Even after this, we did not learn our lesson, and just showed up at SMN to buy our Florence-Rome tickets. Again, ES was sold out. The good news was that we didn't get kicked out of our seats, the bad news was that we had to endure many stops on the regional train.

Even if our scenario is rare, I would certainly recommend booking in advance.
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Old Jun 12th, 2006, 07:44 AM
  #49  
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Woot gives very good advice. People who are able to book their trains as they go (like we did in early May) are there in less crowded tourist seasons. Sorry your experience was not good, woot. Thanks for posting it for others.
 
Old Jun 12th, 2006, 08:50 AM
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Woot - Regional trains are not IC trains. There is a difference. There are no seat reservations on R or D trains. You can reserve seats on IC trains so I'm not sure why a ticket agent would tell you that unless all seats were already booked. R and D trains make many more stops than ES or IC trains and take much longer to reach their detination. I think the most common recommendation on this board is to book your tickets when you get to Italy because so many people have problems with the Trenitalia website.

Sorry you had such bad luck with your train travel. I've been able to walk up in late June and get ES tickets for 6 with no problems.

Andy9 - I suggest you create another account with a different e-mail address(hotmail or yahoo) and different credit card. Notify your CC first so they won't block your account. Double check the CC by calling back and having someone check to make sure. Sometimes it takes awhile before the info is placed on your cc account. Then finish your purchase.
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Old Jun 12th, 2006, 10:59 AM
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kybourbon, Appreicate your help. I will get a new account and do the rest of my reservations. One Concerning question --> I have 3 PNR numbers already for the 3 Trips I booked under my older account/email. Are the PNR numbers still valid even if the account has been locked out -or- Locking out the account also INVALIDATE previously assigned tickets? [I did check with the CC company and they already paid for the 3 Confirmations]. Just dont want to take any chances with little kids when traveling. Hopefully I am good for the first 3- Thanks again, Andy
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Old Jun 12th, 2006, 11:12 AM
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I would think, if it's on your charge already, your reservations are good. Trenitalia is used to this happening. They really should post a warning on their website about notifying your CC company before purchasing since it happens so often.
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