trenitalia cancellation
 

do they charge us for cancelling. we were going from venice to rome but want to instead go to florence from venice.

Hi M,

If you have already purchased a ticket, at worst, you will pay about 10E to cancel.

It depends on the type of ticket you've purchased. Cancellation of Eurostar or Intercity tickets usually requires a forfeiture of 20% of the ticket price. The Trenitalia website gives all the rules on CANCELLATION as well as on EXCHANGE of tickets (which is what you're proposing to do). These rules are extremely long, and I don't believe they have been translated into English. (Don't confuse this with the simple SUMMARY of rules available in English as well).

If you have one of the promotional tickets such as "Eurostar a 29 Euro", you may be able to do an EXCHANGE for 5 Euros, plus the full fare for the new ticket. But you CANNOT simply get a pure refund of a promotional ticket (nor obtain a "bonus" (explained below)).

DO NOT validate (date and time stamp) any paper ticket if you wish to apply for a refund or an exchange. A paper ticket cannot be exchanged or cancelled more than 30 minutes after validation.

Instead of incurring a 20% forfeiture, you can request issuance of a "bonus", (voucher) for future train travel on Trenitalia, but you must utilize the voucher within SIX MONTHS of its issuance, and the voucher itself is NOT refundable.

We fly to Rome,taxi to hotel & leave big cases then to Termini for EU train to Venice. I planned to book ticket less travel online & if we get to station with extra time - change booking and catch earier train. Is it free or a fee of euro3-5 per ticket to change (family of 4). I must rebook 1hour before earlier train? Travel is Fri morn early June. I want to get to Venice as early as possible as we only have 2 nights but need to allow extra time in case of flight or baggage delays. What do you think?

Hi angel,

Are you thinking of the 10:55 vs the 12:55?

I wouldn't rush to make the early train. The worst thing would be if you had to spend an hour orienting yourself to the neighborhood around your hotel.

It's an hour you would spend anyway.

It lets you decompress from your flight and learn to think like an Italian.

((I))

We arrive at 6.35am and I was going to book the 10.55am train. We are just dropping the bags at the hotel so we don't have to carry unnecessary stuff then head straight to the station for the train to Venice. If we have plenty of time I thought we could go for the 8.55am. We have 5nights in Rome at the end of the trip but only limited time in Venice.

Hi angel,

My experience, probably the worst case scenario, was that it took us 3 hrs after we were scheduled to land to arrive at the head of the tracks in Roma TE.

I don't think 10:55 is too early.

((I))

It is plain foolish to book Trenitalia tickets ahead of time online when it can be done at the station faster and more simply at the English ticket machines. You don't have to worry about cancellation fees and standing in the long line to return tickets.

You have more flexibility. If you don't know how long it will take to get from the airport, no worry. Just show up at the station and buy the ticket for the next train. The odds of a train being sold out are close to nil at most times.

It might satisy some anal retentive need for security to do it ahead of time, but it just isn't necessary or even a good idea.

I'm not a big fan of purchasing "ticketless travel" on Trenitalia trains UNLESS I'm aiming for a deeply discounted promotional ticket, when an advance purchase is essential.

Nevertheless, if you want to buy in advance, I would recommend that you book the 10:55 ES rather that the 8:55 train, which is too early for you to make. If you perchance manage to make the earlier train, you could always attempt to make a last-minute switch (free of charge) by requesting a reservation change at the ticket window of the Termini Train Station. There is a dedicated window for last-minute transactions.

If you don't make the switch and simply board the earlier train (without a reservation!), you'll be fined 8 Euros per ticket.

Thanks for your advice.I thought Friday may be busy and I wanted to be sure the kids would be seated with us. I am obviously being overly cautious.