suz1672,

Thanks for the tip. The site does look to be very user friendly.

I just used it and plugged in the exact trains I successfully purchased on the Trenitalia site and they turned out to be about 35% more expensive than what I got through the site (sorry, not trying to give you bad news but just offering facts). In my case, it would have amounted to about $82US more than what I paid using the site.

Trenitalia site – Amica Fare (With the above mentioned headaches) - $232.54US (as converted by Citibank 3/14/08).
Selectitaly.com (User friendly) - $314US (as priced today)

ANY trip to Italy - Priceless!

Your last line says it all, Michael..I'M GOING TO ITALY:-)

Coincidence?

This morning, I finally received an email from Trenitalia reinstating my original account (see top post) to be able to “purchase online with more than one credit card.”

It made me wonder though… after weeks of waiting, was it just a coincidence or was it brilliant foresight on their part that they reinstated me on April Fool’s Day?

Thanks for posting this! I thought perhaps I'd be one of the lucky ones who could actually purchase tickets on the Trenitalia site without a problem, but no dice. :(

I will keep trying and hopefully sometime in the next six weeks I'll be able to purchase!

I'm still baffled as to why people go through all this. As always, over the last month I bought my Italian train tickets from self-service machines at the stations when I turned up ready to go - it took about 2 minutes each time.

<I'm still baffled as to why people go through all this.>

For me, it is because I like to know that everything is taken care of ahead of time. I'm obsessive about planning and it just makes me feel better to know I have my tickets in advance. Sure, if I have to, I can wait til I get to the station, but I'd rather not. On a recent trip to Salzburg from Munich, I had issues getting my train ticket at the station. Despite my careful planning and printouts of prices and train schedules, I couldn't get the ticket I wanted and ended up spending quite a bit more money for my ticket than planned. It made for a bad start to my morning and I'd prefer not to do that again!

I want to get to the station with my luggage, head to the correct track and be ready to go. :)

I am SO on board with CarolineE...I remain baffled as to why anyone goes through this. I have always used the self-service kiosks with great results and no hassle.

I will ask again a question I have posed before and never had a negative repsonse to: has anyone ever failed to get on a train in Italy they wanted because they didn't book from back in the US, UK or Canada?

In more than 20 trips to Italy using trains each time I've always been able to get seats on the trains I wanted. I usually buy a day or two ahead if I'm concerned about a weekend or holiday crush. I purchase from ticket windows, ticket machines, and also local travel agents. I confess that I usually travel off-season.

MichaelT

I tried for weeks to buy tickets online through the Trenitalia website and even resorted to calling on the telephone. Each time I called and was told the lines were busy, I was charged
about $5.00 for one minute.
Please do not make that mistake - we had no problem buying tickets in Italy, just stay on trip ahead on purchasing.
AKNIC

sherhatfield, I take your point as regards countries where booking ahead can be a lot cheaper (I would never turn up & go in the UK for anything more than a local journey like Glasgow). But that doesn't apply to Italy.

And what if you arrive at the station too late for the train you've booked ? I would worry more about having to be there at a set time. Surely it's easier just to buy tickets for the next train after you arrive (assuming it's one which runs fairly regularly) ?

Very good question, LJ !

OK - I've had it with trenitalia.com! I've never bought train tickets on-line before, but this time, I am traveling with friends on an overnight train from Rome to Venice. They will kill me if we aren't able to get a four-person sleeping compartment!
So, to avoid a possibly grisly death, I've been unsuccessfully trying the trenitalia site with all my cards, my husband and all his cards, and one of the travel companions and all his cards. No luck!

I need to contact Marco at Pantheon Travel, I guess. Does anyone have his e-mail?

Thanks for your help!

Rome to Venice on an ES train is only 4.5 hours . . . get an early train and be there in time for lunch.

bookmarking

Ellenem,
Thank you for the suggestion, some members of our group wanted the overnight train experience.

The "overnight" train leaves Rome at 22:50 and arrives at Venice SL at 5:30. The train makes 11 stops over the 6.5-hour trip. I can't imagine sleeping very well through a train stop every 30 minutes or so.

MichaelT, thanks so much for this wonderful, detailed user guide.

I would appreciate some feedback (from you, or anyone else who has the time) about my thoughts on buying train tickets from Rome to Naples.

Until I read your post, I assumed we (family of 5) could just turn up at Termini station in Rome early in the morning in December (about 7am) and buy our tickets to Naples from a ticket booth. Would it be better for us to buy these tickets in advance? Also, should we buy return tickets, or is it OK to just buy the tickets back to Rome from Naples train station at the end of the day? This is just a day trip to Naples because we're going to Pompeii for the day (my understanding is we'll buy tickets to Pompeii once we arrive in Naples).

Just turn up & buy them on the day. The self service machines have an English language option & shorter queues than the ticket booths so are easier and quicker. You may as well buy returns as long as you don't mind comitting yourself to which train you'll get back. There is no way you won't get on the next train, at 7am in December. Personally I wouldn't go from Rome to Pompeii as a day trip, especially when the days are at their shortest, but each to their own.

Michael,

Thanks for the tip about being able to display prices on the Trenitalia website for R tickets by specifying a date within 7 days of the current date.

I read elsewhere that a holder of an American Express card in the US was able to use the AmEx travel services to book train tickets from Venice to, I believe, Florence. The AmEx agency in Venice made the purchase for the specific train requested, at no extra charge, and the traveler picked up the tickets while in Venice. That person was able to take advantage of the Amica fare, too.

We used the American Express agency in Venice to purchase all our train tickets. We arranged this in advance from the US, via email, then picked the tickets up once we got to Venice. They did not charge extra, and we got the Amica fare. We are not American Express credit card holders.

We saved over $100 by getting the Amica fares (family of 4, multiple trips). That's why we wanted to purchase in advance. Had no success on Trenitalia.com - have bought tickets in the past from them online, but couldn't do it this trip, even after notifying our credit card companies, trying our numerous cards, setting up multiple user id's, etc etc.

Hello All,

MichaelT - It was like you were talking right to me (thanks) however still can't book and yes I have the account, called the credit card place ect...

Question (anyone) is there a email address to use to get help if online is a bust?

I really want to book since I am going from Rome to Venice on a night train and see that some of the cabins are already booked. I am afraid to chance not getting a ticket for a cabin and have to ride in a seat for 4 (plus) hours.

In a word....Help! All advice welcome except "it is simple"

Thanks in advance.

Bless all that got it to work *smile*

Neotraveler6,

You could book your ticket by phoning the Trenitalia call center. See here: http://tinyurl.com/5kscjd.

Preface: I have always in the past waited until I get to Italy to purchase tix, but because we want to get an overnight sleeper from Rome to Palermo, I wanted to do it ahead.

So...now...I don't know WHAT I just did...

After about 3,000 unsuccessful attempts, I gave up. Five minutes later, I receive an email from my BofA Debit card saying:

<i>Dear [LucieV]

Thank you for registering to Verified by Visa services. This free service provides added safety when you shop online.

Activation Details:
Activation date: 09/14/2008
Merchant at which activation took place: Vendita Biglietteria

Amount of purchase: 250.00 EUR </i>


The problem is that it has now been over 3 hours, and I have received NO confirmation email from Trenitalia. In fact, the last transaction that I had with them on their website said &quot;transaction denied&quot; (or whatever the verbiage is.)

I have called BofA and they're looking into it, but I'm pi$$ed off &amp; confused.

Hello ALL,

Ok no such luck with vitural credit card number (ugh)...I am going to have to call (ahhhhhhh)

LucieV-I had the same thing happen with my card however no money was withdrawn. Visa has a extra security protection that will make you verfiy before you can book some items online...I don't think you were charged even with the item summary. Visa show you the item summary to ensure you want to contiue however that does not mean it went through. I hope all is well. You are not the only one (hope that helps).

Neo

Absolutely fabulous..and guess what? When you click on the English version you get the &quot;this page does not exist&quot; message.

I think I'll wait and have the hotel concierge do it.

Pantheon Travel and Marco's e-mail is '[email protected]'
This is in Rome.

He can buy the tickets for you and send them via e-mail.

This may be of interest to Australians.

I too tried to buy tickets online through Trenitalia, with no success, even though I tried everything that has been suggested on this and many other threads.

I heard back from my Australian credit card companies today (Mastercard, American Express and Diners Club). They have all told me that they have had so many cases of fraudulent activity resulting from their customers placing orders online with Trenitalia that they have blocked all online transactions through this site.

boomark

Michael T - most entertaining post. Today was the first time I looked at the train schedule and only wanted an idea of the cost to take the train between cities. I was surprised their wasn't drop down boxes that listed all train stations to select your departure and arrival cities. I quickly realized that I needed additional information and did a search for &quot;train ticket&quot; on this forum that I had bookmarked. I had a great time reading this post and think that you could have excerpts published somewhere. As for anyone who claims Trenitalia's website is an easy, transparent website - I would have to disagree. But please by all means keep the argument going as it makes for some good reading.

Thanks Pumkin. It is a kind of an amusing post when I look back at it.

Ok -I admit that I didn't have the time to read all 68 responses so forgive me if I'm repeating.

I just got back from Italy. Before we left, I read this original post over and over - then I was unsuccessful at buying tickets over the web. After a week of worrying about it, I gave up and just decided to buy the tickets once I got to the Italian train station.

Everything worked out great - and the tickets were about the same price as they were on the internet - and much easier.

Hi SavTRav

That's great news, especially for me as I have also been unable to buy the tickets online and am going to be purchasing them once I get to Italy in a few weeks' time.

Would you be able to tell me if you were unable to purchase the tickets online because your credit card company wouldn't authorise the transaction? Did you pay for the tickets using your credit card when you got to Italy, and if so, did you have any problems getting the transaction approved?

Ozziez,

We tried to use our credit cards while in the USA. We tried many different ones MC, Visa and even Amex even though they said it wasn't possible.

I never knew exactly why the transaction didn't go through. We even called our bank to let them know the amount that we were about to charge.

Once we got in Italy, we made sure to go to the train station the first day and bought all our tickets at once. We used the exact same credit card that we were unsuccessful with in the States. And we found the DIY machines fairly easy to use. We never waited in the line to talk to an actual person.

I would still recommend letting your bank know that you will be in Italy - that way you will have no problem on any purchase, not just the train tickets.

Another thing we noticed at ATMs (this was not a problem at the train station) that if we tried to get out too much money from the ATM, the warning message said that our cards were not allowed to do International transactions, but if we lowered the amount we were asking for we had no problem.

Don't sweat the train tickets and have a great time.

Isn't that what some of us said to start with ? :-) Why bother with the hassle of Trenitalia, just buy your tickets at the station.

Thanks so much for the info SavTrav. Very useful.

Hi Caroline - Yes, I am going to buy the tickets at the station in Rome, however I was asking whether SavTrav had trouble using a credit card to do so. The whole reason I ( and most people who have trouble using Trenitalia) cannot buy tickets online is because the credit card authorisation won't go through. Just wanted to find out if the credit card transaction is accepted once one is in Italy.

Oz - Some of the ticket machines use credit cards and some are cash only. I had no problem using my credit card in the machines. If you enter Termini from the front there will be rows of machines right inside the front doors. If you are arriving by subway, just go up to the ground level.

Thanks Kybourbon!

Thanks for the in depth report. I tried to get tickets through the web and finally gave up since everyone said it was easy to just do it there.

Just another tip if buying tickets at the Italian train station machines.
The machines that accept cash are not the same ones that take credit cards. Look for the machine with an extra machine to the right side of it - that's the cash box. We found it pretty easy. It was surprising how cheap train travel was in Italy.
Happy trails.

bookmarking...and thanks!

This is all very interesting. I have never had a problem and the transaction has always gone through with no glitches.

I only buy tickets ahead of time if I know there is going to be a problem like a strike the next or previous day or heavy holidays, etc.

I have only had a problem once with a machine and that was in Caen. I think it might have been the Visa CC problem that many people experience in Europe. But when I went to the ticket counter it went through fine.

Michael,
Great thread - and started exactly a year and a day ago!

Thanks for the info. I was trying to purchase tickets just this morning and stopped when I got to the seat # selection. I posted a question on another thread, but it looks like you've answered my question, so I guess I'll just take pot luck.

I'll try tomorrow and report my results.