suec1

I know the usual advice of wait until you get there, and that is what I have done for several trips. But now I am seeing advance purchase fares that are quite a bit cheaper. For example, Rome to Naples 2nd class - walk-up fare on MOST (fast) trains 44E - pre-purchase on internet 25E - since there are three of us, that is a savings of almost 60E (lunch money!). I see on the website, a note about AMEX problems for internet booking but has anyone successfully booked using another card? Did you print out some type of receipt?

Also, can you purchase tickets on the train now from the conductor? does that cost extra? Thanks!

initalia

True. Trenitalia website is not exactly user friendly.
I suggest, with a little patience, you book online, you have great deals.

"tickets on the train now from the conductor"
No. This is not a good idea...
You'll pay a penalty very expensive.
Deborah from Italy.

Ann1

I have never had a problem booking online. BUT I just tried multiple times and couldn't do it. I called Trenitalia and they told me that they aren't accepting any international cc's. I said, "Not even Visa?" She said no. I had to go to Rail Europe and found the exact same price as Trenitalia had and they had free shipping.

This is Italy. You never know. You may try and not have a problem. It may go through. It's worth a try.

We didn't have a problem in Italy getting tickets from the machine, but we did in France with our Visa. We had to go to the ticket counter.

I'm not sure about purchasing on the train anymore. You used to be able to.

initalia

No you have said something wrong.
I always book online and pay with my VISA without any problems.

kybourbon

Trenitalia states that they don't process American Amex, but they also don't process most American credit cards. If by some fluke you get it to work, you would print the code/ticket to take with you.

You need to purchase tickets before boarding. In Rome Termini there are rows to ticket machines in the front (American credit cards do work in these unless they say cash only). They are touch screen and have English. Very simple to use and beat standing in line at a ticket window.

Are you going to Naples or Amalfi coast area? You can take the bus from Rome (Tiburtina station) to Sorrento (and Positano in summer only) for 17€. Travel time is about the same as it takes to train to Naples and then train to Sorrento.
Curreri leaves Rome at 2 and arrives Sorrento at 5:30.
Marozzi leaves Rome at 3 and arrives Sorrento at 7.

As for train ticket prices, Trenitalia used to state on the website that online purchases were discounted 5%. I believe that is still the case so you can expect walk-up prices to be 5% higher.

greg

Trenitalia rejected all of my U.S. credit card saying "denied."
I tried 4 different cards, both Visa and Mastercard, both real credit card numbers and shopsafe virtual numbers.

kybourbon

>>>I had to go to Rail Europe and found the exact same price as Trenitalia had and they had free shipping.<<<

I've never seen Rail Europe offer the discounted tickets, only full fare tickets and normally they charge a mailing fee of $18 unless your purchase is over a certain amount. Are you saying they sold you one of the specials?
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...003f16f90aRCRD

I just took a quick look at tickets on RailEurope and the cheap tickets were for the slow trains (IC), not the discount specials for ES/AV trains even though they are available on Trenitalia for the dates I selected.

Ann1

initalia: Where do you live and where is your credit card from? If it's a European Visa it will go through without a problem. Trenitalia doesn't accept them from outside of Europe or as they said "International".

Kybourbon: No, I don't think they were discounted tickets. As of last week Rail Europe was not charging mailing fees for any tickets. They did state that it was for a limited time.

The reason I mentioned Rail Europe is because that seems to be the only way you can get Trenitalia tickets from the US at this time. ...I have never been a fan of Rail Europe because they used to charge large fees and exorbitant mailing fees so I would just go to Trenitalia to get them.

docdan

Interesting that this has come up the very same day I am going through the same difficulty, and I've been planning this trip for 5 months!. Previous postings to fodors confirms Trenitalia will not accept American credit cards, so no need in trying. There is mention that some card companies and Paypal can issue you a temproary, one time use "virtual" card number to try. I have no experience with this. I priced the RailEurope site and the intial quoted price did reflect the "Advanced, Internet" discount price, but not an additional 20% family discount that Trenitalia says I can qualify for. I submitted an e-querry to RailEurope about this and will let you know if there is a favorable response. Please note, there is an 800 number for RailEurope and you do not have to have the tickets mailed to you (Advanced purchase rail tickets can be picked up at Italian stations) so a free phone call will cost you the same as reading this posting <grin>

scotty09

Hey guys, before you re-invent the wheel, just dig a little deeper in this blog and you will find a Paypal solution to your problem already posted =
"I have found a loophole for buying Trenitalia tickets on their website!" Posted by: acswift on Mar 17, 09 at 6:15pm

Palenque

booking

docdan

Emailed RailEurope and they confirmed that an "internet" only discount on a European rail company's website is nto going to be available through them. PayPal's website states that option is no longer available. This involves a potential 30% discount so the price differential (esp with the Euro to $$ exchange rate) is not trivial. Any other ideas? My next step will be to approach my current card banks and see if they have any prepaid card options.

suec1

Well here is the OP - I've pretty much given up, not so happy about it but oh well. But docdan maybe you could call Budget European Travel - 800-441-2387 - it is a very helpful agency in Michigan. If they give you any workable options, please post here. I liked it better when you could purchase the lowest priced tickets upon arrival, before all the different rates not bookable thru the internet. But I stll love going to Italy!

kybourbon

Trenitalia does list four agents in the US. The only one I've heard of is Tour Crafters. They all say they can book rail tickets and a couple of them have the Trenitalia logo, but I don't know if they can book the discounts.
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...003f16f90aRCRD

scotty09

ok, you pessimists, here is yet another workshop on booking with Trenitalia....this time from the Master= The Man in Seat61....

http://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.h...Trenitalia.com

kybourbon

scotty09 - You keep reposting info that no longer works such as using paypal. The seat61 is of no help at all either because it doesn't list that any American cards will work which is the problem trying to buy from Trenitalia.

You posted this:

>>>scotty09 on Mar 21, 10 at 3:04pm
this Trenitalia Passes seems to be a really popular topic, so I will repeat my post of 3/19--"Hey guys, before you re-invent the wheel, just dig a little deeper in this blog and you will find a Paypal solution to your problem already posted =
"I have found a loophole for buying Trenitalia tickets on their website!" Posted by: acswift on Mar 17, 09 at 6:15pm.......
if you learn to use the Search function at the top of this page you will really be able to profit from accumulated wisdom......and advice that tells you to buy your tix in Italy forgets to mention the loooong lines at ticket windows.....<<<

But ignored the follow-up:

>>>J62 on Mar 21, 10 at 3:32pm
And if dig just a little deeper and read the rest of the post "I found a loophole..." you will see that someone posts that Paypal is no longer accepted....<<<

sarge56

I am another who just tried yesterday with five different cards (2 mastercards and 3 visas, all from different banks) and not a single one would go through. All "denied". (Three were mine, one from a sister and one from her hubby. All denied.)

I gave up and will see what discounts I can get by buying all my tickets on the day we arrive in Italy.

I don't know if the problem is with the card numbers or the banks. But if somebody gets one to work, please tell us what bank issued the card!

Ann1

The seat61 website is from a guy in the UK who admitted that 60 to 70% of UK cards go through. In the US it was 20 to 30% but I think now it's 0. He didn't give a solution for us.

I haven't purchased a ticket at the kiosk at the train stations in Italy in over a year. We've been flying everywhere. I wonder if the kiosks are accepting our cards now. When we were in Caen, France a couple of years ago the kiosk did not accept our Visa so we had to go to the window. He put it through manually.

Has anyone from the US used the kiosk in the train stations in Italy recently? Was your US card accepted? Or is it just online they reject them?

scotty09

Hey Ann and Kentucky....I think we need some clarification here..the Man in Seat61 gives a most thorough primer on how to book tix on Trenitalia, exploring difficulties that all overseas visitors (not just US) are having doing on-line booking with Trenitalia, but still provides options that should be useful to many of the readers of this forum.

Palenque

Rail Europe full fare prices surprisingly compared well to trenitalia's it seems if my quick search is correct. RE offers three fares

$30 - just over 2 hours - IC trains
$50 - 1 h 45 - older ES trains
$64 - 70 mins - newest fastest ES type trains

44 euros (OP says) x 1.4 = $62

now they do not offer the discounted high-speed fares like trenitalia.com does but if you cannot get that to work then RE seems in the ballpark - but the mailing fee is the difference i guess - i think budgeteuropetravel.com charges less and IME they are the most helpful answering questions, etc in my years of buying railpasses thru them. But you can obviously also buy the 44 euro ticket in Italy and with so many trains always get on IME. But for folks who do not want everything pinned down so they just need to board the train RE or its agents like budgeteurope provide tickets at not much more it seems.