Palenque

. The tack on only a couple of euro while RailEurope tacks on 8-15€. I think Italia Rail's shipping fee is $12 instead of the $18 charged by RailEurope. You can do a run through on both sites and compare prices. I looked at Milan/Venice on the ES train and the Trenitalia online price was 30.50€ (I think Trenitalia still discounts online prices at 5% so would cost 5% more at the station)while Italiarail was $40>

Well on RailEurope those ES trains are $42 - that means the statement that RailEurope tacks on 8-15 euro or $12-23 dollars is another bit of misinformation to malign RailEurope - why not check before giving out false info? If RE marked up a $42 by $12 that means the ticket should cost $30, right?

kybourbon

>>>bourbon - RailEurope at least does not adjust point to point ticket prices daily nor even weekly but periodically<<<

Perhaps you should take your own advice and actually check a few prices on p-t-p from time to time as I have over the last several weeks when posters have mentioned rates on RailEurope. RailEurope does adjust p-t-p tickets (as does Italiarail). The amount of the markup really depends on the specific route/trains. Trenitalia prices do not fluctuate at all since they are in euro, not dollars.

-PQ - See if you can wrap your mind around a bit of math for a moment. $42+18=$60(from RE) $60-$37.52(Trenitalia)=$22.48. $22.48=18.27€

RailEurope price for AV train #9406 Rome to Venice is currently at $100 + $18 shipping = $118. The shipping fee is totally unnecessary as they could just e-mail the ticket code which is what Trenitalia does (when they used to process a few US credit cards).

Trenitalia price for Av train #9406 Rome to Venice is 73€ or $90.45 (at XE's exchange rate this moment). That is a $10 (8.13€) markup on the ticket alone not counting the $18 shipping fee RailEurope charges. That is a difference of $28 (22.76€)on the purchase of the ticket. It's not rocket science.

If there is still on online purchase discount of 5% on Trenitalia the difference would be a bit less walkup price from RailEurope or Italiarail. GAC (an expert on all types of Italian transport) reported back in December that the online prepurchase discount of %5 was no more according to Trenitalia as they were releasing the new schedules. The page he cited on Trenitalia doing away with the discount was in Italian and I didn't read it so perhaps he is right. I will find out in a couple of months when I return to Italy.

>>>RailEurope tacks on 8-15 euro or $12-23 dollars is another bit of misinformation to malign RailEurope - why not check before giving out false info? <<<

I'm wondering where you get your exchange rate info as 8-15€ would be $9.88 - $18.53. As you can see from the math, there is no false info and what I said was accurate. It has nothing to do with maligning RailEurope. The markups by RailEurope and other ticket resellers are simply facts.

Palenque

to include the $18 mailing fee with one ticket is not the usual as folks usually travel together and may buy several individual tickets - there is a one time $18 mailing fee (waved if above $399 i guess) and other RE agents have lower mailing fees as well.

To tack on $18 to the RE ticket price is misleading in light of what people actually do - a one-time $18 not $18 for each ticket as you imply.

Palenque

The markups by RailEurope and other ticket resellers are simply facts.>

Well let's return to this example:

Well on RailEurope those ES trains are $42 - that means the statement that RailEurope tacks on 8-15 euro or $10-19 dollars

that means that RE really sells the $42 for $32 (as you say they mark it up 10$ minimum - that makes their tickets even cheaper than Trenitalia - from a standpoint of what they sell them for.

And the $18 is per order - not each ticket.

I suggest blanket statements about RailEurope 'ripping everyone' off are just nonsense - even in your analysis you cannot say RE is ripping anyone off - just a few dollars more.

Ditto with the Italian Railpass which on another thread you said 'was rarely cost effective' yet in a simple example of a rail itinerary many would take i showed that the pass was actually cheaper - and in first class a lot cheaper

Say something enough other folks will parrot it without thinking. Now in the past RE was much more out of kilter but times change - probably because of internet pricing, etc.

rjlanz53

Can someone help me - I'm confused. I keep reading that Rail Europe is a marketing arm for Trenitalia and that they are more expensive than booking through Trenitalia. I'm looking at traveling from Florence to Civitavecchia and the cheapest fare I could find on Trenitalia is 49,50euros (about $63) - and you have to change trains at Rome Termini (seems out of the way, just to return to Civitavecchia). However, on RailEurope, I found a fare for $25 that changes trains in Livorno (on the way to Civitaveccia). What gives?

annhig

rjlanz - they are probably different sorts of trains on different routes.

the Trenitalia option sounds as if it is the fast "freccia" train from Florence to Rome Termini, where you change to the civitavecchia line.

the Raileurope one is probably a much cheaper and slower "regionale" taking you from Florence to Livorgno, where you you pick up the line which runs from Genova to Rome along the coast, where there are far fewer "freccia" trains.

so you are comparing apples with pears. if you look at the times that the trains take, the Raileurope one will probably take a lot longer.

rjlanz53

I went back to each site and here's what it says: Trenitalia trip duration is approx 3 hours (depends on which time you depart) and it's a 'Frecciarossa' train. The Rail Europe doesn't specify a train type - it gives you the travel time for each leg of the trip: 1:22 from Florence to Livorno/16 minutes for the train transfer/1:38 from Livorno to Civitavecchia - a little over 3 hours total - doesn't sound like a regional train. I used the same date for each trip (March 21,2012 - it's not my actual travel date, but I can't use the real date because it's > 90 out), and the other difference is that the RailEurope trip leaves at 12:28pm versus around 9am for Trenitalia. The RailEurope train would get to Civitavechhia a little later than I'd like (about 3:44pm) but it would be worth it if the fare is that much cheaper. It looks like there is only one RailEurope train with this cheap fare - it'e the one leaving at 12:28pm - the others are between $67 and $73 making them more in line with the Trenitalia prices. What do you think? By the way...thanks for the fast response!

annhig

rjlanz - i had a look at the trenitalia site and looking at the first train after 9am, see that the first leg [Florence to rome] is a frecciargenta for which you can get a €40 mini fare.

later trains are faster still taking only 2 1/2 hours, though are more expensive.

i'll have a look at the Raileurope site in a minute and see what I can find.

annhig

well i went to the Raileurope site and got the same route going via Rome - price given as £54.

strange.

you could certainly go the other way - if you had all day!

NB - quite a few of these trains go from another florence station, campo di Marte, not SMN.

ellenem

Your can see those same trains (with schedules and fares) on Trenitalia if you search for a date this coming week and search for the individual legs Firenze-Livorno and Livorno-Civitavecchia. For example:

The 12:28 from Florence is indeed a Regionale
Reg 3123
dep Firenze SMN 12:28
arr Livorno CLE 13:30
1st class: 10,20 euro; 2nd class: 6,80

For the next leg, you can take Regionale (2.5 hours) or Frecciabianca (1.5 hours).
Frecciabianca 9765
dep Livorno CLE 14:06
arr Civitavecchia 15:44
1st class: 43,50 euro; 2nd class: 31,50
OR
Reg 2341
dep Livorno CLE 14:13
arr Civitavecchia 16:39
1st class: 19,50 euro; 2nd class: 13,05

If you plan to travel on Regionale trains, it makes no sense to buy your tickets online, since Regionale trains do not have reserved seats, plus refunds for online Regionale tickets are very restricted. Just buy your ticket the day of travel.