using trenitalia site-Help please

Old May 4th, 2004, 06:25 PM
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using trenitalia site-Help please

I want to book 3 train tickets from Rome to Venice on July 17th.I've searched the forum and found that I can use the trenitalia (Italian) site to book but having trouble just trying to get the password.Can someone help please?
I do want to pre book these tickets as there is a festival of some sort in venice that weekend
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Old May 4th, 2004, 07:14 PM
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Hi,

For what it's worth, here's how I got a password e-mailed to me from the Trenitalia website.

Go to www.trenitalia.it, Italian version and choose Area Clienti button on the top bar. Click on "Vuoi Registrarti? Clicca Qui" button. This will take you to the screen that lets you choose your username and submit your e-mail address. Hopefully you will get your password e-mailed to you within 24 hours.

I've gone through the process and recived the password and can login - but I still can not make the booking I want via the website...
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Old May 4th, 2004, 07:49 PM
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Well, good luck to you. I have never been able to book on this site. I can get the schedule information and the fares but that is as far as it goes. This has never proven to be a problem as I have never had a problem booking at a travel agency on my arrival in Italy. In Rome, I find the Amex office at the foot of Spanish Steps is very helpful in doing train reservations.
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Old May 5th, 2004, 01:03 AM
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Thankyou for your replies
Jas
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Old May 5th, 2004, 05:35 AM
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You can not buy tickets earlier than 60 days in advance on Trenitalia site. Also site is not available for ticket purchase 24 hours a day. I believe it closes after 11:00 PM(Italian time) on weekdays and more limited hours on weekends,
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Old May 5th, 2004, 08:41 AM
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Now I need to know if it's just me or if there are problems with these web sites. I've used both the trenitalia and the autoeurope sites before, but now I can't get anything to work on them. Any help?

PS- I don't know anyone who has been able to book tickets on the trenitalia site.
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Old May 5th, 2004, 09:21 AM
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I was able to book tickets on the trenitalia website (the italian version) last friday.

The difficulty was that the website was in italian but other than that it was fairly straightforward.

After logging in with my userid and password, I then searched for which train I wanted, clicked on the shopping cart, filled out my seating preferences, clicked on ticketless tickets (b/c I'm taking Eurostar that was an option), selected that I wanted to pay via credit card, filled in the credit card details and then it gave me my confirmed info....even sent an email to me with the confirmation.

I'd be happy to try to help those having difficulty. Just let us know where specifically you had trouble.
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Old May 7th, 2004, 09:02 AM
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I have tried for days at different times at www.trenitlia.com, to buy tickets for the train in Italy and keep getting the response that these are not avaiable on-line. Kewl. Now the question is, can I purchase advance tickets at the Termini in Rome for days in the future: Rome to Naples; Naples to Rome TE; and Rome TE to Fumicino?
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Old May 7th, 2004, 09:07 AM
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Hi Otium,

Use the Italian language option.

See Trenitalia Tickets Online
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...2&tid=34465647

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Old May 7th, 2004, 12:02 PM
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To nbs_mjs:
Can you tell me how you could tell that you had successfully purchased the tickets on www.trenitalia.com? I have tried twice, and I'm still not sure if the second one went through, but I think it did. I haven't received an e-mail from them yet, but maybe my e-mail is slow, because I tested it by sending myself an e-mail from a different account, and I haven't gotten that one yet either.

On the bottom of my train ticket order, which I printed out, it says "Ti sara inviata una E-mail con la descrizione dell'operazione di acquisto on-line." Which translates as "You sent off an e-mail with the description of the on-line operation of purchase", I think.

Well, thanks for any advice.
 
Old May 7th, 2004, 12:12 PM
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Just returned from Italy this week and used the trains several times over our 17 day trip. We researched train schedules and prices on the trenitalia site prior to our departure but did not book because we wanted to stay flexible. We ended up being very grateful that we didn't book because buying the tickets at the station turned out to be 25-50% cheaper than what we were quoted on the website. Also, the schedule we printed out from the website 2 weeks before our departure did not match the actual schedule posted on the boards at the stations. So it is possible that we could have bought overpriced tickets for trains that never would have occurred. Considering the festival, you may want to book ahead but if you have some flexibilty, you may want to save yourself money and headache by waiting until you arrive.
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Old May 7th, 2004, 12:40 PM
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Hi chicago,

>...we didn't book because buying the tickets at the station turned out to be 25-50% cheaper than what we were quoted on the [Trenitalia] website.

Are you sure you are not comparing ES* to IC, or 2cl to 1cl?

Did you get some sort of special fares?
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Old May 7th, 2004, 10:43 PM
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Yes! I have finally succeeded in buying train tickets on the www.trenitalia web-site. Thanks for your advice about making sure my computer would accept the cookies, Ira. I think this was partly why I succeeded this time.
I used the ticketless method to buy tickets for my family of 5 people to ride the fast Eurostar train (only 3 hrs. 36 min.) from Naples to Florence, 1st class, in June. The cost for 5 tickets was 315,05 total Euros.
Thanks, everyone, for the advice.

Does anyone know why there are 2 prices when you receive your confirmation letter? One price is my total: 315,05 euros. But then it also says "Il Suo tetto massimo di spesa mensile e di Euro 516,46." There is an accent mark over the "e". The on-line free translator translates this as "Its greatest roof of monthly expenditure and of euro 516,46." Huh? I was able to have the entire e-mail from the trenitalia web-master translated well enough to be understood, except for that part.

 
Old May 7th, 2004, 11:10 PM
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If anyone wants to try to order tickets on www.trenitalia.com, maybe you can avoid my mistakes. I did finally succeed in getting the tickets, but here's what I had to learn:
1) Don't try to buy too far in advance...More than 60 days ahead is too far in advance, I believe.
2) Register on the Italian version of the web-site and wait for your user ID and password to come in your e-mail...might take 24 hours to come. Mine did. You will find instructions on how to register if you search the travel talk sites, such as fodors, frommers, and slow travellers.
3) Learn about the different types of trains.
4) Don't expect the English version of trenitalia to be of much help.
5) Use the Italian version of the web-site during its business hours...(I had success around noon California time on Friday, which would be around 9:00 pm Italian time or 3:00 pm east coast USA time.) Eeek...don't everyone try at once!!!
(6) don't forget to print everything out!
(7)When you're using the Italian web-site keep open the www.freetranslation.com web-site, and translate what you need to know line by line!
8) You need to use the Italian names for the cities.
9) Ira's advice seems to work...you need to make sure your computer will accept the cookies from the trenitalia web-site, at least during the time you are ordering the tickets.
10) When you enter your credit card info there is a spot to enter the "security" number that is on the back of your credit card. This seems to be required.
11) When you are almost finished there will be a big long statement which is hard to translate, and you have a choice of answering "accetto" or "non-accetto". The only correct answer is "accetto".
12) when I was successful there was a note at the bottom of the page which translated as "You sent off an e-mail with the description of the on-line operation of purchase." Several hours later, I did receive an e-mail confirming my purchase. Since I used the ticketless method, the letter instructed me to print out the e-mail and present it to the personnel on the train. (These are Eurostar tickets which automatically come with the seat reservation.)

Okay, good luck everyone!
 
Old May 8th, 2004, 04:50 AM
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Hey Melissa,

Good for you.

>Does anyone know why there are 2 prices when you receive your confirmation letter? One price is my total: 315,05 euros. But then it also says "Il Suo tetto massimo di spesa mensile e di Euro 516,46."<

They are telling you that you got a great bargain. The full fare would be the higher price.
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Old May 8th, 2004, 09:35 PM
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Ira, thanks...I think they're pulling my leg, though.

Guess what happened to me? I found out today that somebody got my credit card number when I was buying tickets on trenitalia.com and they tried to use it on fs-on-line to charge hundreds of dollars worth of telephone pager charges...The weird thing is, I didn't even buy anything with that credit card...I started to try to use my am exp card to buy the train tickets on trenitalia.com, but I couldn't read the little security number on the back of my card...it was too scratched out...so I back-tracked in the transaction and switched to the Mastercard, which I used to buy the train tickets...Perhaps the American express number was left dangling in an insecure zone....EEEk!

Also, I'm glad they didn't try to buy train tickets instead, because that really would have confused me...As for telephone pager charges, I don't have a pager, I have never paged anyone, and I wouldn't even know how to find that on-line!!!

Okay, I'm lucky, at least Am Exp caught the problem...so of course that card is cancelled...And it was holding some of my hotel reservations for me...I tried to fix that today.

Good luck, everybody!
Now I'm scared to buy anything else on line...especially when if you tried to call them they would be speaking Italian! maybe I'll just get the rest of my train tickets from my travel agent... (I have train tickets for one leg of my train journey, but I need tickets for the other leg.)
 
Old May 9th, 2004, 07:24 AM
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Thanks for all the great advice.This has helped!
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Old May 9th, 2004, 07:43 AM
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Hey Melissa,

You could write a book (or at least a magazine article) on what you have gone through trying to get your tickets online.
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Old May 9th, 2004, 10:24 AM
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FS on line is Trenitalia. That is how it shows up. I purchased two sets of tickets last Thursday. I had a similar incident happen where I clicked on acceto and it accidentally double clicked. My transaction did not go through to where I got the instant e mails like the last two transactions. Sure enough Amex called and asked about this charge and it was a match in USD plus the 2% amex charge to the botched ticket purchase. It was denied. I asked about the other two purchases and it was also from FS.com. Also the emails with the price and the 516,46E means that you are only allowed to charge that much per month total. They keep a running total for you on what you have spent toward that amount.
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Old May 9th, 2004, 11:23 PM
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Ira, you're right, I could write quite a bit just on what I've gone through trying to buy train tickets on line!

Actually, you read my mind...I am actually thinking of becoming a travel writer! I have had some stories for children published, but now that my "children" are too old for Highlights and Humpty Dumpty, I feel the need to head in a new direction!

Of course, to become a travel writer, it does follow that one must travel...Here goes!

Maybe I'll just stick with travel poetry...

Italy in June...
 

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