This is kind of a long story.

So I went on raileurope.com to purchase train tickets for my family for Vienna to Budapest (August 20th). While creating the itinerary, the website asked me when I was LEAVING for Europe, for which I selected August 13th. Perhaps I initially selected the wrong dates for the train BUT next thing you know, the website says the seat reservations for the train are for August 13th. (???) I called the railjet company and they said that even though the reservation is for the train leaving on August 13th, the tickets are still valid for the duration printed (which is well past August 20th, our actual departure date from Vienna to Budapest).

My question is, is it worth the extra money to change the reservation dates? How crowded will the 7pm train be if I don't make a reservation? I made a mistake not booking with the OBB in the first place and there's no way to prove that I selected the correct dates or not, so it looks like I'm going to have to hand over the extra money.

<i>Vienna to Budapest Train Reservation Mistake
Posted by: shinjachan on Jul 7, 14 at 10:40pm

August 20th, our actual departure date from Vienna to Budapest). My question is, is it worth the extra money to change the reservation dates? How crowded will the 7pm train be if I don't make a reservation?</i>

The DB German Rail site http://tinyurl.com/7r9hnxf does not have a 7:00 PM departure Vienna to Budapest. Both of the trains bracketing this time are reservation compulsory.

There's a 19:02 train shown on the OBB site from Vienna to Budapest. I'm amazed that the bahn.de site does not show this train.

The tickets are E19. I hope you didn't pay more from RailEurope.

You say you called railjet but did you call RailEurope? That's the company you bought the tickets from.

In general, the major intl railjet connection from Munich to Vienna to Budapest is a very well used one.
Aug 20 will be high season and even if it may not be as crowded as on weekends, I'd get seat reservations.

The operator is Austrian Railways, OBB. If you book at www.oebb.at there are cheap advance purchase fares from 19 euros and full-price fully-flex 39 euros fares, and you pay no added booking fees and collect tickets from the ticket machines free of charge.

Rail Europe is a subsidiary of French Railways and uses the French railways ticketing system. They have only an indirect connection to OBB so cannot access the cheap 19 euro fares, only the full-flex 39 euro ones, and they add a booking fee on top. They have to post tickets to you at extra charge too.

If you have an open ticket you can use it any day within a month. I wouldn't bother with reservations, just sit anywhere you like. If you really, really want to be absolutely sure of a seat, pay 4 euros per seat and book at the station in Vienna when you get there.

Thanks for the responses! I'm not as worried anymore.