France-Germany

• Q. What should I do if I’m unable to print my e-ticket at the station?

  A. First, make sure you’re entering the correct information in the self-service kiosk. You need to provide your e-ticket confirmation code, also known as PNR, which is a 6 character letter code (or an 8 character alphanumeric code for British e-tickets) that appears on your Rail Europe booking confirmation email. Any other booking reference (like the Rail Europe booking number) will not work to retrieve your print at station e-ticket.

  Don’t attempt to retrieve your ticket using a different method of identification such as swiping a credit card. This will not work.

  Although highly unusual, if you’re still unable to retrieve your ticket, go to the ticket counter and seek the assistance of a railway official. Make sure you know your e-ticket number.

  If you’re still unable to retrieve your ticket, you may have to purchase a new train ticket. If possible, document the circumstances that prevented you from retrieving your e-ticket. If you purchase new tickets, make sure to keep a copy of the new tickets and the receipt.

  Upon your return home, contact our customer relations department and write us a letter indicating what happened. Make sure to provide the new tickets you purchased and the receipt. We’ll review the matter and work things out with you.

• Q. Can my family sit together if I have a First class rail pass and my child has a Second class youth pass?

  A. Yes, of course! However, everyone will need to sit in Second class. The rule is with a First class pass you can sit in either First or Second class, with a Second class pass you can only sit in Second class. If you wish to travel in First class and the rail pass you are interested in does not offer a First class youth option, you will need to purchase an adult pass for your youth traveller.

  Be mindful if you intend to book seat reservations that you book in the class of service you intend to sit in. Once a reservation has been issued, you must sit in the seat that has been assigned to you.

• Q. How do I use the bonuses that come with rail passes?

  A. Rail Pass travel bonuses must be redeemed locally.

  There are two types of bonuses. Free bonuses (such as a free airport transfer) require the use of a travel day on your pass. If all travel days have been used on your rail pass you will not be able to take advantage of any more free bonuses. Discount bonuses do not require you to use a travel day, but do require that your pass still be within its validity period. In other words, even if you’ve used up all your days on a pass, you can still claim discounted bonuses as long as the pass validity period has not expired.

  The exception to this rule is the Swiss Travel Pass. Although a discounted bonus doesn’t require you to use a travel day on your Swiss Travel Pass, the pass must still be valid and you must not have used up all your travel days.

• Q. I’ve bought a print at the station e ticket. What do I need to do before getting on the train?

  A. When you book a print at the station e-ticket you will receive a 6 or 8 alpha-numeric e-ticket confirmation code (also known as a PNR or Passenger Name Record) in your Rail Europe confirmation email. Simply print the actual paper ticket from a self-service kiosk at the train station prior to your train’s departure.

  For all print at the station e-tickets, you’ll need to print the tickets before boarding your train. Your Rail Europe confirmation email is not a train ticket.

  For certain routes where this ticketing method is offered, it’s possible that the kiosk to print out the ticket can only be found in the station of origin but not in the station of arrival. For instance, if you have purchased a roundtrip journey as a print at the station e-ticket, you need to make sure to print out both your outbound and inbound train tickets in the station of origin - as you will not be able to retrieve your inbound ticket (return ticket) in the station of arrival. An example of this is a trip originating in France and going into Italy, or a trip from Paris to Amsterdam.

• Q. I selected a train ticket, but when I placed my booking the price changed. Why? Can the previously quoted price be honored?

  A. For most trains, the price quoted is based on live availability from current seat inventories. However, for some trains, we cannot check fare availability at the time of quote due to technical limitations of the international rail distribution system. Therefore, we use a cached price to build your quote, based on generally available fares for the trip you requested.

  While rare, sometimes, we find out that the fare used for quoting your trip is no longer available as we’re trying to confirm your reservation. This is when the system gives us the new price based on that very moment’s availability. This explains why you may receive a message advising you that the price has changed from the original quote.

  Unfortunately, we are unable to honor the original fare that was displayed online. As mentioned in our terms of use, schedules listed in our booking tool are subject to change depending on availability, and final fares will be confirmed upon purchase.

• Q. Will there be someone to help me find my reserved seat on the train?

  A. Generally speaking, train cars and seats are prominently marked. If you have any trouble finding your reserved seat, one of the conductors on the platform or onboard the train will be able to assist you.

• Q. What is a travel day on a rail pass?

  A. A travel day on a rail pass is a 24-hour period, from midnight to midnight, during which you can take as many train journeys as you desire. Since rail passes use calendar days, journeys within 24-hours of each other but on different days will count as two travel days.

• Q. I just placed a booking and realized I made a mistake. How can I make changes?

  A. If you need to get in touch with us regarding your booking, please visit our Contact Us page for assistance. As long as it hasn’t been invoiced yet, it’s usually not a problem to fix it. However, please note that an exchange fee and price change may be applicable depending on what needs to be changed.

• Q. Where can I find more information about European train stations?

  A. We offer valuable information on the most popular train stations in Europe. You can find a link to our Train Station page in the footer on any page on the website.

• Q. Can I choose a specific seat on a train when making my reservation?

  A. At this time, it’s not possible to choose a specific seat on our website when booking a reservation.

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