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Can I use one Inboud/Outbound journey to travel within my country, even though I'm not going to a border?

  • 11 August 2022
  • 8 replies
  • 672 views
K

Hello,

i would like to go from my Hometown (A) in my Home Country(Germany) to another town in Germany (B), then, a couple of days and one seperately booked train trip later, take a flight to Britain, then use the interrailpass to go back to germany via France and Belgium.

The Mobile App confirms this as possible, using one Inbound/Outbound day for the travel from A to B and one for the trip from Belgium to Germany.

Does anyone know whether this is okay?

The reason I’m asking is because Terms an Conditions define Inbound/Outbound Trips as:

An Interrail Global Pass may only be used for two specific trips in the country of
residence of the traveller (provided this country is an Interrail participating country).
These two trips are referred to as the outbound and inbound journey.
• The outbound journey can be used to travel from any location in the country of
residence to the border or an airport or port.
• The inbound journey can be used to travel from the border or an airport or port
back to any location in the country of residence.

 

Thanks in advance!

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Best answer by Angelo 11 August 2022, 20:54

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8 replies

Angelo
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It is not ok, but the app accept it, because you could leave the country also via an airport or port or bus. So the app does not know if there is an Airport or not. Staff on the train could be *Pingelig* if they check this, most of them will not say nothing. Some others maybe. 

Keep in mind that you have only 2 days to use in your home country. So after this two days, you can’t use any train in Germany.

Do you have any questions? Feel free to ask in the community! Known languages: Deutsch, Italiano, English.
Y
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I am confused by the answer.

As long as the separately booked train is not using the pass then it is perfectly valid to use one of your In/out days to travel solely in your own country and the second for an inbound journey.

There are no checks on whether you leave the country or go to an airport or just down the road. Interrail have no terms and conditions on where you use your I/O days, only that there are only 2 days you can use your pass in your home country, which the app controls with ruthless efficiency.

Nobody in IR knows or cares where you live or intend to travel from, so how would they police it if there were any other rules?

That leaves the second In/out day to be used on any other travel day.

I appreciate that the Interrail guide and main purpose of I/O days is to facilitate journeys to start or finish a trip from your home country but how a pass holder uses them is totally flexible within the 2 day rule.

They are optional whether you use them or not, when you use them and you can even use them as 2 inbound or 2 outbound journeys.

Angelo
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Interrail have no terms and conditions on where you use your I/O days,

 

@Yorkie 

Yes they have it in the terms and conditions. they're not that strict about their own rules in the app, but terms and conditions say it clearly to/from border, port or airport. Same for I/O. It should be an outbound before an inbound, the app does not see it strict, but it doesn’t mean it is allowed from terms and condition. 

Interrail terms and conditions

 

 

Do you have any questions? Feel free to ask in the community! Known languages: Deutsch, Italiano, English.
Y
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Userlevel 7
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I defy anybody else to interpret that literally.

All an inspector on the train is interested is whether the pass is valid for that journey. He neither knows or cares why or where you are going after you leave the train, you are just an interrailer.

Interrail have no controls in the app other than the max 2 days travel in your own country.

In the UK for example there are so many ferry ports and regional airports, who would know your ongoing journey wasn’t linked to future travel in another country?

 

 

Angelo
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Yes I’m not saying that it is not possible, but you sad that terms and conditions do say nothing about it. This is not so. I would warn the people, because if you say it is ok, and the user here does it and gets to the only one staff of DB wich would check this, than he/she has a fine. And maybe less than 1% of DB Staff would know about it, but could happen. 

Do you have any questions? Feel free to ask in the community! Known languages: Deutsch, Italiano, English.
Y
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Fair enough.

A
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By far the most likely way someone would get caught out with this is by their own words.

 

As Angelo said it is in the conditions that these are used to leave/enter home country, it says nothing about it having to be a direct route without sightseeing detour or stopover. People using these in an unconventional way should be aware that there are regulations on the home country use and avoid telling any staff if they aren’t strictly adhering to the regulations.

 

No doubt the vast majority of staff have no interest in the small print of interrail regulations and won’t do more than a cursory check but you can never know when you may come across the exception who has an issue with interrail users and is looking for an excuse to fault them.

Y
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One correction - you do not have to take outbound before inbound. This is part of the Interrail guidance from their site.

https://www.interrail.eu/en/interrail-passes/what-is-interrail/travel-your-own-country

 We want our Passes to be as flexible as our travellers, so if you're travelling with an Interrail Global Pass, you can now use it to travel in your country of residence during one outbound journey and one inbound journey that occur during travel days at any point in your trip (outbound and inbound journeys are not extra travel days).

Note also the word “can” not “must”.

 

 

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