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Dear InterRail/ EuRail-people,

 

my InterRail pass comes to an end soon.

I know that you want to havee it sent in so that together with the travel diary you can calculate which company gets how much money.

In previous years, the InterRail pass cover was a free envelope to send the pass back by post to you. This is no longer the case.

How should I send the pass to you in a way that a) I have no additional costs and b) don’t have more work than putting it into a mail box or handing it over at a railway company selling point or sending you a scan via email?

I am not willing to pay extra or take extra work for something you need, not me, and which you made less convenient due to removal of the free mail-back-functionality. But I am still willing to support the InterRail system by providing you the data you need to calculate where the money  goes.

I also need the pass to claim passenger right compensations/ reimbursements for extra costs (accomodation due to cancelled trains and no possibility to finish the journey the same day, maybe extra ticket for other transportation). So, who should get the original, you or the Servicecenter Fahrgastrechte? (The pass was bought via the DB.)

Regards!

I know that you want to havee it sent in so that together with the travel diary you can calculate which company gets how much money.

They don't do that anymore. AFAIK they now use the usage data from the mobile passes.

I also need the pass to claim passenger right compensations/ reimbursements for extra costs (accomodation due to cancelled trains and no possibility to finish the journey the same day, maybe extra ticket for other transportation). So, who should get the original, you or the Servicecenter Fahrgastrechte? (The pass was bought via the DB.)

From the Delay Compensation page:

"Compensation for supplements (e.g. reservations) and reimbursement of expenses incurred as a result of the sustained delay (e.g. for alternative means of transportation, accommodation, etc.) fall within carriers’ individual conditions of carriage. If received, such claims will be forwarded to the reservation agent or the provider of carriage concerned for further processing.”


Delay repay is only-a tiny amount,there when at least 3 (DREI) delays > 1 hr have been encountered.

Expect to be fobbed off for other claims-and even the typisch DE threat with lawyers and Gerichtsverfahren will probably only cost you a lot of DEM and also lead to nothing.

In the distant past before all these new laws came into being-this was simply taken as the risk of travel in unknown territories, felix.

HTL; they will just say that you now had to stay in T in stead of planned C or M=same expense.

 In IT there is fairly often in fact a ruling that biglietti that could not be used to yet another sciopera can be used when service resumes again.

Heard anything already from the 50% claim to FEVE/RENFE?


Delay repay is only-a tiny amount,there when at least 3 (DREI) delays > 1 hr have been encountered.

@mcadv please do not keep repeating outdated information. Instead, please read the compensation page and accept that some things change.


I know that you want to havee it sent in so that together with the travel diary you can calculate which company gets how much money.

They don't do that anymore. AFAIK they now use the usage data from the mobile passes.

What is then the reason to fill in the pass cover at all?

@mcadvwrote:

HTL; they will just say that you now had to stay in T in stead of planned C or M=same expense.

No, I had a private host where I wanted to go, so being stranded gives me extra expenses. Plus, if you would have booked an accomodation and don’t show up you usually still have to pay (and cannot cancel on the day of planned arrival).

Btw., what does “HTL;” mean?

In the distant past before all these new laws came into being-this was simply taken as the risk of travel in unknown territories.

I see the passenger rights an important part to make people using public transport instead of cars. If in a case of disruption I might be stranded without a place to stay for the night, I could also use a car where in case of delay to e.g. traffic jam I could sleep in my car. A car gives more a feeling of security to not having to surrender to external factors. The passenger rights compensate for that somehow. (Even if this is factual not really correct, it is the feeling of many persons. And that’s why I seem it important that help for stranded passengers is granted without problems and struggles & that it is actively communicated that that help exists)

 


The old and of course very, very time consuming and even hard to do process to analyse all trips (well, those that were sent back, I did not bother the last 2-3 times-long, long ago you had to give them back at office and get immediate financial reward) system was to find a way acceptable to all participating railways to divide up the income. Tipically most passes were sold in North of EUR and used in South-the latter is still true. SE-=Sweden for many years topped the bill in passes sold/head of population.

Since in many countries there are now also various local/contracted railways the system to divide up gets even much more complicated-just think of how much Westfalenbahn or Go-Ahead in DE must get of it-and most ignorant users probably think they are not oincluded anyway and only use DB.

In some countries, like PL, CZ, and RO!! the new contracting railways have opted to stay out of pass-system so there are now large gaps in local lines there.

It must have been a great relief and possible even life-saver of this pass-system that it has gone automatic. They probably reckoned as most passes are sold to young and adventurous-and thus fone-loving- youngsters that remaining paper passes were just negligible-plus that many railways do not even sell paper anymore.


Hey @mcadv, you explain very reasonable why there is the electronic travel diary in the app and why it is important. This I completely understand, but was not my question.

My question was: When I use the paper travel diary/  “My Trip”, why do I need to fill it in if it is not to be sent back at all?, so if nobody cares about the information anymore after my trip?

 

Best regards!


We used to ask travelers to send back their passes for data analysis and in return travelers received a small souvenir as a thank you. We suspended this when the pandemic broke out as travel came to a halt and to reduce the burden on postal companies. At the moment, we only use data from mobile passes, so there is no need to send your pass back anymore. 

As for your question regarding delay compensation, you can request compensation by filling out this form. Our full delay compensation is available on the form, but in short, we calculate delay compensation based on how long the delay was. We can also request a refund for any reservations you were unable to use due to a delay. All additional costs, such as hotel fees, alternative transport, etc. fall beyond the scope of our policy and should be directed to the responsible carrier. I hope that helps! :) 


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