I have a problem. I bought the 2-Months unlimited Pass on last year's promotion. hen buying the ticket on May 2022), I selected Germany as my country of residence as I was currently living in Munich for my university studies. However, by the time I start my journey (April 2023), I had already moved back to Turkey. I bought the ticket with a friend; he and I are both Turkish citizens and have Turkish passports. I will start the journey from Turkey and also end it there.
So I am hoping I do not get locked out of the German railways because of the "country of residence" issue. I have contacted Interrail support and they informed me that "country of residence" cannot be changed after the purchase date. I would really like to be able to use the German railways for free as they are not cheap and are hard to avoid. They are geographically central in Europe, so I will have to use them. It will be really difficult for me, financially, to complete my journey if I buy a ticket for every train ride through Germany. Germany is the central hub of European railways and I hoped I will be able to use it a lot, not just twice. (I know about the possibility of inbound and outbound journey)
So my question is: What would happen if I enter Germany with my interrail ticket (Mobile) which would be activated but I think I don't have to add the journeys to my trip on the application. So the ticket controller comes over and scans the QR code on the app. I show her/him my Turkish passport (I don't even possess a german residency at this moment. Will the QR-Code inform her/him that I am not allowed to travel within Germany or will it just say that I have a 2-Months pass and seeing that I am a foreign citizen, the controller will leave me be? I am really nervous and want to clarify this before I start my trip.
Oh, I wish I had selected Turkey as my residence when buying the ticket, I know. It was such a stupid mistake :/ Thanks for your help in advance. Cheers!
I changed country of residence, can I change it?
Best answer by Camilo.
I am happy to inform that since this week, we are able to change country of residence on our system for cases like this. Could you please send me a private message with your order number?
Have a nice day!
+6I’m pretty sure your QR code and ticket will say NOT VALID IN GERMANY very prominently, except for the two days you activate an inbound/ outbound journey.
Can you refund the pass and purchase again?
You cannot use that interrail pass for travel in Germany except for the 2 days you designate as inbound/outbound.
As this is a discounted pass with no right to refund or replace/alter there is nothing you can do about this.
Your plan to not properly fill in the pass and try to dodge the rule is a very bad one. Firstly the pass will have in bold letters Not Valid In Germany on the pass for every day except your inbound/outbound.
Secondly you will be liable to fines/prosecution for fare evasion if/when you get caught doing this.
Germany are due to release their €49/month ticket from this May valid on all local/regional transport but not Intercity. Perhaps you could use this for travel in Germany.
Can you refund the pass and purchase again?
Discounted passes generally cannot be refunded and those 50% off ones are included in that restriction.
Can you refund the pass and purchase again?
Discounted passes generally cannot be refunded and those 50% off ones are included in that restriction.
I already contacted the support team months before and they told me that there is no possibility to change Country of Residence after the purchase, even if you made a mistake. (Which is extremely strict, i.m.o​)​ Refund is also not an option, so I am basically stuck with the ticket as it is. How lovely :/​​​​​
+6Good suggestion on the €49 ticket. That might be the only thing that rescues your itinerary, accepting that you’ll be stuck on slower trains (and you’ll friend might not be keen to ditch the ICE!)
It’sa shame, because Germany is key for so many journeys, especially to avoid reservation fees in France.
If you use your two days on long journeys, plus the €49 ticket on shorter trips, plus one or two SparPreis tickets on the days you want to make trips on the ICE, it might work for you.
Also, I think the €49 ticket includes local city transport (the €9 ticket last summer it did) so if you take any city transport while in Germany, you would be saving that cost.
I mean the ticket should look into the country of residence when you actually use it not when you buy the ticket a year in advance. I find it really silly and counter intuitive that you cannot actually change this, ever. :(
Just to confirm for any newbies reading this:
To travel with a Global or One Country mobile pass you MUST add each train you travel on into your pass (either from the planner or manually) and then activate the slider.
When you activate the slider of the first train of a travel day the app will create a QR code AND list the train below it. This is your valid ticket to travel. As you add further trains in that travel day it adds them to the list below the QR code (which does not change). If any train you travel on is not shown in that list you do not have a valid ticket and face a penalty payment - in France for example it might be a full fare plus 50 euro and on some regional trains I have seen gangs of 8 or more inspectors boarding a train and checking tickets in a very assertive way.
For trains with mandatory reservations you MUST also have separate evidence of your reservation alongside a validated pass.
Again for Newbies:
The mobile app controls your COR )In/Out) days in a totally unsympathetic way.
Any travel in your declared COR will activate your COR and once you have used both of them will not allow any further travel in your COR. Note that for countries with through routes in and out it will activate the COR day even if you do not leave the train - this certainly happens if even one scheduled station is in your COR. So for example an Austrian resident travelling the Brenner Pass from Verona to Munich would activate a COR as it passes through Austria,
Train inspectors have no role in this as the app will not even allow creation of an invalid journey. No valid ticket is a penalty fare.
I mean the ticket should look into the country of residence when you actually use it not when you buy the ticket a year in advance. I find it really silly and counter intuitive that you cannot actually change this, ever. :(
Well it is what it is and you have no option other than deal with the reality of the restriction your ticket has.
The reason for the residence restriction is to stop interrail being used as a cheap ticket for commuting/local travel as that is not what the ticket is for, if this was not restricted it is very likely that certain countries/railways would simply stop accepting interrail entirely.
Allowing users to edit their country of residence would be open to abuse, if they allow you to change then it would only be fair they let anyone else to do it as well.
I mean the ticket should look into the country of residence when you actually use it not when you buy the ticket a year in advance. I find it really silly and counter intuitive that you cannot actually change this, ever. :(
Well it is what it is and you have no option other than deal with the reality of the restriction your ticket has.
The reason for the residence restriction is to stop interrail being used as a cheap ticket for commuting/local travel as that is not what the ticket is for, if this was not restricted it is very likely that certain countries/railways would simply stop accepting interrail entirely.
Allowing users to edit their country of residence would be open to abuse, if they allow you to change then it would only be fair they let anyone else to do it as well.
I understand this completely but if someone made a mistake and if they have the documentation to prove that they indeed live in another country, they should be able to change this. Not the customer but the support staff. Then it would not be open to abuse and it would not cause unfortunate situations like this. Oh well, I guess there is nothing to do.. :(
+3- Eurail Moderator
- 357 replies
- Answer
I am happy to inform that since this week, we are able to change country of residence on our system for cases like this. Could you please send me a private message with your order number?
Have a nice day!
I have the same issue! How can I solve it?
Contact customer service:
https://eurail.zendesk.com/hc/en-001/requests/new
Also mention when you'll start to travel, so they can prioritise correctly.
I am happy to inform that since this week, we are able to change country of residence on our system for cases like this. Could you please send me a private message with your order number?
Have a nice day!
This is great to hear it. It would be amazing if we can resolve the issue. You just got a PM from me. :)
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