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My first post. I have taken European trains many times, however they have been point to point. And the only pass I’ve had was 40 (!!!) years ago. I’ve read over several of these boards and don’t see what I need to know.

I am traveling in December to the Christmas markets. We have Eurail Flex 10 days in 2 months. They are NOT activated. I have my pass linked in the app, not my husbands yet.. I have a trip named in My Trips. I have several trains picked out that I want to take. Here are  my questions:

 

  1. I need to copy and paste this trip to create one for my husband and if I need to add a train, it will need to be done twice, once for me and once for him. Correct?
  1. How do these trains get on my pass? I DO NOT have the toggle on the side of the train to add to pass. I don’t have any indication that a day is being used. This is the biggest question. Will it show up when I activate? Do we not have them  (the toggles) on Flex passes?
  2. Seat assignments. From reading several posts, I glean that we should not use the Eural/Interail site for seats as they charge a surcharge and don’t always work.  I’ve seen that we can book seats on Rail Europe, but I know for a fact that rail Europe only books 3 months out. Is the best way to go to the country site directly? i.e. OBB or whoever we need. How are those seats linked to our passes? Do we put our pass numbers in the direct websites? 

Thanks in advance for your help

 

  1. If both passes are on the same phone, then you both still need a separate trip. You can either copy a trip, or add a new journey to 2 passes in one go. Do keep in mind that you can't travel separately at all if both passes are on the same phone.
  2. The toggle switch will become visible when you activate the pass.
  3. Rail Europe does allow to reserve more than 3 months in advance; it all depends on when the operator releases the seats. E.g. Eurostar release a lot longer than 3 months n advance and they can already be booked via Rail Europe.
    In general, it's best to follow the advice on Seat61's pass reservation page. There's no single website or app where you can book all reservations, and that is also true for Rail Europe.

Some more hints:

You'll want more than 9 minutes to change in Stuttgart on 11/12. In fact, I'd avoid spending €19 for just a few km in France and would look for a journey with a regional train to cross the border to Strasbourg. You can easily find that by adding "via Kehl”.

It’s also best not to use the Rail Planner app or the Eurail website to plan, since they're not reliable enough for that purpose. National websites/apps are more reliable; for international journeys, bahn.com or the DB Navigator app is a good choice.

In general, I think it's too early to book reservations for December, except maybe for a night train or Eurostar. There may be engineering works that are not reflected yet in the timetables.

Thank you rvdborgt. I switched out that Dec 11 MUC to Salz for a direct train. That was an accident. 

I honestly don’t mind paying for the seat assignments just to make sure I get a seat  on busy trains. Most days we’ll have luggage and relocating, so it takes stress off me to do so. I’ll check the individual sites to look for times. I’m concerned with going into Salzburg as we are arriving on the day for Krampusnacht and can’t chance not getting there. We’ve based the whole trip around being there! lol  I can wait to book the others for awhile. 

Thanks again for your help!

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