There is no link between the Railplanner-app and the website.

Yes Anna, you explained that on the other post I ‘hijacked’, thank you :)  but it doesn’t explain why my website account does not show my pass.  My previous pass was detailed on my website account and from what I understand I need the app to select trains but then the website to make seat reservations.

I don’t want to start my journey to France and Italy and have a problem arise part way into it … I’ve had trouble with the Italians before resulting in the gloss being taken on what would have been a very enjoyable day.

I don't understand you problem.

Where did you buy you pass? 

There are often better ways to make reservations than the Interrail/Eurail website. 

Hi Anna, I bought it from the Interrail website … the ‘Black Friday’ sale last year.

My problem is why does it not show on my account?  I understand I can buy it elsewhere but as occasional user I don’t want to have to learn each company/service provider’s admin systems.  Let me explain … I’m wanting to book Genova Brignole - Lucca,  05/06 morning Train (09:01 or 09:56) … the EURail website tells me I need to have a pass, I have but it will not agree I have!  The Trenitalia website doesn’t publicise that I can buy just a seat reservation from them.  This is my 3rd Interrail pass and I have to say I have never had a hassle free experience … there is always something that does not work!

My current passes should be there, yes?  so why aren’t they?  I don’t want to find a problem while on my trip, I want all problems resolved before I start.  The trip is to be a vacation … not a point of complaint, protest and general all round hassle!

STOP PRESS:  Anna, OK, I’ve managed to make the seat reservations but wow, what a palaver of misinformation, misdirection and lack of clear instructions … and what a waste of time of having to do everything twice, once for the phone and once again for the website!  It’s not rocket science for a phone app and website to sync between each other … the technology has been around for years!

Thanks for your input.

As I said earlier. There are often better, easier and cheaper places to make seat reservations than the Interrail/Eurail website.

First, please note that we don’t work for Eurail and we’re only helping other travellers during our free time.

On the reservations tool you need to add manually the pass regardless of where you bought it: number in the confirmation email and last name.

The Interrail/Eurail website reservations tool can be confusing and wrong, I don’t deny that. It shouldn’t be that way of course but data quickly change, the website isn’t updated often enough, etc. That’s why on this community forum we usually suggest booking through the companies whenever possible.

Sometimes it’s not possible → the companies said that “too many people bought only the reservations and travelled without a pass”, thus they removed the option. At least that’s what SNCF and Trenitalia argued (passholder reservations used to be available through them!).

There is this great guide that covers everything: https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm (hopefully it’s implemented on Eurail at some point).

The Rail Planner app isn’t really for “planning” either, it should rather be for logging journeys only. There are a few issues with the app. I prefer planning through the companies planners with the help of DB Navigator app too.

There are still paper passes available if people want them.

As a side note it’s really hard to coordinate so many European railways, which sometimes hate each other. I’m definitely grateful that Interrail exists 50+ years later but I’m pretty sure that it couldn’t have happened in 2024.

Hi Anna and thibcabe and my thanks to both of you to help me.  I fully appreciate you are gracious ‘helpers’ and not responsible for Eurail/Interrail websites but I hope staff of them monitor the Community to see where they could look to improve.  My comments are directed to them and should not be taken of criticisms of yourselves.  And as for better, easier and cheaper places to make seat reservations than the Interrail/Eurail website all I can say is as thibcabe said … Trenintalia are not willing and as a occasional user I have no idea where else to go!

I know Mark at seat61 and he has also been helpful in the past.

I do disagree that the Rail Planner is not as the name implies but I have to say I have often used it to find a route and note intermediate stations for stop off points to overnight or lunch.

As for people reserving a seat and not having a ticket for their journey the solution is simple … check passenger’s tickets!

Again, my thanks to both for your willingness to help myself and other lost and confused fools! 

Ofcourse Eurail is aware of it and belive us they are working on several fronts at the sametime. Keeping the current Companys in. Adding new Railcompanies (the time of one Railcompany per Country is long gone) and ofcourse even make the App and Website easier to navigate. 

Ofcourse there is Staff that monitor this community But their main task is to keep that Community clean from spam and help users where they can. 

For Complaints i recommend to fill the Zendesk form that way it comes directly to the relevant team of Eurail. Zendesk Form for Eurail 

Safe Travel and maybe you will get a 4th Interrailpass ;D 

 

Thanks Seewolf … if they do read these posts I would suggest to them they need to get a service that works before adding new service providers for with each service provider added the task of improving the service to customers gets more complicated!

Just one more question if I may … when I managed to secure seat reservations for my Trenitalia trip I was given 2 seats (Coach 2, seats 4A and 4C), there was no option as to which two seats.  Is there anyway I can check where those seats are in the train and possibly change them if more desirable seats are still available?  Or is this a bit like my experience on the French TGV … they allocate a seat but you seem to be able to sit anywhere there is a vacant seat.  :)

A and C are very likely next to each other (seat numbering is weird).

When booking through Rail Europe you have access to a seat map. Feel free to double check for your own train.

You should sit at your assigned seat, especially if the train is busy.

Thanks again thibcabe, seat pairings “A” and “C” are rare on the train layouts I have found on the Internet.  If they use a letter suffix it is usually “A”, “B” and “D” so I went to the Trenitalia website and use their booking facility to look at the layout for my specific train and while “A” and “C” are side by side there is an aisle between them!  “A” shares a 1 x 1 table (with another person) and “C” shares a 2 x 2 table with 3 other people!  According to Trenitalia there are two 1 x 1 tables vacant for my train.  I would love to hear from the designer of that algorithm and what made them think two people travelling together would rather sit across the aisle from each other and share their tables with 4 other people!

This to me is just more evidence that Eurail/Interrail are good products spoiled by their lack of user friendly implementation!

I will try Rail Europe but if they are no better I have decided to ignore our passes and book independently with Trenitalia, at lease then I will stand a chance of getting the seats we prefer.

Hi @firlandsfarm 

I'm one of the moderators for the platform. I noticed your concern about your Pass not appearing in the reservations portal. You'll need to add it and create a trip to make reservations, which is separate from the trip you create in the App. We're continuously enhancing our App, so in the future, making reservations directly through it should be possible, making it easier for our customers. If you have any further feedback or questions, please don't hesitate to let me know. Also, remember that we have specialized customer service support available to assist you: https://eurail.zendesk.com/hc/en-001/requests/new

Have a nice day!