When you choose the start day of the validity of the pass, the first day of the validity period is automatically made a travel day, even if you don't enter a journey. The advice is therefore not to activate the pass before the first travel day as you only can deactivate the pass before 00.00 on the day the validity starts.

The start date should be the day of your first travel, especially if you have a flexi pass, otherwise you will loose a travel day, as you now did.

Customer Support have the possibility to add travel days if they think that you have a legitimate claim.

Did you contact Customer Support through this form?

https://eurail.zendesk.com/hc/en-001/requests/new

If you go to My Trip, for which dates does it show that a travel date has been used?

If you can't see it in My Trip, then please go to My Pass and select the travel days (tap on the blue round icons). It should say for which date they have been activated.

If one of them is still in the future, then you can still cancel it. When you select it in My Pass, there should be a button "Cancel travel day”.

AnnaB - yes I have been in touch with them and the automatic reply has acknowledged my request. so I will wait and hopefully it will be in time for me to return.
 

rvdborgt the day 1 is for the 19th June and the 2nd is for the 20th which I did travel on. 
Originally it was the 23rd June but because of the rail strikes in the UK I changed it to the 19th just in case I was to go on the 19th. I chose the 20th to start the trip.

OK, the app is behaving as designed.

You activated the pass with a start date of 19 June. That means the first travel day is also activated for that date. You then travelled on the 20th, which is the second travel day.

It is not a good idea to activate the pass or a travel day in advance, since you can loose a travel day if you change plans and forget to cancel your travel day. You can only cancel a travel day until 23:59 CET on the day before it starts.

Only customer service can fix this.

Thanks rvdborgt for your reply.

But to plan my new reservations (which incurred extra costs) I needed to name a date following instructions to start an earlier first journey which I chose the 19th knowing I had 30 days to travel. I had to choose quickly to make sure I could book my Eurostar as it was showing 19th and 20th without any confirmed spaces from London to Paris. I managed to get the 20th by travelling up to London and paying for part of my ticket separately for the journey and then start my 1st day at 00.01 on the 20th from a particular station on the way up to London. I then got to London for the first booked Eurostar at 05.59 on the 20th.

I did everything right to make sure I didn’t start on the 19th and did start on the 20th.  I also needed to guarantee the two reservations which I had already paid for, for the 23rd which I won’t get back. Surely the 1st day of travel is when you physically activate the first trip not when you want the 30 days to start?

I’ve sent all the photos to show when I actually made the first journey and hope they will give me back my lost day.

Next time I will use the paper copy instead of the online/app so there is no doubt.

This is the 2nd time out of three that I have had to ask for a change back to reflect reality.

Thanks for your time and response.

You don't need to activate a pass to book reservations.

You wrote earlier that you changed the start date to 19 June. That also activates the first travel day on 19 June and that is why that is now a used travel day.

Ok that makes some sense, but if I am at the mercy of what train journeys are available I need to name a starting date just in case. The 20th dates were going fast and the Interrail site said that no tickets were available at the time of changing and I needed to change from the 23rd.

It isn’t easy to keep changing the start date when you don’t know if you have a reservation for an actual train. I hope they see that I did not travel on the 19th and give me back my lost day.

do think:-

1. a paper copy would be best?
2. They will reinstall my lost date with all my evidence?
3. Otherwise I have to change my plans and not travel on one day around Switzerland on the “lost” day.

No you don't. Reservations and the pass are completely separate. I repeat: you can book reservations without activating the pass. Even on the Interrail website.

That depends on your priorities. I like the mobile version because of the possibility to choose the start date after buying it. I normally activate only shortly (hours) before starting my trip.

Possibly. They can if they want.