Paying for reservations

Thank you. I purchased a Eurail Pass that is in credit but for the reservations the system wants to charge my credit card. Is that normal?

Not sure I follow here. Let's use an example:

- you bought a pass for 500€. That's one transaction deducted from your bank account.

- you're buying a TGV seat reservation from Paris to Marseille for 20€. That's another separate transaction which will be deducted as well.

Reservations cost extra on top of the pass price. Sometimes they're required, sometimes they're optional, sometimes they don't exist. For the best places to book them, follow rvdborgt's link.

Yes, the Eurail Pass in simple words it’s a ticket that will allow you get into many trains without paying. There’s of course rules and exceptions you still need to check. But in some trains people needs to pay for the ticket and the reservation of the seat, sometimes the seat is mandatory, sometimes not. So you already have the ticket which is the eurail pass, you don’t have the seat or reservation and you will have to pay for it. 

I traveled for 3 months in 2023 with a global pass (i dont know which kind of pass you have). The main difference is the amount of days you can use the pass. In the eurail app when you look for the routes there’s a filter to search only routes that doesn’t require reservations, it will usually take more time or more connections so its up to you depending on your time and budget to see what is better. 

I went in many trains that had the option to reserve the seat but i didnt (it wasn’t mandatory) and really I went in many but once i couldn’t get in one train, it was from Zurich to Munich, it was full and didnt let me in because I didnt have the seat reservations so I got a seat for the next one to be sure i was getting on the train. When I got in i noticed i could had go into that one with out a seat reservation. 

As a resume, some trains doesn’t need reservation so you can just travel on them with your pass. Another trains have the option to reserve a seat so you can travel on those but if they are full and you don’t have the seat reservation they won’t let you in. And there’s other trains where you can only get in with a seat reservation like the TGV. 

Thank you cvalen and apologies for my delay.

I think I understand now and I learnt a lot from reading your reply.

Thank you thibcabe

I though my Eurail pass was like a credit and I could use it on anything, including seat reservations, until it ran out.

Thank you rvdborgt I will try that link.