We are travelling to Europe in August and I am having trouble paying online for my passes. I have called my credit card issuer and they said everything is fine and that I haven’t put through an attempt on their end. I don’t understand. Anyone have similar problems?
Best answer by thibcabe
View originalPlease define "trouble". What error are you seeing when?
If you're trying to do it on a mobile phone, then try on a pc/laptop. The website sometimes behaves a bit funny on a mobile phone.
I have tried mobile and laptop many times. I’ve called my credit provider, they don’t even see me attempting to book. The error is payment failed. Try again later. I got a hold of eurail and they told me to do all these things and I did but nothing has worked. Do I have to book reservations from London to Paris, Paris to Germany, Germany to Bruges and Bruges to London? I don’t mind getting the tickets when we get there but the reservations are what is concerning me
London - Paris and Lille (or Brussels) - London need to be booked well in advance : Eurostar has a limited quota which can sell out weeks in advance (30€ reservation). Use this website (less fees than eurail.com) :
https://www.b-europe.com/EN/Booking/Pass#TravelWish
Paris - Germany need to be booked in advance too but there’s no quota. Best use eurail.com for a cross-border train (17€). To save money : take a TGV to Strasbourg (limited 10€ fare, then 20€) and then cross the border on a reservation-free regional train : https://travel.b-europe.com/Eurail-GE/en/booking-tgv#TravelWish
Germany - Brussels : avoid Thalys (27€ seat reservation). Take the ICE : reservation optional but recommended → 4.90€ per journey on bahn.com
Domestic Belgian trains cannot be booked.
Btw the pass is your ticket and on top of same trains you need to add seat reservations (mainly high-speed trains).
Thanks, the more details you give, the more the community may be able to help. You could also try an incognito browser window. If that doesn't work either, maybe another card? It sounds as if Eurail and your card provider don't like each other somehow.
If you arrive in London, I'm not sure at all whether you can buy Eurail passes there.
London to Paris: https://www.b-europe.com/EN/Booking/Pass#TravelWish
Paris-Germany is vague. Where in Germany? Likewise Germany to Bruges.
Bruges to London will be via Lille or Brussels, so book Lille/Brussels to London via the page above.
General booking advice:
and:
https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm
Oh wow. This is so confusing. We’re from Canada and I have no idea about this and it is confusing to me. We are going to rosenhiem Germany. Where do I purchase tickets? Do I need to book multiple trains? There are 5 in my family travelling. Is it best not to book the 5 day pass or do?
Either you book regular advance tickets or a pass (+ seat reservations when required). The pass is your ticket and you can board any train in Europe you’d like (full flexibility). However on high-speed trains seat reservations need to be added, restricting a bit the flexibility as you need to plan in advance.
The Eurostar between London and Europe is a bottleneck : on one hand train tickets are very expensive and on the other hand Interrail/Eurail passholder seats are limited. As long as you book in advance, it’ll be fine.
The pass will be good value, esp. if there are under 11 y.o. children in your family as they travel for free (they still need to pay seat reservations though). From your journey you might only need 4 pass days (but you can buy a 5-day pass and use the extra day for a day trip for example).
To summarize :
A good example between Paris and Rosenheim (margin for delays) :
A good schedule example to Bruges :
You guys are so helpful, thank you. I think I’m getting it now. I have to pay for the passes first before I can do any of this though.
You're welcome !
You don't really have to buy the passes first (but you'll have to at some point anyway). As long as you make reservations elsewhere, they won't necessarily ask for your pass number. If you make a single booking for everyone, you'll be seated together.
On b-europe (Eurostar) : you can get a Pass Cover Number as explained here or simply enter I11111111 (the number doesn't appear anywhere on the ticket)
The only thing that is best booked on eurail.com is the TGV/ICE into Germany. If you want to avoid the 5 x 2€ booking fee, you can call SNCF. :)
For example on bahn.com : buying a seat reservation is the same process whether you have a regular ticket or pass (as both do not include reservations). There's a seating map too !
Do not hesitate for further questions.
If I buy the the global passes on eurail.com for 5 days for everyone, I can use all these other websites to book the different trains without a ticket number? Eurail won’t let me go any further to plan my trip without having a number
Yes exactly. On eurail.com : you need to have booked a pass to see availability + book seat reservations.
On all other websites : no number needed or enter I11111111 on b-europe (Eurostar)
Btw don't worry, there is no quota for passholders on European trains. As long as you can buy regular tickets, there are seats available. Exception : Eurostar.
Trains in Germany and many other countries have optional reservations so you're always allowed to board. However for a group of 5 it's better to book seats in advance to ensure that you sit together all the way ! :)
BTW, what is SNCF?
BTW, what is SNCF?
French national railways.
Btw don't worry, there is no quota for passholders on European trains. As long as you can buy regular tickets, there are seats available. Exception : Eurostar.
There is also a quota for passholders on Thalys.
Are there any more trains with passholder quota?
Eurostar, Thalys, TGV Brussels-France, EC Switzerland-Italy
Edit: pass holder quota has been removed from TGV Paris-Milan and TGV France-Germany
Yes sure but not on their route, I should have been more precise.
Not sure about EC Switzerland - Italy though because I've always been able to book a seat, even if there only were a few tickets remaining (or the quota is very large). Maybe it did change
Sorry, what is TVG? Is there certain stations we have to leave from to get to another country? ei. London to Paris, Paris to Rosenheim? What about the ferry from Dover to Calais? Is that a good option?
Sorry, what is TVG?
Is there certain stations we have to leave from to get to another country? ei. London to Paris, Paris to Rosenheim?
Just use www.bahn.com to find timetables.
What about the ferry from Dover to Calais? Is that a good option?
I'd only use that if you can't get a Eurostar reservation. It takes a lot of time.
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What browser do you use? So you have an Ad Blocker? (like uBlock, AdBlockPlus, AdBlock,..)
If you have an Ad blocker, there should be a little icon on you browser screen (Upper right in windows, probably upper left in Safari). Click on it, and you should be able to disable it easily for the Interrail/Eurail website.
+7
Make sure to enable pop ups and ads in your browser, when booking your passes. Often it gives issues when paying stuff. Or try even another browsers, like Firefox
I went to safari, I used the payment with blockers on and off and this is always what it says. Isn’t there just a phone number to call and order them? I’ve looked everywhere.
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