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Starting a trip tomorrow, some questions on what to do!

  • 16 March 2023
  • 4 replies
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C

Hi I’m nervously leaving tomorrow from the UK on Eurostar but I’m confused by the railplanner app and also how to go about planning my trip.

When I look at the map of train routes it only shows the major cities, is there a map showing all train routes we can use with a global pass?

Also adding ‘trips’, is a trip the global pass or is a trip one train journey?

And I bought my eurostar ticket on b-europe and somehow have to add it to my pass?! Confused by it all...

 

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Best answer by rvdborgt 16 March 2023, 20:29

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If you mean the map on the Interrail website: that map is very incomplete.

Your pass is linked to one "trip” in the app. That trip will eventually contain all trains you will use. Look here for the basics:

https://www.interrail.eu/en/interrail-passes/interrail-mobile-pass/getting-started

Reservations are completely separate from the app. They can't be booked in the app (it can forward to some of the website where you can book though) and they are not visible in the app.

The rail planner app is not suitable to plan because the information it provides is not reliable and it is often out of date. A much better European train planner is the DB Navigator app. Further, national apps or websites are always most up to date.

Please ask questions in the community and not via a private message. That's the quickest way to get a response. I don't work for Eurail/Interrail.
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Panic not - here is a summary that should help.

Your pass is the source of your tickets and reservations are a separate addition that never shows in your pass.

The app has 3 key sections - the planner, the Trip and the pass. Each pass only has one trip throughout its duration - it is basically your diary of intended journeys but more on that later.

First is the planner - this is where you search for the trains you might want to catch. Once you identify the trains you might travel on you add them to your pass e.g. your Eurostar train. Simply put the required info of start station, destination and date and it should be there with an option to add to your trip. If it doesn’t show and you know it exists you can always add trains manually to your trip.

Next is your Trip. This is a totally amendable diary of trains you plan to travel on (often called a journey). Every single train you actually travel on has first to be added to your trip, but this can be done right up to boarding. Until you activate the train this is just a wish list.

Once you activate your pass the trains in your Trip will show a slider. Once you activate this slider the app will create a travel day and add that train to a list below a QR code. This is now your ticket for that train and any further trains you add for that day will appear in the list below the QR code (once the slider is activated). If the train is not in that list you do not have a valid ticket.

If the train has a mandatory reservation or supplement this has to be evidenced separately - often as a pdf or a printed document and is needed on top of your validated pass.

I appreciate this is a seemingly complex process but once mastered is extremely simple. Find your train, add it to your trip and operate the slider.

If you change your mind before travelling you can simply reverse the slider and add an alternative train. Once created you cannot remove a travel day after 2359 the previous day, even if you eventually  do not travel on any trains, hence the advice not to create your travel day till you are about to board your first train, just in case you lose the full day.

C

If you mean the map on the Interrail website: that map is very incomplete.

Your pass is linked to one "trip” in the app. That trip will eventually contain all trains you will use. Look here for the basics:

https://www.interrail.eu/en/interrail-passes/interrail-mobile-pass/getting-started

Reservations are completely separate from the app. They can't be booked in the app (it can forward to some of the website where you can book though) and they are not visible in the app.

The rail planner app is not suitable to plan because the information it provides is not reliable and it is often out of date. A much better European train planner is the DB Navigator app. Further, national apps or websites are always most up to date.

Thank you, ok I understand now that I create’ journeys’ which I then add to my trip.

Yes I wish the rail map was comprehensive as it’s hard to plan the trip without being able to see the whole rail network! And I’ll download the DB navigator app then, thank you.

C

Panic not - here is a summary that should help.

Your pass is the source of your tickets and reservations are a separate addition that never shows in your pass.

The app has 3 key sections - the planner, the Trip and the pass. Each pass only has one trip throughout its duration - it is basically your diary of intended journeys but more on that later.

First is the planner - this is where you search for the trains you might want to catch. Once you identify the trains you might travel on you add them to your pass e.g. your Eurostar train. Simply put the required info of start station, destination and date and it should be there with an option to add to your trip. If it doesn’t show and you know it exists you can always add trains manually to your trip.

Next is your Trip. This is a totally amendable diary of trains you plan to travel on (often called a journey). Every single train you actually travel on has first to be added to your trip, but this can be done right up to boarding. Until you activate the train this is just a wish list.

Once you activate your pass the trains in your Trip will show a slider. Once you activate this slider the app will create a travel day and add that train to a list below a QR code. This is now your ticket for that train and any further trains you add for that day will appear in the list below the QR code (once the slider is activated). If the train is not in that list you do not have a valid ticket.

If the train has a mandatory reservation or supplement this has to be evidenced separately - often as a pdf or a printed document and is needed on top of your validated pass.

I appreciate this is a seemingly complex process but once mastered is extremely simple. Find your train, add it to your trip and operate the slider.

If you change your mind before travelling you can simply reverse the slider and add an alternative train. Once created you cannot remove a travel day after 2359 the previous day, even if you eventually  do not travel on any trains, hence the advice not to create your travel day till you are about to board your first train, just in case you lose the full day.

 

Thank you, thats really detailed, I’ll try to create a journey and a trip now!

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