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Hello,

I have booked 2 Global interrail 4 day passes for 1 month, but the service provided is not at all what I expected.
Indeed, several routes are not available and no alternative is proposed, although they were available in the train search engine on the website before purchasing the pass.

No solution for the following routes:
- February 13: Copenhagen -> Goteborg (initially present in the search engine for departure at 9:27 am and arrival at 1:20 pm)

No possibility either through the website of the train company: www.sj.se
- February 15: Oslo -> Bodo (initially present in the search engine for departure 14h02 and arrival 9h05 the next day

At no time is it mentioned before purchasing the pass that we can not book at all the routes proposed in the search engine.
Moreover, all these routes are available on the websites of the companies concerned. How is it not possible to book them on interrail website?

Is there a way to book these routes listed on the site but marked "unavailable"?

If not, could I be refund our passes in full? 

Thanks for your help !!

  • Copenhagen - Göteborg: reservations are not needed on the hourly regional train. You can book reservations for some coaches via either DSB or SJ but IMO that's a waste of money.
    Please note that on your travel date, there seem to be engineering works going on, with trains only starting at Copenhagen Airport.
  • Oslo-Bodø: the best way to book is by phone through Entur:
    https://om.entur.no/kundesenter/ (Add +47 for Norway.)
    They'll send the reservation(s) by email.
    SNCF is also reported to sell Norwegian reservations at their ticket offices.

It doesn't say anywhere that all trains covered can be booked via Interrail. This has never been the case and I doubt it will ever be. In fact, it's better to book elsewhere and only use Interrail if there's no other option. Interrail themselves write you can book "most reservations” through them.

Ways to book can be found in the app, on the Inerrail website and in this thread:

 

I am sure others will give advice on making the reservations you need, which are perfectly valid to travel on with your pass. However it is a regular piece of advice that the IR planner is the last place to base your plans on. It is only updated infrequently and, as you have found out, full of puzzling details. You can rely much more on the operator’s own sites and those of sites covering much of Europe such as OEDD, DBahn and the czech railways site.

 

Here is some useful information from the experienced travellers in the Community regarding both planning, reservations and activation of pass and travel days. 

 Planning

The rail planner is normally not up to date, as it only is updated once a month, so to be sure of the time table you better check the timetable and availability on the websites of the national railways. The bigger national railways, like DB (Germany) SBB (Switzerland) and ÖBB (Austria) cover several countries. 

 Reservations 

The advice from the experienced travellers in the community is to use other ways to make reservations than the Interrail/Eurail website.  You can look at the guide in the link:

https://community.eurail.com/train-connections-reservations-47/how-to-get-reservations-105

If you, after having looked at the guide, have questions about how to make specific reservation, please give your travel details (departure date, time and route) preferably in a new topic, and you will get advice.

Please note that Interrail/Eurail charges an extra fee of 2 EUR per person and train in addition to the fee for the seat reservation.

 Activation of pass

During the activation process you choose the start day of the validity of the pass. Once the validity has started it can't be changed even if you haven't travelled. The advice is therefore to wait with activating the pass and starting the validity until the first day of your travel as you only can deactivate the pass no later than 23.59 CET on the day before the validity starts. If your travel plans change in the last moment you can't deactivate the pass and change the validity. 

It can be wise to make a test and activate the pass with a start date well in the future and then deactivate the pass immediately, just to see that everything works.

 Activation of travel day

The advice from the experienced travellers in the community is also never to activate a travel day, that is connect a journey to your pass and create the ticket (QR code), until just before boarding the train, otherwise you might loose a travel day if your travel plans change in a late stage  You can't delete a travel day in the past. A travel day can only be deleted until 23.59 CET the day before the travel day.

No solution for the following routes:
- February 13: Copenhagen -> Goteborg (initially present in the search engine for departure at 9:27 am and arrival at 1:20 pm)

No possibility either through the website of the train company: www.sj.se
- February 15: Oslo -> Bodo (initially present in the search engine for departure 14h02 and arrival 9h05 the next day

I see all these trains in the interrail app and respectively on SJ.se and VY.no. The trip you mention on the 15th is actually composed of two trains:

14:02 Oslo - 20:53 Trondheim + 23:05 Trondheim - 09:05 Bodø

Both with compulsory reservation, both appearing in the interrail and on vy.no. If SNCF doesn't sell reservations, there are instructions on reserving through Entur by phone here: https://www.interrail.eu/en/plan-your-trip/tips-and-tricks/trains-europe/trains-country/trains-norway As VY.no still offers these trains on their website they should be available.

If looking from Oslo to Bodø, you should see a 16:02 departure. That one involves an 11 minute connection in Trondheim to the same 23:05 night train to Bodø. That's quite tight, so it might indeed be wiser to take the 14:02.

No solution for the following routes:
- February 13: Copenhagen -> Goteborg (initially present in the search engine for departure at 9:27 am and arrival at 1:20 pm)

No possibility either through the website of the train company: www.sj.se
- February 15: Oslo -> Bodo (initially present in the search engine for departure 14h02 and arrival 9h05 the next day

I see all these trains in the interrail app and respectively on SJ.se and VY.no. The trip you mention on the 15th is actually composed of two trains:

14:02 Oslo - 20:53 Trondheim + 23:05 Trondheim - 09:05 Bodø

Both with compulsory reservation, both appearing in the interrail and on vy.no. If SNCF doesn't sell reservations, there are instructions on reserving through Entur by phone here: https://www.interrail.eu/en/plan-your-trip/tips-and-tricks/trains-europe/trains-country/trains-norway As VY.no still offers these trains on their website they should be available.

If looking from Oslo to Bodø, you should see a 16:02 departure. That one involves an 11 minute connection in Trondheim to the same 23:05 night train to Bodø. That's quite tight, so it might indeed be wiser to take the 14:02.

Thanks for your answer, is it possible to book via Entur and have no fee given that I paid for the interrail global pass ?

Thanks for your answer, is it possible to book via Entur and have no fee given that I paid for the interrail global pass ?

Your global pass is your ticket but you have to pay the seat reservation fee, unless you have a 1st class pass, then the reservation is free in Norway if you make the reservation through Entur.

Thanks for your answer, is it possible to book via Entur and have no fee given that I paid for the interrail global pass ?

Your global pass is your ticket but you have to pay the seat reservation fee, unless you have a 1st class pass, then the reservation is free in Norway if you make the reservation through Entur.

How can I only pay seat reservation fee without the ticket price ? Only by making a phone call to Entur ?

This is the information about reservations in Norway given by Interrail.

https://www.interrail.eu/en/plan-your-trip/tips-and-tricks/trains-europe/trains-country/trains-norway

 

How can I only pay seat reservation fee without the ticket price ? Only by making a phone call to Entur ?

They're usually very helpful at Entur.

SNCF can also sell Norwegian reservations at their ticket offices, so if you live near one, you can also try that.

  • Copenhagen - Göteborg: reservations are not needed on the hourly regional train. You can book reservations for some coaches via either DSB or SJ but IMO that's a waste of money.
    Please note that on your travel date, there seem to be engineering works going on, with trains only starting at Copenhagen Airport.

I was wrong. Apparently, Øresundståg have sent incomplete data to the European Timetable Centre. Check Copenhagen - Göteborg timetables on www.oresundstag.se.

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