The pass is entirely separate from any reservations.

It is best for the passes to be on individual phones if there is any chance you will be travelling separately at any point.

You can copy the trip you make on one device to another but any subsequent changes will have to be added to both separately.

One person can add both pass details to their interrail website account in order to book 2 seats from there, these do not show up on the app/pass you carry and show them as well.

There are many other sources for reservations that can also be used to book seats, this thread details some of the best resources for reservations.

Thank you!

I will look at the reservations using your link.

Do we need to activate our pass first before we can add the various train journeys? I have all the journeys saved in My Trip but I haven’t yet activated my pass (I’ve only added it to the app), so assuming once I activate I will be able to add them?

I don’t want to do the seat reservations until I am sure of which trains I have booked.

Seems to me you confuse now booking and RES. As said-these are wholly separate. Booking for most means making a RES-hence the confusion. Simply registering the intended trips in the app/tripreport is always needed, is for the many trains without any RES even your sole ticket to show and as such can be adjusted, changed, deleted at will till you even sit in that train. But traveldays once activated cannot be undone anymore if that day has arrived.

It is strongly advised here to wait with activating till you are standing in front of the train and sees that it will run-you did not fall sick, there is no strike or cancellation and it is indeed the train you want. Whereas as such this may be a bit overdone, it does have sound grounds, seeing the many complaints etc on this forum.

Thanks for the reply. I’m not sure that quite answers my question,’

I have added the trips I wish to take into My Trip. Some require seat reservations and some don’t. I understand I need to purchase the seat reservation separately. That is not my issue.

From videos I have seen when you add the journey from the Planner to My Trip and then press view, you will see a list of all your journeys. On the right hand side of the screen there seems to be a button, and you select that, it changes to yellow and the ticket is added to your Pass.

I don’t have this button on the right and am wondering if I need to activate the pass (in My Pass) for this to appear? When I go to My Pass it says Not Ready For Travel, Step 2/3 Trip connected and Next: Activate this Pass.

I am travelling in April and am happy to prebook my trains, just not sure if I activate the Pass now (using my first travel day as my activation day) is what I should be doing.

Thanks to anyone who can help!

You should not activate your pass until just before boarding the first train of your travel.  Please read more about that below. 

Once you have activated the pass you will see the button that makes it possible to connect the journey to your pass.

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 

Thank you for your reply.

The questions I really can’t seem to get an answer to anywhere are these:

How will I know if I will be able to use the journey I have selected if I don’t have a ticket until just before boarding? And what if I have booked and paid for a seat reservation but only add the ticket to the pass on the day and the train is full?

I’m sorry if these seem like dumb questions but the whole process is really unclear to me,

You will always be able to create a ticket (OR code) in the app for a certain train. There is no link from the app that checks actual availability on the train.

For trains with mandatory seat reservation you, in addition to the QR code, need a reservation to be allowed to travel with the train.

For trains with optional reservation you might want to make a reservation, if you will travel on a train with high demand, to be sure that you get a seat. Otherwise you just find an empty seat that isn't reserved and show the QR code to the ticket inspector. 

When you travel on trains where reservations not are possible, you just show the QR code.

If you share your travel plans with the Community you will get advice regarding which reservations you need.

OK I think it is clearer now! 

Last questions hopefully!

I will book the seat reservations for those journeys that require one - can you confirm that this guarantees me a seat on that particular train, even though I don’t generate the actual ticket until the day? I’m concerned as some of the trains I have looked at are already sold out.

And finally, if my plans are pretty set, could i activate the pass now and set the validity to the first day of travel and connect my journeys to the pass?

Thanks

I will book the seat reservations for those journeys that require one - can you confirm that this guarantees me a seat on that particular train, even though I don’t generate the actual ticket until the day? I’m concerned as some of the trains I have looked at are already sold out.

Yes, this is the meaning of the word reservation. A reservation guarantees you a seat, but it is not a Ticket. Your Ticket is the Eurail Pass with the QR-Code. And you can generate your ticket also some minutes before departure. A ticket does not guarantee a seat, but only that you have payed for the transport. 

And finally, if my plans are pretty set, could i activate the pass now and set the validity to the first day of travel and connect my journeys to the pass?

Yes you can, but we don’t recommend it. It happens to often, than something will not work and you use a travel day not travelling due to strikes, cancellation and so on. 

You can, but it is not recommended.

We have seen travellers loosing travel days because they have activated the pass in advance and then for some reason, like train strike or illness, they can't travel as planned.

But it is up to you if you decide to activate the pass in advance or not.