Disappointing Black Friday Sale - is this it for the year?

Black Friday is something very American. It’s only since a year of 3-4 this gained a bit of traction in Europe, and it’s probably a whole lot less impressive as in the States.

In calmer periods of the year, February - March there are sometimes nice actions. A little discount (10 or 20%), I remember a period when 1st class passes were the same as 2nd class passes, we already had the 50% discount with the Interrail jubilee this year…

All these action are not bound to a specific period like Christmas. They appear when they appear.

Europe as a whole goes to a rough economic period, high inflation (much higher than in the States) ridiculously high energy prices so there’s not much extra budget for empressive actions this year I guess.

There are often sales around December and March, with a 10% and sometimes a 15% discount. They normally include all passes. Subscribe to the Eurail newsletter to stay updated.

There is a specific failbook page for that-and it was mentioned that like between Xms+NwYr there would be a 10% off about near all passes sale-and also for valid 11 month-not just wintertime. Do the math yourself what works out best-maybe its even buying this SNCF one or other discount card if its for in this hexagone with its strike-prone social movement workers,

Do you really think they would suddenly change this promotion becse someone from far away says s/he is a little bit disappointed?

Any unmet expectation is a disappointment.  Was hoping for a sale and did not receive it.  Not judging…

In many companies sales and promotions are budgeted to the marketing department, whose role is to achieve sales targets at least cost.

Since the last 6 months have been a record sales period for Interrail, and next Spring and Summer should be no different, it is no surprise to me the “Black Friday” offer is focussed on a winter offer for dedicated “backpacker” Interrailers - I doubt they planned on selling many continuous passes in the Winter/early Spring, so giving 20% off is a cheap way of bringing in a bit of extra business.
 

I suspect many of these “Black Friday” passes will sell to seniors who were planning a Springtime saunter around Europe since the cost of the 15 day continuous pass is now not much more than the 5 and 7 day fixed passes. This will allow them to do their planning without worrying about balancing travel days. It would be like my bus pass - hop  on and off at will on any day, even if it is just to the next town down the line. 

Senior 15 day pass in sale 319/425

5 in 1 month 254/338

7 in 1 month 302/401.

The other potential buyer is the mileage junkie - how many train miles(or Km) can you do in 15 days? 7000 miles or 10000 Km should be easily achievable. Anybody for Finland to Sicily? or Holyhead to Athens or Istanbul?

As written before there was a 50% sale this year and Interrail also needs to earn some money to satisfy the participating railway companies. The 3 month standard pass for 900€ is already a good deal, there will be Maximum a 10% discount by the end of the year and prices likely go up by several % by 01.01.2023 as the prices haven’t been increased for maybe 2 years (?) - at least for the 3 month pass.

So you will Maximum Save around 90€… but from 1st January price might be higher, so it will still pay off and if you think because of 90€ about buying it or not, then I don’t know… French train prices are high and also restaurants, hotels, hostels aren’t cheap there… so probably better rethink your travelplans for a cheaper destination 😂

50% was only for Interrail, Eurail users got nothing or not so high discount.