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Bernere Oberlander Bahnen discount

  • 20 September 2022
  • 5 replies
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Hi, 

I am already on the road and two imporant questions came to my mind.

I would like to ask you, how is it with Bernere Oberlander Bahnen. They are on the trails around Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, Grindelwald. It is not in Pass network, but it was written, that I will get a 25 % discount from the ticket. But I wrote an email directly someone from that railcompany and they responded, that I have to buy Swiss travel pass or swiss half fare pass to habe reduction from the ticket price. That Interrail pass is not a pass to get a reduction. I read one topic about that region in forum here and there was something about that the stuff maybe did not know about the pass, but he should accept it. Does it mean, that the stuff who wrote me was wrong? Or how is your recent experience? I do not want to buy other pass, if they did not offer discount, I just will go with these rails only a little bit. 

And the other question is, that it is possible to go with a later train than I have in the pass? For example I will suppose that I will catch the train at 4 pm, but eventuelly I get on a train at 5 pm. And I will not have always time to change the departure time, when I will be in a hurry or I will not have internet connection. I just put all the journeys in the travel day in the morning and before I get on a train, I only add it to the pass. I suppose I cannot be on an earlier train, but on later train, it does not matter, when it is a train without compulsory reservation. This is how it works in the Czech Republic, and I think other rails have it the same. 

Thank you for your reply. 

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Best answer by MartinM 20 September 2022, 06:37

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Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Hmm, could you post this mail from the railway company here? Because AFAIK there is still 25% discount with Interrail… but you can only get it at the station.
With Swiss Travel Pass the BOB is included, with Interrail 25% discount.

About second: I think you can still remove a trip if it changes and add a new one with the correct time (as long as it is on the same day). Otherwise most of the conductors so or so don’t check it too much in detail as long as you have a valid code.

Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Here in the official map of SBB about validity of Interrail (from December 2021) it is also shown with 25% discount: https://www.sbb.ch/content/dam/infrastruktur/trafimage/karten/karte-geltungsbereich-InterRail-EuRail.pdf 
So I believe this discount still exists and there was just a bad informed customer service employee answering your mail… in general I’ve the impression that the staff of BOB/Jungfrau is not very helpful about answering mails.

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

@1. strange. About all railways in Swiss give discounts if they do not accept passes. But you have to buy those at counter anyway-so there they will know. Also note that they offer in that area other ride-at-will passes that may work out cheaper if you travel more often. Plus that even in some places HTLs etc offer free passes for guests. But even with discount the fares will be 3-4 times as much as CD charges for same distance.

@2. CZ and CD is not the norm for all railways-they are also the only ones to give their trains/vlakove such funny (and non-Cesky) names as Shark or Mouse. I really think you are grossly overstating this-you can do it in a few secs-I write it most often (old style paper) just when I found my seat). In some cases it is indeed important to state exact train used-as it may be another company-and this whole burocracy is mostly there so that in the end the railways can get their own share of the takings. But being now on day 38 of a 3-month pass and been in 9 countries: it does differ quite a lot in how strict railways take it-some want to see it all and that it is right-in other cases noone really cares.

Yesterday I passed the Swiss (and stoppen in Luzern), there was just 1 check and this conductor was interested and we had a nice chat about travels and trains.

Userlevel 7
Badge +9

I just put all the journeys in the travel day in the morning and before I get on a train, I only add it to the pass. I suppose I cannot be on an earlier train, but on later train, it does not matter, when it is a train without compulsory reservation. This is how it works in the Czech Republic, and I think other rails have it the same.

It is dangerous to make assumptions about other railways based on just one experience.

With an Interrail pass, you can always change your journeys. Also for the current travel day. You can delete a train you won't take anymore and replace it by anther one, earlier or later. Also in Czechia by the way. The only limitation is trains with compulsory reservations, for which you need to have a reservation of course.

Userlevel 7
Badge +10

I just put all the journeys in the travel day in the morning and before I get on a train, I only add it to the pass. I suppose I cannot be on an earlier train, but on later train, it does not matter, when it is a train without compulsory reservation. This is how it works in the Czech Republic, and I think other rails have it the same.

It is dangerous to make assumptions about other railways based on just one experience.

With an Interrail pass, you can always change your journeys. Also for the current travel day. You can delete a train you won't take anymore and replace it by anther one, earlier or later. Also in Czechia by the way. The only limitation is trains with compulsory reservations, for which you need to have a reservation of course.

Just a reminder, if needed of course, that when you change trains you have to add the details of your new train to your trip and then add to your pass to replace the earlier train. It is an essential part of your ticket to complement the QR code for that day.

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