The interrail app runs offline on timetables downloaded infrequently, it cannot be relied upon to be accurate.

The primary source of up to date timetables will always be the local operator of the trains, a good central source for many countries are the planners of German operator bahn.com and Austrian oebb.at

If you want more specific answers then give information about what, when, where.

Ok that makes sense. When I try to book through oebb, its only got reservations for particular sections of the journey, not the whole journey! How do I combat that?

Not all trains can be reserved.

In general, as a rough guide:

High Speed and Inter City trains are either compulsory reservation or reservation possible but not required, this depends on the operator and train type.

Regional, local and commuter trains do not allow seat reservations.

Without being specific about routes and times it is not possible to know if what you are getting shown by a website is correct or not.

For passholder reservations through oebb adding in your discount: Interrail/Eurail and searching for tickets NOT seat only is the procedure for many routes.

You can also look here to know where reservations can be done, avoiding interrail.eu/eurail.com

@ssabine If you post a screen shot of the results you get when your try to make a reservation through ÖBB you will get better advice. 

so this is an example - im not searching seats only. this is the train i want to get but i cant seem to get a ticket for the whole journey?

so this is an example - im not searching seats only. this is the train i want to get but i cant seem to get a ticket for the whole journey?

@Angelo Do you know why it looks like this?

Italian trains via ÖBB can be booked only one by one and not all together.

P.S. choose a Frecciarossa to Milano Centrale without changes to only pay one time 10€ and not 2 times. Where will you start the journey?

We start in venice! SO are you saying I book a train from venice to milan, then from milan to lausanne? Will they still be covered by my eurail pass?

On another note, if my other days of travel allow me to book seat passes for the trains I want to take through the eurail site, is that a safe option?

Thank you for all your advice!

Please be aware that Eurail charges an extra 2 EUR per person and train if you make the reservation through them. The site is safe, but sometimes reservations aren't made even though money is paid. In those cases the money is eventually paid back. 

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 

There is even an direct service Venice-Lousanne, but in the afternoon/evening.

For the morning choose a FR/FA train from Venezia to Milan Centrale (direct) and then Milan to Lousanne.

You can also avoid reservations completly if you want, but have to change more times and it is a bit slower.

On the app you have only to add the train to use the travelday and get the QR-Code of the Pass to show it to the staff on the train. Reservations are completly seperate from it, you have also by eurail.com/interrail.eu to print or download the reservation.

Thank you so much! I think I understand now… But I’ll post again if I have more enquiries! You have all been so helpful!

OK hopefully this is my last question. Taking your guys advice, i can book for seat reservations from rome to venice and then from venice to lausanne using oebb, but one of my other days im going from lausanne to paris, preferably by TGV lyria. I cant seem to find a train company that takes has our eurail passes as a discount. Ive tried SNCF, SBB but neither of them have the eurail pass as a discount/pass option. Why is this? theyre both mentioned as partners to eurail. What other trainlines should I try? oebb has ‘tickets unavailable’ for this journey. 

Many (most) operators do not provide online booking for seat only/passholders.

@Angelo provided a link to a topic that has details of most of the accumulated knowledge of the experts on here, you should read this for reservation guidance.

As for TGV Lyria, It can be booked via Interrail reservation service, but be aware it is ridiculously expensive for passholder reservations, the usual advice is to use local trains to France and get TGV from there.

Ok - thank you so much! I think for that trip, lausanne to paris, ill just book reservations via interrail.

I hope that you are aware that the reservation cost for the TGV from Lausanne to Paris is extremely high. If you take a regional train from Lausanne via Geneva and into France and then catch the TGV to Paris it will be much cheaper.

Just a small addition to the excellent advice above:

It can help once you have a routing for a complex journey (one with more than one train), then check the various legs for more options or a combination more suited to your needs e.g. an extended stay in the stations where you change trains.

This is because planners are a bit like Sat Navs - they calculate what they think is the best combination from A to B, as shown in your screenshot of the oebb planner. Often, as several of the posts indicate there are options outside that one routing better suited to your needs.

The big advantage of Eurail global passes is that they add trains one by one from your trip to your pass so you can be totally flexible on the trains you actually add to your pass and eventually travel on.

Although your pass seems complex in operation it is fundamentally like a UK bus pass - you can get on any bus and your pass is your ticket. The only difference in the UK is you simply scan your pass on entry to the bus as a ticket. With your Eurail pass you must add the train details to your pass before boarding to create a virtual ticket, but these planned trains can be changed at any time without problem. 

Even if you have a reservation, which is of course never linked to your pass, if you decide to change your plans you simply remove the train from your trip and choose another. Your reservation is not a ticket, it is simply a seat reservation that complements your ticket (pass).

I've made an overview where you can book TGV Lyria reservations this weekend. So check it out.

If you have further questions you are welcome to ask.