Skip to main content
Solved

EuroCity seat reservation not available

Hi all,

Recently purchased the Eurail Pass and can’t wait to visit Europe at the end of this month. I have added the mobile pass to m phone and got the trip set up, the QR codes even shows up already and all the travel day has been used. However, I have few confusions:

  1. There are few trips that requires seat reservation, one of them is for the trip from Switzerland to Milan using EuroCity train. Went through the OBB ticket site, the trip seems to exist but it said that the ticket is unavailable, what does this mean exactly? No more seat left? Or it’s just that it’s not available online? Do I have to book directly at the station?
  2. What happens if till the end I didn’t manage to book a reservation? Will I still be able to hop on the train and just sit randomly or will I not be allowed to board at all.

Thanks and hopefully this is not a duplicated question.

11 replies

ralderton
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

You can book these on the ÖBB site. Add the discount where it says 1 Adult, and then search for ‘one way tickets and day tickets’. Does that work?

You can also buy the supplement on board, I think, but it’s more expensive.

Also, most people advise that you don’t activate all the trips in advance, in case your plans change. Once it hits midnight, your travel day becomes used, and you can’t change your plans any more.

R
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +9

You can also buy the supplement on board, I think, but it’s more expensive.

Yes, the on-board additional supplement is around €10 I believe.

Also, most people advise that you don’t activate all the trips in advance, in case your plans change. Once it hits midnight, your travel day becomes used, and you can’t change your plans any more.

Well, you can always change your trains but you can't deactivate the travel day anymore.

Please ask questions in the community and not via a private message. That's the quickest way to get a response. I don't work for Eurail/Interrail.
Faiyah

You can book these on the ÖBB site. Add the discount where it says 1 Adult, and then search for ‘one way tickets and day tickets’. Does that work?

You can also buy the supplement on board, I think, but it’s more expensive.

Also, most people advise that you don’t activate all the trips in advance, in case your plans change. Once it hits midnight, your travel day becomes used, and you can’t change your plans any more.

 

Thanks for the reply. I tried ‘one way tickets and day tickets’ and it still says ‘Tickets not available’, I’m aiming for the one departing at 07:44.

 

And noted on the trip activation, thanks for sharing that.

ralderton
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Hmm. There is availability on the 1244, so the method is correct.

It may be that the 0744 has sold out of passholder supplements, but I didn’t think they were quota-limited? Or it may be that it’s trying to make a seat reservation at the same time, and can’t do that.

It’s not a compulsory reservation train [Edit: yes it is, see below], so I think you can still just turn up and buy the supplement at the higher price onboard. In the mean time, check again later.

R
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +9

The 7:44 departure is fully booked according to Trenitalia.com.

The 8:44 departure is fully booked in 2nd class, still has a few seats available in 1st, but no pass holder reservations (there's a limited quota). If you have a pass for 1st class, you could book a reservation in 1st class from Domodossola, since it's only mandatory from that station and within Italy, there's no limited pass holder quota.

Other than that, you can change in Domodossola to a regional train:

 

Please ask questions in the community and not via a private message. That's the quickest way to get a response. I don't work for Eurail/Interrail.
R
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +9

It’s not a compulsory reservation train, so I think you can still just turn up and buy the supplement at the higher price onboard. In the mean time, check again later.

Reservations in the EC are compulsory from Domodossola.

Please ask questions in the community and not via a private message. That's the quickest way to get a response. I don't work for Eurail/Interrail.
Faiyah

The 7:44 departure is fully booked according to Trenitalia.com.

The 8:44 departure is fully booked in 2nd class, still has a few seats available in 1st, but no pass holder reservations (there's a limited quota). If you have a pass for 1st class, you could book a reservation in 1st class from Domodossola, since it's only mandatory from that station and within Italy, there's no limited pass holder quota.

Other than that, you can change in Domodossola to a regional train:

 

Thanks for the reply, so I see that the train from Brig to Domodossola is also using the same EC35 train, how do I get on that then since it also require seat reservation? Btw I only have 2nd class pass 😥.

 

 

Faiyah

 

Also I found this in thetrainline.com, wondering if this actually can be used and legit?

BrendanDB
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +7

As @rvdborgt said, the reservations are only compulsory FROM Domodossola, to the rest of Italy on EC, IC, and Frecce trains.

In Switzerland this EC has no compulsory reservations, and has free seating with optional reservations. You can easily avoid it, by switching trains in Domodossola, and taking a regional train to Milan. It’s not even that slower than the EC.

If you don’t fancy a train that’s probably going to be quite full, there are also regional trains from Brig to Domodosola, if I’m not mistaken (IR/RE) not needing the supplement .

EDIT: Double checked, and I see less trains between Brig and Domodossola than usual. Maybe there are engineering works, limiting trains that day. Not uncommon in the easter period.

Best check timetables on the https://www.sbb.ch/en website. You can tweak the search by de-selecting EC/IC trains for that bit, under “advanced” search.

But still possible to do it entirely by reservation/surcharge free regional trains on that day (10/04):

Note you can also check the expected amount of travellers on that train via sbb:

 

 

T
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +5

@BrendanDB I can see the same trains as usual on the SBB app (I believe).

@Faiyah You could take the EC at 07:44 as it is indeed reservation-free until Domodossola. But it will be busy and you might have to stand.

I'd really take the RE train as advised by @BrendanDB

Faiyah

@rvdborgt @thibcabe @BrendanDB @ralderton I understand now, thank you very much for the explanation!

Reply


Terms and Conditions & Privacy PolicyCookie settings