Hello. Back ion 4th March I bought 4 passes for my husband and myself; we live in the UK. We used two recently (although technically this is still valid until 10th August although it says ‘expired’ and we have used the two outward/inward home journeys so can’t re-use) and so for us, that trip is completed but want to use the next two in September. I am trying to book seat reservations via Eurorail page and it says ‘Some of your passes are not valid on this date’. I have activated the second passes to start on 22 September and I am trying to book for 23rd September. Is the system still seeing the old pass and I will have to wait until it disappears from the system after the 10th August,to book reservations? The two trips have two different names on ‘My trip’ on the App but on the reservations page it is simply shown as a generic ‘My Interrail trip’ and realtes to those bought on 4th March. Any help gratefully received. I thought I had finally mastered the reservations problem having done interrailing for a few years now, but apparently not! Any help gratefully received. Thank you.
I am trying to book seat reservations but it says pass not valid for the date
Best answer by AnnaB
As there now is a link between the Trips in the Railplanner app and the Trips in your Interrail account, you should create a Trip in your Interrail account with the same name as the Trip for the September travel in your Railplanner app. That should hopefully solve your problem.
As there now is a link between the Trips in the Railplanner app and the Trips in your Interrail account, you should create a Trip in your Interrail account with the same name as the Trip for the September travel in your Railplanner app. That should hopefully solve your problem.
AnnaB. Thank you so much!! It has worked. :o) I hadn’t realised there would be a difference. I guess the issue hadn’t cropped up before. Thank you.
I now have to worry about trying to book reservations for the Spanish part of the trip but it looks like you can’t until 3 days beforehand and RailEurope says you have to reserve the seat at the station! However, now that the eurail booking on the app now works it looks like I am able to do it now which is great. I am very confused though.
You can book Spanish reservations in advance by phone, but you need to pick them up within 72 hours after making the reservation, but not later than 24 hours before the departure of the train.
Which trains do you want to buy? Most AVEs and some other trains are (fortunately!) available on interrail.eu.
Otherwise you'll have to call/try your luck at the first Spanish station you encounter. Availability in September should be fine.
Ah RENFE...
Thank you both. Such useful information. I want the AVE from Barcelona Sants to Madrid and I can now see it on interrail.eu now that my trip bames are in sync. I just couldn't quite believe my luck having read previous comments about Spanish trains. So just checking please, if I reserve a seat via interrail.eu and print it out, that is all i need to do? Nothing extra to pick-up at the station? If so, then I can do most of what I need horray!!
Final query please. We are getting the train from Paris to Barcelona that gets in at about 16.35. Am I being very optimistic in reserving the 17.25 train to go on to Madrid? Does the Paris train usually get in on time or should I get the Madrid train an hour later at 18.25 just in case? Would prefer the earlier one though.
Many thanks both.
Yes that would be it. Fortunately Barcelona - Madrid is one of the connections available online.
TGVs are usually on time. I'd be confident with a 50 min connection.
Trying to reserve seats on Eurostar London to Brussels on Monday 10 march 2025 ( have also tried 11 March) but message says passes not valid.
+8Trying to reserve seats on Eurostar London to Brussels on Monday 10 march 2025 ( have also tried 11 March) but message says passes not valid.
Where are you searching?
There’s plenty of availability on the 10th.
Try raileurope.com, and add your railpass in the search box. You should see plenty of pass availability for €30.
Trying to reserve seats on Eurostar London to Brussels on Monday 10 march 2025 ( have also tried 11 March) but message says passes not valid.
Do you have a global pass?
In any case, don't book Eurostar reservations via Interrail.
Thanks but I feel like saying “hang on a minute, I’ve got a eurail pass, why can’t I trust the one eurail website?” But that may seem rude. Frankly, having never done this before, I’m disappointed and frustrated and wonder Whether it’s all a waste of money.
+8Thanks but I feel like saying “hang on a minute, I’ve got a eurail pass, why can’t I trust the one eurail website?” But that may seem rude. Frankly, having never done this before, I’m disappointed and frustrated and wonder Whether it’s all a waste of money.
It’s a reasonable question! The Eurail & Interrail site & app are improving all the time, but it’s still not the one-stop-shop that many people would like it to be.
In the mean time, the best approach is to ignore the site as much as possible once you’ve bought your pass! (I know that sounds odd). Do your timetable searches at Bahn.com, or on the website of the operator of your train.
And get advice on reservations by checking the detailed info at Seat61, or asking one of the regulars for advice on here. (Best to start a new thread if you have other questions.)
Thanks but I feel like saying “hang on a minute, I’ve got a eurail pass, why can’t I trust the one eurail website?”
Eurail timetables have never been reliable, especially in the app. Please always check with the operators themselves or on bahn.com for international journeys. Reservations can be done via Eurail but you'll almost always pay more than elsewhere (with no options to select your seat or even give e preference). In some cases, you pay a lot more.
So, at the risk of being rude again, the eurail site is misselling! They tell us their site and app do all we need. It’s not
me, their customer, expecting more than they can cope with!! I believed they were honest.
Never mind, I’m so glad I asked the question because you have both given such clear and helpful replies. Still very excited about our trip. THANKS SO MUCH
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