Be aware that the cross-border TGV to Switzerland has an expensive seat reservation fee (37€ 2nd class). This can be lowered by taking the same TGV to the last stop in France (10€) and then cross the border by regional train. Doesn't take a lot more time, around 30 min or sometimes it simply lowers the waiting time in Basel.

Interrail/Eurail has a 2€ booking fee per person per train, there are often better alternatives.

tickets.oebb.at sells seat reservations for Italy, Austria, Germany and Eastern Europe incl. the cross-border EC to Italy without booking fee

The Italian summer timetable hasn't been entirely published yet, that's surely why it doesn't work. 

Please specify per train you'd like to book: route, date, departure time.

My plan is: 

7 day pass with 3 travellers. 1 adult, 1 youth, 1 child 

06/30 London to Cambridge (not sure if I need to reserve seats)

07/01 London to Oxford ( not sure if I need to reserve seats)

07/02 Eurostar London to Paris. Seats Reserved.

07/05 Paris to Interlaken (The France leg doesn’t let me proceed the payment online, Switzerland doesn’t require)

07/06 Interlaken to Venice or Interlaken to Milan (the Italy leg didn’t let me proceed the payment, the overnight jet to Venice didn’t show how to reserve)

07/07 Milan to Rome( the Italy legs didn’t let me proceed the payment)

Seems to me no France and Italy legs could be reserved on Eurail website.

Funny that I got the global pass because I wanted to save time from exploring each country’s rail website, and now since the Eurail can’t do half of my trip reservations (an error without details), I am not sure how to use the pass the best. Thanks 

See my post above. Trenitalia hasn't published its summer timetable yet so it's not possible to book.

Seats in the UK can be done for free at gwr.com (reservations are optional). You're too early though, it's usually possible 60 days in advance.

Don't know why it doesn't work in France. Which TGV are you looking at ? For domestic journeys you can use https://travel.b-europe.com/Eurail-GE/en/booking-tgv#TravelWish (4€ booking fee per order)

Thank you! I will try and update here. Glad you said I was too early. Lol.

Thanks thibcabe for the tip.

I’ve tried it for a Basel-Milano trip on the EC 57 on May 6, but it tells me “Ticket not available”, whereas it is available on the Interrrail reservation system (with a booking fee).

Same issue on a Frecciarossa from Milano to Firenze, same day.

On tickets.oebb.at, you need to add the Interrail/Eurail discount for each person and then use "One-way tickets and day tickets”. Do NOT use "Seat reservation only”, because that doesn't work for trains in/to Italy.

Thanks rvdborgt, indeed I had tried “Seat reservation only”.

Using “One-way tickets and day tickets” works fine, both for my Basel-Milano and Milano-Firenze trip sections.

As regards France, OEBB doesn’t seem to sell reservations. The only way I have found to avoid the Interrail fee is from a vending machine in France (where I live), as it doesn’t seem possible on sncf-connect.com. Do you confirm?

Yes it's not possible on tickets.oebb.at

You can use this site : https://travel.b-europe.com/Eurail-GE/en/booking-tgv#TravelWish (4€ booking fee per order, no matter how many trains or people)

Otherwise visit your local train station and SNCF should give you the seat reservations to leave and reenter the country for free as you live there. At least they offer this but then does staff know ?

Correct. SNCF removed the possibility to buy pass reservations from their website and app about 2 years ago. No booking fees at SNCF ticket machines and ticket offices or when booking by phone. For your outbound and inbound journey, reservations should be free of charge when you buy them through SNCF (possibly only domestic reservations) but it seems very few ticket office staff know about this.

OK, I’ll inquire with my local ticket office, but FYI on the vending machines a domestic reservation for TGVs costs 10€.

Hi all,

A couple of days ago I made a reservation on OEBB for a Switzerland-Italy EC train.

Unfortunately I made a mistake and made the reservation for the following day, instead of one week later. When I realized it, I tried to modify or cancel it, but on the OEBB website it said my ticket could not be cancelled, so I lost 13€ 

Is this a general rule for such reservations?

Does the 2€ reservation fee charged by Interrail (for reservations made through them) allow more flexibility?

As a general rule the terms and conditions on cancellations and exchanges are dictated by the operating company so check their T&Cs if you can reserve. I believe that route is operated by OEBB.

Again I don’t think Booking agents inc Eurail/Interrail get any better T&Cs but they may add their own T&Cs with their policy on fees etc.

You may find an exchange may be possible if you have made a genuine mistake.