There are no checks on boarding here in DE=Germany. PLus that the current ultra-cheap offer of the 9€ tickets for the whole month(yes, I have one and am now travelling on it, and have 2 days left on an INterRailpass too) makes the NON-REServed train sometimes so full that police has to come to drive people out. It remains to be seen how this ticket will influence pax on IC/ICE.
Yesterday there was a big derailment that blocked a few major lines for most of the day. This afternoon there was a very tragic accident in Bayern where a double-deck train (also local/RE) jumped from the tracks- 4 persons killed as far as news here tells.
The major problem with DB/ICE in normal times is the enormous amount of delays, which makes most connections pure fiction. IF a train becomes too full there is often an offer for immediate money coupon-for 20/30€ or so-poor InterRailers may even want to bet on that (it brings more as collecting bottles for the 25 ct deposit on them).
But as such it is indeed easy and not overly expensive to make an online REServ-the add-on is also you then get continuous mails about how much the delay is etc. IF you can preplan and make an account on bahn.com, you can apply for a free BahnBonus Card (=NOT a BahnCard), with which you can collect points to gain free trips etc. These fees also count for that.
For a seat on the Overnight IC, joined as seat-only to the NightJet trains-cannot do on bahn.de, can do via oebb.at, but this is often not shown as usual on the displays on seats=you get trouble convincing the people who sit on your allocated place.
But as such it is indeed easy and not overly expensive to make an online REServ-the add-on is also you then get continuous mails about how much the delay is etc. IF you can preplan and make an account on bahn.com, you can apply for a free BahnBonus Card (=NOT a BahnCard), with which you can collect points to gain free trips etc. These fees also count for that.
No they don't. No points for reservations.