Skip to main content

You can now book pass reservations on www.raileurope.com. You have to add a rail pass, which will then be applied to all passengers in the group, and at check-out, you need to supply a pass number.

I did a test for Italy (Frecciarossa Milan-Rome) and there don't seem to be any extra booking fees. And you can select a seat for €2 extra, like on the Trenitalia website.

No luck for Spain yet. It will be interesting to see if it can book anything that can't be booked online elsewhere.

I've done some quick tests. I'll update this post if I find out more.

Working reservations

SNCF:

  • Domestic TGV/Intercité
  • TGV Brussels-France
  • TGV/ICE France-Germany (incl. to Offenburg/Freiburg)
  • TGV France-Switzerland (TGV Lyria)
  • TGV France-Barcelona
  • TGV France-Luxembourg
  • TGV France-Italy
  • Domestic night trains
  • TER in/from/to Normandy (the only online method AFAIK)

Trenitalia:

  • IC/Frecce (seat selection for an extra €2)
  • EC Italy-Switzerland (also works from Chiasso, which is cheaper than from further north)
  • ICN (domestic night trains), but you always have to book a complete compartment for sleeper and couchette, although a single couchette berth should also be bookable.

Eurostar:

  • London routes
  • Continental routes (ex-Thalys)

Not (yet?) working

  • Nightjet
  • Any ÖBB/DB/DSB/etc. optional reservations. They're indicated as free of charge (in both classes) but you can't click Continue to actually book them.
  • EC/RJ Austria-Italy
  • Germany-Poland
  • AVE France-Spain
  • Spain
  • Portugal
  • Poland
  • Croatia

The old reliable I11111111 works.


The Raileurope website accepts both mobile pass numbers and paper pass cover numbers. It validates them and rejects my old mobile pass numbers, but the numbers of my new and unused passes are deemed valid. It's less picky about paper pass cover numbers, but still validates them and accepts some and not others.


I’m unable to search on mobile (iOS, Safari or Chrome), Anyone else?

Works find on Safari in Mac.

App and mobile site do not have the pass option, only the desktop version of the website.


Including Frecciarossa in France (I think only running Paris-Lyon at the moment, but I guess the cross-border reservations will available when the full route reopens).

Passes are not valid there.

Also the ICE France-Germany.

Correct, added.


There are some oddities showing up, for example on Frecce it only offers selection for seats in the small Silent Area or the Business Lounge for 1st class, not the larger regular Business section.

It looks like they've changed it to regular Business.

They still have a bug for booking a sleeper. They will only show sleepers if you indicate a 1st class pass, but Trenitalia don't have such a requirement.


I’m unable to search on mobile (iOS, Safari or Chrome), Anyone else?

Works find on Safari in Mac.


SNCF:

  • TGV France-Germany (incl. to Offenburg/Freiburg)
  • TGV France-Italy

Trenitalia:

  • IC/Frecce (seat selection for an extra €2)

Including Frecciarossa in France (I think only running Paris-Lyon at the moment, but I guess the cross-border reservations will available when the full route reopens).

Also the ICE France-Germany.

 


There are some oddities showing up, for example on Frecce it only offers selection for seats in the small Silent Area or the Business Lounge for 1st class, not the larger regular Business section.


They still have a bug for booking a sleeper. They will only show sleepers if you indicate a 1st class pass, but Trenitalia don't have such a requirement.

The Trenitalia tariff does show all sleeper categories as 1st class. Here's the relevant page:

 


They still have a bug for booking a sleeper. They will only show sleepers if you indicate a 1st class pass, but Trenitalia don't have such a requirement.

The Trenitalia tariff does show all sleeper categories as 1st class. Here's the relevant page:

Thanks for finding that. I had been looking in the text of the conditions, not in the price tables.

Remarkable that they even want 1st class for T3. AFAIK this class was specifically created to allow passengers with 2nd class tickets to use a sleeper. This was not enforced when we used it in Italy 1.5 years ago. Seat61 says 2nd class is enough on all routes for a T3, Also Italiarail will (still?) let you book sleepers (Double and T3) with 2nd class, so I wonder if this is maybe a fairly recent change.


They still have a bug for booking a sleeper. They will only show sleepers if you indicate a 1st class pass, but Trenitalia don't have such a requirement.

The Trenitalia tariff does show all sleeper categories as 1st class. Here's the relevant page:

Thanks for finding that. I had been looking in the text of the conditions, not in the price tables.

Remarkable that they even want 1st class for T3. AFAIK this class was specifically created to allow passengers with 2nd class tickets to use a sleeper. This was not enforced when we used it in Italy 1.5 years ago. Seat61 says 2nd class is enough on all routes for a T3, Also Italiarail will (still?) let you book sleepers (Double and T3) with 2nd class, so I wonder if this is maybe a fairly recent change.

Yes, it did change last year. Before it's been 2nd class for t3 and 1st class for Double and Single (same prices).


Reply