Problems booking seat reservations Ger-Fra

Tordyveln

Hi! I’ve been trying now for days to book seat reservations for a departure through the interrail.eu site but I am not succeeding. I’ve managed for most legs of our trip but there is one connection which I can’t book (see picture). As it’s a cross-border-train between Germany and France I’ve been in touch with both DB and SNCF. SNCF could see that there were interrail tickets still available but they could not make a booking over the telephone with my Swedish credit card. DB said that it should be possible to book through them via phone, but they did not succeed with that particular departure (however, it would work if we chose a later or earlier version). Do you have any advice on how I could proceed? When searching I see that there is something weird with the 1131-departure for many dates…. What we need is 4 seat reservation Karlsruhe to Paris  Est 1131-1405, Saturday June 18th. Does anyone have any advise?

Tordyveln

13 replies

M
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Perhaps its too early? Often only from 3 month advance. I have till now not often seen reports that DB cannot take cr-cds from SE-or is it maybe such a brand new virtual etc thing (but I think they can even take revolut)-this will often lead to many probs when you are out of bonusland Svenska.

YOu can save money+trouble and loose time to NOT use these TGV over the border-but only IN FR=which thus means you have to use earlier, regional toger fra KA till Strasbourg, or in fact only just the short sector over the border=bridge=river Rhine: Offenburg-Strbg. Use bahn.de for planning and set to ´nur nahverkehr´ (german version), then try to book ANY (they go about hourly=varje timme) domestic TGV Str->P.

For In FR the extra to pay is 10€ (or 20 if quota sold out) -over the border is often 30/35-also with quota.

What I again try to explain here holds for ALL INtern. TGV trains to/fro FRance, How to do will differ per the actual route.

R
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +8

This message, as for the 11:31 departure, usually means there are no pass holder seats left. But it's a but strange so far in advance. And when I look at bahn.de, the 9:53 departure has the same normal fare as the 11:31 one, so if one has pass holder seats available, you'd expect the other to have them too.

Did you call SNCF in English (#85 from the French menu)? Since they told me last summer that you need to choose English to be able to pay with a non-French credit card.

Another possibility is to book via the Belgian railways phone number.

With which train are you arriving in Karlsruhe? There are very probably alternatives to go to Strasbourg by regional train and then take a TGV to Paris.

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.
Tordyveln

Perhaps its too early? Often only from 3 month advance. I have till now not often seen reports that DB cannot take cr-cds from SE-or is it maybe such a brand new virtual etc thing (but I think they can even take revolut)-this will often lead to many probs when you are out of bonusland Svenska.

YOu can save money+trouble and loose time to NOT use these TGV over the border-but only IN FR=which thus means you have to use earlier, regional toger fra KA till Strasbourg, or in fact only just the short sector over the border=bridge=river Rhine: Offenburg-Strbg. Use bahn.de for planning and set to ´nur nahverkehr´ (german version), then try to book ANY (they go about hourly=varje timme) domestic TGV Str->P.

For In FR the extra to pay is 10€ (or 20 if quota sold out) -over the border is often 30/35-also with quota.

What I again try to explain here holds for ALL INtern. TGV trains to/fro FRance, How to do will differ per the actual route.

Hi! Thanks. Not too early, <3 months and as you see you could book during other departures the same day. DB can take Swedish credit cards but could not access this particular departure, SNCF cannot take Swedish credit cards but could otherwise make seat reservations also for this departure. SNCF could see that the quota was not yet filled. This section is the last of a long trip with 3 kids so one fast train to Paris is much preferred to longer trip with more changes…

 

 

Tordyveln
Tordyveln

This message, as for the 11:31 departure, usually means there are no pass holder seats left. But it's a but strange so far in advance. And when I look at bahn.de, the 9:53 departure has the same normal fare as the 11:31 one, so if one has pass holder seats available, you'd expect the other to have them too.

Did you call SNCF in English (#85 from the French menu)? Since they told me last summer that you need to choose English to be able to pay with a non-French credit card.

Another possibility is to book via the Belgian railways phone number.

With which train are you arriving in Karlsruhe? There are very probably alternatives to go to Strasbourg by regional train and then take a TGV to Paris.

hi! Thanks for helping out. According to SNCF there were seat reservation tickets for interrail holders still available  as of yesterday. I did call SNCF #85 English yesterday and they could have made the reservation for me if I had other credit card options than my Swedish ones. We’ll be arriving with the ICE 71 from Hamburg as the last leg of a long trip with 3 kids so not too keen on longer travel times and/or more train shifts as necessary. I should try SNCB.

 

Tordyveln
A

Hi @Tordyveln,

I have contacted the responsible colleagues at Eurail to make sure there isn’t an internal issue with our self-service reservation tool. It is indeed strange that the unavailability is also shown on bahn.de. Once I receive a response from my colleagues I will get back to you. :)

 

Have a good day!

Tordyveln

Hi @Tordyveln,

I have contacted the responsible colleagues at Eurail to make sure there isn’t an internal issue with our self-service reservation tool. It is indeed strange that the unavailability is also shown on bahn.de. Once I receive a response from my colleagues I will get back to you. :)

 

Have a good day!

Thanks Magdalena - any news?

Tordyveln
R
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +8

I should try SNCB.

Did you try?

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.
Tordyveln

I should try SNCB.

Did you try?

Yes, however it does not seem possible to book from Karlsruhe 

Tordyveln
Hektor
Rank

Why does it have to be this particular train by any means when it’s impossible to book it? The next direct ICE train arrives in Paris 51 minutes later and you don’t have to change more often. Save your nerves and try this one… 

Tordyveln

Why does it have to be this particular train by any means when it’s impossible to book it? The next direct ICE train arrives in Paris 51 minutes later and you don’t have to change more often. Save your nerves and try this one… 

Hi! Can you tell me more about the next ICE train? I can’t find it when I’m looking up the departures. Sounds great. The next direct connection that I can find is 9592 arriving 4h later. …

Tordyveln
Hektor
Rank

Why does it have to be this particular train by any means when it’s impossible to book it? The next direct ICE train arrives in Paris 51 minutes later and you don’t have to change more often. Save your nerves and try this one… 

Hi! Can you tell me more about the next ICE train? I can’t find it when I’m looking up the departures. Sounds great. The next direct connection that I can find is 9592 arriving 4h later. …

I understood that you’ll arrive by ICE 71 from Hamburg.

This train is scheduled to arrive in Frankfurt (Main) Hbf at 10.00 and in Mannheim Hbf at 10.44. 

Connecting train is 10.42 (estimated; normally 10.57) from Frankfurt (Main) Hbf or 11.42 from Mannheim Hbf (ICE 9554). 

This one is not going via Strasbourg (I think that’s why you didn’t find it). It runs Kaiserslautern - Saarbrücken - Paris. 

But be aware: Because of construction work in Frankfurt this train will run about 15 minutes earlier from Frankfurt than mentioned in the timetables (estimated 10.42 instead of 10.57). Normally it’s not possible to book this train until the departure time is fixed. But it should be possible to reserve it from Mannheim Hbf right now. 

Best wishes, Hektor.

Tordyveln

Why does it have to be this particular train by any means when it’s impossible to book it? The next direct ICE train arrives in Paris 51 minutes later and you don’t have to change more often. Save your nerves and try this one… 

Hi! Can you tell me more about the next ICE train? I can’t find it when I’m looking up the departures. Sounds great. The next direct connection that I can find is 9592 arriving 4h later. …

I understood that you’ll arrive by ICE 71 from Hamburg.

This train is scheduled to arrive in Frankfurt (Main) Hbf at 10.00 and in Mannheim Hbf at 10.44. 

Connecting train is 10.42 (estimated; normally 10.57) from Frankfurt (Main) Hbf or 11.42 from Mannheim Hbf (ICE 9554). 

This one is not going via Strasbourg (I think that’s why you didn’t find it). It runs Kaiserslautern - Saarbrücken - Paris. 

But be aware: Because of construction work in Frankfurt this train will run about 15 minutes earlier from Frankfurt than mentioned in the timetables (estimated 10.42 instead of 10.57). Normally it’s not possible to book this train until the departure time is fixed. But it should be possible to reserve it from Mannheim Hbf right now. 

Best wishes, Hektor.

Thanks Hektor for your info, I’ve been looking at that connection and it’s a good option. I’ll wait a few more days to see if there will be a solution to the Karlsruhe-Strasbourg option, otherwise, your suggestion will be my plan B to book. 

Tordyveln
Marion
Rank
Userlevel 3
Badge +3

Hi @Tordyveln,

I have contacted the responsible colleagues at Eurail to make sure there isn’t an internal issue with our self-service reservation tool. It is indeed strange that the unavailability is also shown on bahn.de. Once I receive a response from my colleagues I will get back to you. :)

 

Have a good day!

Thanks Magdalena - any news?

Hi, I'm picking that up for Magdalena. Our colleague is still looking into this. We will come back to you when we know more. Cheers,

Update: there seemed to be an issue with the booking system. It has now been resolved. 

Please ask questions in the forum instead of sending me a private message, as I won’t be able to respond to those.

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