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Reserve seats in Spain

  • 27 January 2022
  • 20 replies
  • 670 views

Hello,

In 2020 I won 2 interrail tickets. Unfortunately I got diagnosed with cancer shortly after. Treatment was long, and the consequences quite bad. So we still did not get a chance to use them.

Now I have simplified a travel route, because with my phisical dissability and all the cancer treatments, I cant do a lot anymore. 

The plan was to fly to Malaga from NL on the 5th of March. Then 3 nights there, then the train to Barcelona on March 8th, 5 nights, and then the train from Barcelona to Paris on the 13th of March. And then back to NL. 

Ive read we can only book when we are on the station. Will 3 nights before be enough for Malaga -Barcelona and 8 nights before enough for Barcelona - Paris?

Due to my condition, its not really possible to be flexible. So I kinda have to know if we will get seats on those trains. I really cant find anything that can tell me its going to be ok. If not, we will have to cancel these plans once again. And my tickets will no longer be valid. 

Thank you in advance. 

 

20 replies

R
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +9

Reservations in Spain can also be booked via Deutsche Bahn. You can call DB at +49 30 2970. DB can also book the TGV from Barcelona to Paris and Thalys Paris to the Netherlands. They can then send them via the post (the fee for that is EUR 5,90 in total).

Another possibility is booking via NMBS. Their phone number is a bit more expensive though and I'm not sure what they charge for sending reservations via the post (not all reservations are available electronically).

Barcelona - Paris can also be booked via interrail.eu (2 + 9 EUR extra fee; only available on paper). Paris - NL also via interrail.eu (2 EUR extra fee).

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.
K
Rank

Hello,

Wauw are you serieus? I emailed interrail themselves, and they said there was nothing that could be done. We just had to wait and see when we got there…

But if you are right, I will contact the DB and try to fix everything up front. That would be much better. Dont care if it costs a couple of euro's extra. 

If it worked, I will let you know. 

Thanks again!

 

M
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Ter plekke is inderdaad zonder meer veel makkelijker, MITS je een TRENFE loketbediende treft die het snapt.

Heel toevallig vlieg ik zelf ook naar MLG volg. week, maar dat terzijde.

Verder; er gaat maar 1 tr/dag direct MLG-BCN, MAAR je kan elke 2 uur met dito snelle AVE naar MAD en daar op zelfde station elk uur naar BCN-dat kost je hooguit 1 uurtje meer. Dan heb je dus veel meer kansen, want het klopt dat in ES die treinen vaak al dagen tevoren vol zijn (ze zijn niet vol, maar hun systeem is niet modern genoeg om op dezelfde seat meer als 2 reizigers op een lange rit te kunnen boeken na elkaar).

Je kan al direkt na arr in MLG OOK BCN-PAR boeken, dat is in het RENFE-systeem. Hiervoor geldt hetzelfde: EN bovendien is er ook nog een flinke toeslag, meer als ik voor de vlucht EIN-MLG betaal. OOk hier geldt dat er meer kansen zijn door ergens in FR of nog eens te pauzeren en wat leuks te bekijken of over te stappen. OOk hier maar 1 trein/dag maar die heeft ook nog een beperkt quotum aan IR-plekken.

K
Rank

Dank voor je uitgebreidde antwoord. Tussendoor ergens anders heen gaan, dat is helaas niet mogelijk. Dat red ik lichamelijk gewoon weg niet. 

Ik weet dat barcelona - parijs idd prijzig is. Ik dacht 34 euro pp ofzo? Maar parijs - amsterdam was ook niet goedkoop. En vergeleken met de vliegtickets, was het amper duurder. 

Dus of we kijken of we kunnen boeken bij de DB. En anders zullen we moeten annuleren en raak ik de kaarten kwijt omdat ze helaas al snel aflopen. Enorm bedankt voor alle info. Toch beter om dit vooraf allemaal te weten, zeker als je niet flexibel bent. 

E
Rank
Userlevel 3
Badge +1

Beste KathinkaAurora,

ik hoop ècht dat de reserveringen zullen lukken en de reis door zal gaan gezien dat wat er gebeurd is sinds de ontvangst van de twee gewonnen interrailtickets. In dit forum blijken mensen aanwezig te zijn die ècht verstand van zaken hebben en behulpzaam zijn. Soms mis je wel eens hoe het verder is gegaan  ná de adviezen. Wellicht kun je later (in Engels) vertellen of de reserveringen gelukt zijn en nog belangrijker de terugreis is naar wens is verlopen. Dat zou ondanks de ziekte toch nog een goed bericht zijn!

K
Rank

Dear eurofima,

Thats a super nice message. But Im afraid it will not happen. Im trying to contact DB to ask if they can reserve seats. But they do not understand my question. We will have to cancel our trip again. 

Interrail does not help with email, and now when I add my pass in the website, it says its expired. Again, no help from interrail. I have dreamed of a trip since I became sick. But the best thing now is to throw the expensive tickets away. We just cant work with them, and they will expire soon anyway. 

I do not recommend interrail to anyone, especially people with a dissability. Im done. The customer service is just awefull. And they make to many mistakes. This is just to much for me to handle. 

R
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +9

Thats a super nice message. But Im afraid it will not happen. Im trying to contact DB to ask if they can reserve seats. But they do not understand my question. We will have to cancel our trip again. 

That is very strange. They CAN make these reservations. What question did you ask? If you ask "I would like to make reservations for my Interrail pass” and mention the trains you would like to book, that's all information they need.

Alternatively, there are a number of DB travel agents that can do the same. I have good experiences with this one.

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.
K
Rank

Thats a super nice message. But Im afraid it will not happen. Im trying to contact DB to ask if they can reserve seats. But they do not understand my question. We will have to cancel our trip again. 

That is very strange. They CAN make these reservations. What question did you ask? If you ask "I would like to make reservations for my Interrail pass” and mention the trains you would like to book, that's all information they need.

Alternatively, there are a number of DB travel agents that can do the same. I have good experiences with this one.

I send them an email, with all the information of my trip. Atleast, my ideas. So the dates, the route, the time of wich trains. And then I asked them if they could make reservations. I wanted to be sure before I called. 

And I got back "Thank you, for contacting the service center for international bookings. Please be informed, that our service team do not sell tickets. In these regard, please contact a Deutsche Bahn service center or call our service number Tel.: +49 30 2970.". 

I keep telling them I have interrail, and I just want to reserve seats. But they dont understand. 

I will try and email the above. We will see. Maybe interrail is not for me. After treatment its just to difficult to just 'wing it'. And it seems interrail is a 'winging it' kind of company. 

Thanks again for your help. I really appreciate you trying. 

E
Rank
Userlevel 3
Badge +1

Hallo KathinkaAurora,

I hope you give the suggestion of rvdborgt a chance. Perhaps you can call “Lennestadt” instead of email.

There is also gleisnost.de and bahn-agentur-schoeneberg.de. I have no personal experience with those railtravelagencies, but I read very positive comments. I don’t know if rvdborgt would suggest treinreiswinkel.nl in your situation?

R
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +9

Treinreiswinkel.nl only sell reservations for Interrails they sold themselves. Bahnagentur Lennestadt normally give a first reply within one working day but the other ones mentioned are indeed also good.

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.
seewulf
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +15

@Eurofima Bahnagentur Schöneberg offer the reservations only for Passes they sold themselve (Like Treinreiswinkel)

I´ am not working for Eurail or Interrail i just share my knowledge here. Please ask in the Community and not via private message as this is the fastest way to get an answer. I prefer English/German/ Czech for my answers. In case of Reservationquestions please share some details like Route, Date, Trainnumber as otherwise we can just provide general advices or answers
K
Rank

Reservations in Spain can also be booked via Deutsche Bahn. You can call DB at +49 30 2970. DB can also book the TGV from Barcelona to Paris and Thalys Paris to the Netherlands. They can then send them via the post (the fee for that is EUR 5,90 in total).

Another possibility is booking via NMBS. Their phone number is a bit more expensive though and I'm not sure what they charge for sending reservations via the post (not all reservations are available electronically).

Barcelona - Paris can also be booked via interrail.eu (2 + 9 EUR extra fee; only available on paper). Paris - NL also via interrail.eu (2 EUR extra fee).

I Tried calling today, multiple times. But DB is not yet picking up. Also emailed the DB agenr you said, but also nothing yet. 

You said interrail can book barcelona - paris. Are you sure? The first person I emailed said that they could not do that. But they also skip a lot of other questions and basically say "We cant help you with this one, so goodluck!". 

But if they can book barcelona - paris and paris - amsterdam, than Im willing to take the risk with malaga - barcelona. And then we dont have to cancel, and will not lose the tickets. 

I cant tell you how frustrating this has been. Trying tk organise this with my chemobrain and little help. So sorry if I sometimes come across a bit emotional. Its all super stressfull. (And before cancer I loved to plan trips, and was pretty good at it). 

 

K
Rank

Treinreiswinkel.nl only sell reservations for Interrails they sold themselves. Bahnagentur Lennestadt normally give a first reply within one working day but the other ones mentioned are indeed also good.

Hey! 

I would leave a message if everything worked out. 

It did not. Interrail cannot help with reserving seats. And the reservation tool online seems not to be working for us. We keep getting 'cancelled' and 'expired'. Its giving me to much stress, so we have decided to book a flight back, and not use our interrail tickets. I just picked a route to difficult, that was just not doable with my condition. We really needed some stability and knowing what was going to happen. 

We will have to see if we are still able to use the tickets before they expire. 

Thank you everyone here for the help! I have really appreciated it. And hope it will be usefull for other people. 

Thanks again!

R
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +9

And the reservation tool online seems not to be working for us. We keep getting 'cancelled' and 'expired'.

I've never seen such errors. Which train were you trying to book and at what stage did you see these errors?

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.
K
Rank

And the reservation tool online seems not to be working for us. We keep getting 'cancelled' and 'expired'.

I've never seen such errors. Which train were you trying to book and at what stage did you see these errors?

I did not even get there. I had to connect a pass to a trip or something. Before being able to make reservations. And that does not work. We tried everything already. Ive read hours and hours of stuff abour this. But I just cant. Im so tired, its just to much. So im hoping they can fix it, and we will be able to travel one day. But more than that, they cant help us with. 

R
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +9

I did not even get there. I had to connect a pass to a trip or something. Before being able to make reservations. And that does not work.

Right. In that case, you'll probably need to contact customer service because it sounds like your pass number does not work anymore and they're the only ones who can fix that. Include screenshots of the errors, so they can see what's going on at which stage in the process.

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.
K
Rank

I did not even get there. I had to connect a pass to a trip or something. Before being able to make reservations. And that does not work.

Right. In that case, you'll probably need to contact customer service because it sounds like your pass number does not work anymore and they're the only ones who can fix that. Include screenshots of the errors, so they can see what's going on at which stage in the process.

Yes, we did that already a couple of days ago. So Im hoping they can help. Somewhere something is wrong with both our passes. So we will see. Thanks for responding and helping! 

N
Userlevel 7
Badge +8

Hi Katinka, I'm sorry to hear about your situation and issues you are experiencing with the Pass. One of our Customer Support agents got back to you on Friday with instructions. I trust that helps to fix the issue. We are keen on helping you to make this trip happen, so if you need any further assistance, do reach out to us. 

Please note that I can't reply to any of my private messages at the moment. Thanks for your understanding.
K
Rank

Hi Katinka, I'm sorry to hear about your situation and issues you are experiencing with the Pass. One of our Customer Support agents got back to you on Friday with instructions. I trust that helps to fix the issue. We are keen on helping you to make this trip happen, so if you need any further assistance, do reach out to us. 

Hello,

I tried following the instruction, but I did not understand them. So unfortunately they did not help. I was pretty sick, that why it took me some time to come back to you. 

But I think I found another way to reserve seats. So Im hoping this weekend we can start making some reservations. 

K
Rank

Just to wrap everything up. Interrail also made a mistake with our passes. They were expired, so we could not even reserve seats. They eventually fixed it, but so late that now we cant book first class anymore because all those seats were sold out. So now we only have second class. Thats not super bad, but still. So make sure your pass is correct before even trying to make reservations, because thats one reason we could not even see barcelona - paris and paris - amsterdam. 

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