Which train exactly would you like to book? If it's via Domodossola (e.g. Milano Centrale 11:20 - Bern 14:24), then a reservation from Milano to Domodossola is enough and maybe the ticket office in Parma can still do that since it's a domestic reservation? Price should be 10 EUR. From Domodossola, there are no mandatory reservations anymore.

Hey,

thanks for the idea. Unfortunately the ticket office told me that that wasn’t possible as it’s an international train and they can’t book seat reservations for those trains… Any other ideas??

Maxi

Use a regionaltrain from Milano via Domodossola and catch there the direct Regionaltrain to Bern (or with another change in Brig for a 1hour faster Intercity) 

The hill route of the direct regional train is pretty scenic :) 

@rvdborgt  the 11am train is for some reason reservation compulsory till Brig (It´s the train that continous usually via Basel to Frankfurt

@seewulf SBB say "reservation possible” from Domodossola, so only a reservation until there is needed. An added advantage is that domestic reservations in Italy are not limited; they're available until the train is full.

@surf I'm not sure if the Parma ticket office was telling you the truth… you could try again if there's someone else there at the ticket office; just ask for a reservation to Domodossola.

However, travel via Chiasso may also be an option (mandatory reservations are easier to avoid there). What's your final destination on 7 March? That helps to find alternatives.

@seewulf and @rvdborgt Thanks for the tips- in the end we just went to the Italian conductors of the EC train right before departure and told them we couldn’t get reservations anywhere. It was no real problem- they ended up selling us reservations for an extra fee which was 10€ per person. Sucked to pay that much extra, but at least we didn’t get into trouble and if I had known that before the whole shenanigans could’ve avoided a lot of stress as an alternative train connection wasn’t possible to take for us… Nonetheless, thanks a lot for your useful tips! Maybe they will help someone else.
Also @rvdborgt I’m pretty sure the Parma office could’ve helped us, but the lady at the counter was not willing to help us at all and didn’t speak English (or didn’t want to speak English… Seems like the Italians are either super friendly and helpful or super grumpy toward tourists and not helpful at all).
Also, the Interrail seat reservation page is still super slow in case anybody is wondering. (@Interrail: Get that sorted out! It sucks!)

Hi Surf, there were indeed some issues on our side. But it has been resolved. Have a great trip ahead! Cheers,