If you want help from members of this forum, post up specific trains you wish to take.

This thread gives details of how to get reservations:

If you want a refund then you need to contact customer services directly.

Hi Al_G, 

thanks for that the train in question is:

Overnight train - Biarritz to Paris on 29 July 2022

It was just frustrating that it didn’t tell me there were no reservable seats (via eurail) on that train before i purchased the Global Passes! 

Please make a complaint to Customer Support about this through the form in the link below.

The experienced travellers in the Community are discussing this matter with Eurail and if people who feel cheated make complaints maybe Eurail will listen better.

https://eurail.zendesk.com/hc/en-001/requests/new

The online planner only shows availability after you've logged in and bought a pass. There's a small notice about that at the bottom right of the results (if you're not logged in) but it's not very obvious.

@AnnaB Thanks for the link to the form, will be using that too. it’s sad that this is an issue really, but there is a slight solace in the fact that I m not the only one who has felt this was an issue. 

I spoke to the Eurail staff about this just the other day, but they don't really seem to understand the importance of the possibility to see availability before buying the pass. 

 @rvdborgt thank you for the info. 

Yep, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head - the planner only shows availability after you log in and bought a pass. Up until then it shows or insinuates that there are spaces available! 

This is such a key issue for travelers….this feels very much like bait and switch. 

@AnnaB Wow - really?!

They clearly have the technology available to show reservation availability, they just choose to show it after the purchase of the passes rather than before the purchase of the passes. 

It just takes investment into changing that user experience. But from a company point of view - is it worth it for them? 

Right now - I’ve just spent $500 + on passes 
If I ask for a refund (as there are no seats available which I could only find out after purchasing the passes) according to their terms I get only 85% back.
That is an easy $100+ that they make.

I can imagine this goes on quite a bit but It feels like a very unprofessional way of running part of the business. 

I am sure when the process works - it works fantastically and it is honestly such an amazing way to explore Europe but it should be more transparent so that real decisions can be based on real data for travelers. 



 

still waiting for a reply from the customer services team re this issue!

This will not be a priority request as it doesn't prevent anyone from travelling so you will probably have to be patient to get an answer.