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Seat Reservations for Overnight Trains in Italy

  • 27 April 2022
  • 4 replies
  • 519 views

Hello,

I have a Global Pass and I’m trying to make reservations for an overnight train from Paris to Rome on May 8th with sleeping accommodations.  The first train reservation from Paris to Turin seems to be available as usual. The second is a nightly train between Turin (Torino Porta Susa) and Rome (Roma Tiburtina) from 20:40 to 05:53.  When I try to make a seat reservation through the Eurail website, the reservation shows a message:

        Prices temporarily unavailable

        Check back in a few hours to see prices and book this seat reservation

This message has been there for a few days. 

I have tried the app, it refers me back to the Eurail website.

There are instructions on the Eurail website that recommend booking online with ItaliaRail as an alternative.  The instructions say that you are able to select “Global Pass” in the offer menu to book reservations only, and that way  you do not pay the price of a reservation plus an additional ticket. I am not able to find this option for any seat assignments on either the ItailiaRail or TrenItalia website.

I have already tried calling for assistance in the US on all the websites and have not had an answer.  Any suggestions?

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Best answer by rvdborgt 27 April 2022, 23:18

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4 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +9

Do you want a seat or sleeping accommodation? That's quite a difference.

I'm not sure though what the problem is with the night train from Turin to Roma. There are still places available.

For sleeping accommodation (couchette or sleeper), you should know Trenitalia still only sells complete compartments. Eurail should be able to book that. Italiarail hasn't implemented this. They don't show the night train on 8 May (maybe the same problem as on the Eurail site?) but on 9 May, I see reservation prices for a single berth in a compartment but if you try to book it, there's an error message - because that is currently not possible.

For one person, the supplement is often 95€ for a couchette compartment and more for a sleeper compartment. The available normal fare however, is often less than that. Currently, Trenitalia has a couchette compartment on 8 May for €82.90. Or a sleeper compartment for 89.90.

Ok, so I have figured out my issue. It was a newbie mistake. In my app, I selected only the first day of the overnight trip as a travel day instead of selecting both the evening and the next morning as a total of two days. No wonder I couldn't book an overnight ticket. I was only able to select overnight tickets for one day (which of course does not exist)!

Userlevel 7
Badge +9

A night train only takes one travel day. You don't need a new travel day as long as you don't change after midnight. In addition, you don't need to activate any travel day to book a reservation. It's better not to activate a travel day until you're sure you're going to take a train, since if you change plans and you forget to cancel your travel day, then you loose it.

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Its Italy-not only your plans may change, but there may also be what happens there so often: strike, cancellation etc. Better always be flexible and not to plan too much fixed too long advancce. There is in general no need to fear that trains are so full so long ahead. PLus there are usually also plenty of other options

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