Hello everyone! I purchased a Eurail pass and booked seat reservations from London to Amsterdam a week ago with no problems. I am now trying to book seat reservations from Amsterdam to Warsaw. I was able to secure the seat reservations from Amsterdam to Berlin, but when I go to book them from Berlin to Warsaw, it gives me the following message: “No longer available. This seat reservation is only available as paper ticket and can't be delivered to you in time. Try booking in person at the station.” My main concern with this is that when I arrive at the Berlin station (with 2 hours in between trains) that all seat reservations will be sold out. I don’t want to spend money on actual tickets as I have gotten the pass and would like to use the seat reservations. I would appreciate help with this if anyone has had experience with the same thing in the past or has any advice that might help me! Thank you so much in advance!!
These can’t be bought electronically. You can buy them from Eurail, and have them posted to you, as you’ve found.
The only other option is to get the reservation at the station. If there’s none left (unlikely I think), you can take regional trains, as mentioned here: https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm#Germany
Edited to add: Eurail is based in Utrecht, in the Netherlands. It might be possible to ask them to mail it to your hotel in Amsterdam? Or even collect it from their offices. I guess it’s unlikely, but it might be worth asking the Helpdesk.
Reservations for the whole part are indeed unavailable online. I agree that it's unlikely the train sells out.
For peace of mind you can get one for the Polish leg online, Rzepin - Warsaw : intercity.pl -> 1 PLN or 0.20€ :)
Reservations are in fact only mandatory on the short cross-border section from Frankfurt (Oder) to Rzepin but in reality nobody cares or even check. It's not enforced (do note that this doesn't apply to other trains with mandatory reservations though!). With the Polish reservation you'll also have something to show in case.
Reservations are also unlimited in number in Poland but at some point you might not have a seat guaranteed.
Having a reservation posted to a hotel does not sound like a good idea. It will be sent as registered mail, so you'll either have to arrange with the hotel to sign for you, or pick it up yourself from the post office. We've seen a few stories here where that all did not work out. And you pay an extra €9 (on top of the €2 booking fee per person and train and the €4.90 reservation itself).
A few other options:
- Call DB (+49 30 311 682904) and pick up the reservation from a ticket machine in Germany. They may also be able to email it, since DB are in the process of making everything available electronically.
- Call NS (+31 30 23 000 23) and have it emailed. NS were able to do this some time ago. They may want to add a booking fee but since you can't book this on their website, there should not be a booking fee, their web page says.
- Buy it at the ticket office at Schiphol Airport or Amsterdam Centraal. There will be a service fee.
- Book a reservation online from the first station in Poland (Rzepin), on the PKP IC website (explanation here). Price is PLN 1 (~€0.25). Reservations are not mandatory in Germany and the staff reportedly don't care if you don't have one for the short stretch over the border. Domestic passengers in Germany are also not likely to use these trains (there are many cheaper regional trains instead) so you'll very probably be able to use your seats from Berlin.
Hi all, sorry to post on an old thread but as
I cannot confirm if they are actually working, but the fact they show up on their website must mean it works.
EDIT: It seems to not fully work as I get an error… My apologies!
This has been the situation for some months now.
DB did make some progress though: these reservations can now be issued digitally, as a PDF. So you can call DB and have the reservation sent via e-mail.
I just gave them a call and the person on the phone takes this train twice a week by coincidence!
He said the reason it’s impossible to book on the website is because they’re going through some changes, the train is not ran by DB and PKP anymore but by a completely different company (eurocity), that does not give them access to their booking system, it was even a small miricale it could be booked over the phone.
So I can confirm calling the DB number
"Eurocity” isn't an operator, and DB and PKP Intercity are still operating that train, also see bahn.de. AFAIK the reservations come from PKP's old crappy reservation system, which is supposed to be replaced this year or next. When it gets a lot of requests, it simply times out and you have to try again; this happened a lot last summer at the DB ticket offices and DB website. The DB website however has never sold pass reservations for this train.
DB are indeed continuously updating their new website, mostly replacing old bugs by new ones, but indeed maybe they'll manage one day to offer pass reservations for this train.
Hi. I’m adding my post to this thread, because I have a similar kind of problem. We are planning to take a train from Warsaw to Berlin at the end of June. This journey is not available at interrail.eu, but DB shows it and I was able to buy only two seats. I didn’t receive the actual tickets, just a reservation confirmation, which states the seat numbers and includes a text “This e-mail does not constitute a valid ticket or invoice.”
Before making this reservation I had emailed DB to ask about making a reservation, because the timetable was confusing and I didn’t see it at interrail.eu. After buying those seats I got an email saying that I can’t buy seats online and that I only can buy them in Warsaw or by phone.
I’m a bit confused now. I was able to buy those seats. I have paid them and I know which seats I have. The only thing I don’t have is a ticket but I’m not sure if I need one, because this is just a seat reservation, and I will, of course, show the ticket via the Interrail app when the time comes.
Has anyone else had this experience and what did you do?
Before making this reservation I had emailed DB to ask about making a reservation, because the timetable was confusing and I didn’t see it at interrail.eu. After buying those seats I got an email saying that I can’t buy seats online and that I only can buy them in Warsaw or by phone.
I’m a bit confused now. I was able to buy those seats. I have paid them and I know which seats I have. The only thing I don’t have is a ticket but I’m not sure if I need one, because this is just a seat reservation, and I will, of course, show the ticket via the Interrail app when the time comes.
You have seat reservations. The pass is your ticket. You don't need anything more.
What the Interrail website shows or doesn't show is irrelevant. The same is true for the Rail Planner app. We all know they receive updates late and are not reliable. If the app still doesn't have the timetable by the time you travel, then you can always add your train manually.
I will just add that Frankfurt (Oder) - Berlin is closed on a few dates in June: 21-22nd and 28-29th June (+ 18 days in July). Replacement buses will run. DB shouldn't have sold any seat reservations for these dates yet but we never know.
Thank you. Could you please provide me the link stating the dates of the track closures? In any language. They had a link at the db website but it didn't work.
Sure, happy to help. I mostly use these:
https://strecken-info.de/ (filter with Totalsperrungen. Adding 12h+ duration removes the short overnight closures as well.)
https://www.bahn.de/service/fahrplaene/bauarbeiten
Timetables on DB Navigator are usually updated later, though a notice is often there.
Many thanks!
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