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Seat Reservations from Berlin to Warsaw

  • 21 January 2024
  • 3 replies
  • 106 views
mateajerkovic

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!!

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Best answer by ralderton 21 January 2024, 12:27

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ralderton
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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.

T
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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.

R
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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.
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.

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