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Hi all,

 

Today I was travelling with my Interrail Global Pass 1st class from Dusseldorf, Germany with Thalys to Paris. My plan was to take the connection to Marseille where I had booked a hotel. 

When the train manager was checking my ticket, he stucked at my reservation which I did for 1st class Premium via B-Europe. He advised that my reservation is only valid with special abonnement cards which you can buy in France but is NOT valid with Interrail. My reservation shows “Pass Premium” and that’s not valid.

That’s the reason he has the right to refuse my ticket and let me pay for a complete new ticket. After talking to his co-worker it would be okay if I take a seat in 2nd class instead.

I told him that I never had problems with any reservations in TGV, Eurostar and ICE. But anyway, I felt like I was travelling illegal and the staff was extremely unfriendly. All people were looking at me as I would travel illegally for real - very embarassing and shameful to be honest. I never travelled without any ticket or with a wrong ticket.

I had a really bad mood from this minute so I decided to exit the train in Aachen, Germany and return home. I didn’t want to travel in 2nd class as I’m not the smallest person on earth and need my place - that’s why I always travel in 1st class - and to be honest, Thalys has not the best legroom space, even in 1st class…

I thought maybe B-Europe is selling wrong reservations, but I can exclude this as my reservation done via Interrail also shows “Pass Premium” or “Pass Comfort”. And I don’t think that Interrail is selling wrong reservation - And of course I don’t think B-Europe does this…

 

I’m 100% sure that the train manager is absolutely wrong and had a very bad day, that’s why he decided that I’m not allowed to travel with this reservation. I want to give a complaint to Thalys as I lost 130 Euro due to my hotel. But I just didn’t want to travel further due to my bad mood in this case.

I assume that the Thalys staff did a big mistake and doesn’t know by his own the tariffs and tickets 100% sure. 

From now on I’m sure that I won’t ever travel with Thalys again. I never had this unfriendly staff in any train before. 

It’s sad that I lost the hotel reservation but I think anybody can understand that I didn’t want to continue my journey. 

Is anybody here who can decline the staffs opinion that the reservation isn’t valid with Interrail?

If any Interrail staff reads this - would it be possible to get this one travel day back by goodwill? I would be very happy if this is possible…

Looking forward to receive any opinions about my todays trip. Many thanks in advance!

 

My opinion:

 

The conductor has been absolutely right. Your reservation is a cheap reservation for the highest class available and is only valid with a  Thalys PremiumPass, never with an InterRail pass.

 

Regarding your booking, it seems that you simply did select the wrong pass. No error on the booking page. 

 

Sorry for you. Best wishes.

The conductor has been absolutely right. Your reservation is a cheap reservation for the highest class available and is only valid with a  Thalys PremiumPass, never with an InterRail pass.

Regarding your booking, it seems that you simply did select the wrong pass. No error on the booking page.

Please check the fare conditions: what you're saying is not possible. The Premium Pass fare is only available between Belgium and Paris. When you select Premium Pass for Düsseldorf-Paris, you get the normal fares.

My opinion:

 

The conductor has been absolutely right. Your reservation is a cheap reservation for the highest class available and is only valid with a  Thalys PremiumPass, never with an InterRail pass.

 

Regarding your booking, it seems that you simply did select the wrong pass. No error on the booking page. 

 

Sorry for you. Best wishes.

Understood, why are B-Europe and Interrail itself selling these reservations then? 

I have chosen „Interrail Global Pass 1st Class“ when booking the reservation through B-Europe.

Is my understanding correct that I can‘t travel by Thalys in 1st Class then? The reservations sold for Interrail Passes mean to be not valid in Thalys? 
 

Nowhere found this information. For Eurostar: if you book a reservation for 1st class you‘re only able to book Standard Premier but not Business Premier in general. Really easy handling, right? 

Why reservations for Thalys 1st class are being sold then? Just to make me as traveller upset and ashamed when I‘m in their trains? 
 

@rvdborgt what do you think about this?

If you book an Interrail reservation via Interrail or Belgian railways, then you have a valid reservation. If a reservation with "Pass Premium” is incorrect, then for a normal passenger there's no way to know. But your reservation looks OK. Belgian railways publish exact details here and the Pass prices look like this:

(Paris-Aachen / Paris-Köln / Paris-Düsseldorf)

It is not very helpful that Thalys invented both "Premium Pass” and "Pass Premium”. The former is a subscription that is only available between Brussels and Paris (that's why there are no reservation prices from Germany) and the latter is a Pass reservation in "Premium” class.

I'd complain to Thalys about their ticket inspector's behaviour, ask if there was anything wrong with your reservation and ask what you should do next time when their staff say it's not valid.

And I'd also pose the latter 2 questions to Interrail customer service and ask them at least a refund of your reservations and indeed for an extra travel day as a gesture of goodwill.

If you book an Interrail reservation via Interrail or Belgian railways, then you have a valid reservation. If a reservation with "Pass Premium” is incorrect, then for a normal passenger there's no way to know. But your reservation looks OK. Belgian railways publish exact details here and the Pass prices look like this:

(Paris-Aachen / Paris-Köln / Paris-Düsseldorf)

It is not very helpful that Thalys invented both "Premium Pass” and "Pass Premium”. The former is a subscription that is only available between Brussels and Paris (that's why there are no reservation prices from Germany) and the latter is a Pass reservation in "Premium” class.

I'd complain to Thalys about their ticket inspector's behaviour, ask if there was anything wrong with your reservation and ask what you should do next time when their staff say it's not valid.

And I'd also pose the latter 2 questions to Interrail customer service and ask them at least a refund of your reservations and indeed for an extra travel day as a gesture of goodwill.

Thanks for your explanation.

Just called Thalys customer service and they confirmed that the train inspector made a big mistake. There is indeed the Premium Pass and Pass Premium (AC) fare. Of course I had booked the Pass Premium (AC) so that’s the correct reservation.

They told me to send a complaint to Thalys with copies of my Interrail Pass. In addition Premium Pass and Pass Premium are same price - 30 Euro. If I had even booked the wrong fare (don’t even know how to book the Premium Pass fare), he should’ve accept it as there is no price difference.

I will contact Interrail regarding extra travel day and hope that everything will work well.

Thanks for your opinion and support!

I know that I will never travel with Thalys again. Never met such an unfriendly staff - in addition staff who doesn’t know its own fares...

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