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Hello all, 

I will be travelling using the Eurail global pass and inside the app it shows a timing that don’t match/show in the Eurail website. I’ll need to book seats reservations on the website and show a QR code to enter the train via the app. I’m just very confused so in this case, should i buy the seats reservations at the timing that’s shown on the website and appear in the train station without the QR code from the app (as the timing don’t match)?  And if i do book the seats reservations on website and turn up on the timing that’s on the web, i don’t have the QR code to enter as the app don’t have the timing on the web, will this be alright to just show evidence of my seats reservation? 

Hi, the website and the app are not linked together and don’t have the same data. The app gets updates only sometimes via app update (it works offline). Check the time of the train via website of the train company. 

You need the QR-Code of the pass, because your pass is your Ticket. The reservation is only for the seat. 

What train (time/departure/destination/date) do you have this trouble? Maybe we can check it for you and say what to do. 

 A quick overview or rule of thumb:

When travelling by train in Europe with your Eurail/Interrail pass, you have three possibilities or policies when it comes to trains.

  1. Trains with mandatory reservations. (Like Eurostar, Thalys, TGV, AVE, Frecce-trains and night trains). You will not be able to board these trains only with the QR-code, generated from your pass.  So if you register a journey in your pass, it never books a seat for you automatically! You will neet to buy seat reservations, before being able to board. These reservations are completely seperate from the pass.
    Some of these trains can sell out. Usually there are alternatives, that are slower. Just ask here, if you want advice about that. Don’t forget to mention the date, hour and destinations for your travel wish. But for Eurostar this is not the case. Spain and France are very reservation heavy, so better plan this well if you want to visit these countries.
  2. Trains with optional reservations. These are found in Central Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, but also in the UK. Mostly ICE’s, Railjets, IC’s,...). You can board these trains without a seat reservations, but you’ll have to give way if someone reserved the seat you’re sitting on. This is usually visible in a small display above the seats. These reservations cost not much (4,5-3 EUR). On busy times, it’s recommended to have one, but not really needed.
  3. Trains without any form of reservation. Local and regional trains in most, if not all countries (S-trains, Sprinters, RB, RE, REX, IR, IRE, TER, L,… many different names). This is the majority of the trains. In countries as the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, no single domestic train requires any form of reservation. Just hop on and hop off where you want, just don’t forget to register your journeys in the app. Since you always need a valid ticket. The ticket = QR-code in the app.

As a tourist, you will be mostly travelling on the small percentage of trains that require mandatory reservation. These are mostly international high-speed trains. If you share a bit of your travel plans, we can give you good advice on where to get these.

Never use the app, or rail planner of Eurail to plan your route. Only use it to register your journey in the app, to generate the QR-code. Use the companies own website. Or the one of Deutsche Bahn, that has correct date for almost all of Europe: https://www.bahn.com/en

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