Another DB ticket question (sorry!)

Post by Nick
Slightly related to my earlier post, on the return Innsbruck to London
leg it looks like I can do the whole journey on 15/07/12 potentially
for EUR 88 via ICE 108, ICE 610, ICE 14 and the Eurostar. This is two
tickets: Innsbruck to Cologne and Cologne to London.
There is a tightish 14-minute Munich connection, then a 1hr 38 min
connection at Cologne which "ought" to be safe I guess. However I'm
imagining that since they're separate tickets, if I do miss the
connection at Cologne for any reason I'm a bit stuck.
Would people here with more experience of German railways trust this
connection or would you recommend going for something more expensive
but safer?

If you miss ICE 610 in Munich you could travel to Cologne with ICE 598
and ICE 208 and arrive in time for ICE 14.

Cheers,
Martin

Oliver Schnell

2012-04-17 06:02:59 UTC

Post by Nick
Hi,
Slightly related to my earlier post, on the return Innsbruck to London
leg it looks like I can do the whole journey on 15/07/12 potentially
for EUR 88 via ICE 108, ICE 610, ICE 14 and the Eurostar. This is two
tickets: Innsbruck to Cologne and Cologne to London.

Buying a ticket from Kufstein to London via Brussels Nord for *49,- Euro*
at bahn.de ticket covering all trains mentioned above ensures that no problems
occur in case ICE108 is running late (what i really doubt, as it starts from
Innsbruck). Accomplish that with a regular ticket Innsbruck - Kufstein
for just 13,80 available online via oebb.at and spent the money saved
in the restaurant car. ;-)

Oliver Schnell

Nick

2012-04-17 17:47:55 UTC

Thanks for the replies.

I couldn't get a fare from Kufstein *but* I did manage to get a London-
Spezial from Munich to London (change Frankfurt and Brussels) for
EUR49 on the 1050 departure... I didn't realise London-Spezial went
beyond Cologne. Then a EUR19 ticket from Innsbruck to Munich, total
EUR68.

In this country (the UK) of expensive train tickets in which all the
advance tickets go very quickly, I cannot get over how staggeringly
cheap advance-booking train travel can be with DB.

Nick

Oliver Schnell

2012-04-18 05:53:15 UTC

Thanks for the replies.
I couldn't get a fare from Kufstein

Did you put in Bruxelles Nord as an via as suggested above?
Doing this, Kufstein - London is still available for 49,- on 15th of July.

Post by Nick
*but* I did manage to get a London-
Spezial from Munich to London (change Frankfurt and Brussels) for
EUR49 on the 1050 departure... I didn't realise London-Spezial went
beyond Cologne. Then a EUR19 ticket from Innsbruck to Munich, total
EUR68.

Indeed also quite a good price.

Post by Nick
In this country (the UK) of expensive train tickets in which all the
advance tickets go very quickly, I cannot get over how staggeringly
cheap advance-booking train travel can be with DB.

But also the average revenue of 10.42 Eurocent/kilometre of DB long-distance
trains (8.60 on regional trains) isn't that bad. Maybe Sir Roy McNulty
should have looked also at DB for his report, instead of Swiss, French and
Swedish railways ...

On the other hand, there are quite a few people in Germany who consider
advance-booking discounts as "unfair", while the only and true way
on tariffs should be according to kilometric distance and train cathegory,
allowing a 50% discount for holders of a railcard as the only exception,
meaning tariffs should not consider the variation in demand for
transport services applying in real life.

Oliver Schnell

Nick

2012-04-18 07:24:53 UTC

Thanks for the replies.
I couldn't get a fare from Kufstein

Did you put in Bruxelles Nord as an via as suggested above?
Doing this, Kufstein - London is still available for 49,- on 15th of July.

Sorry, no, I overlooked that detail.

One more question: seeing as it's a through Munich-London ticket, if I
did miss the Frankfurt connection on the ticket I mentioned above
(onto ICE14) and had to get a later connection from Frankfurt to
Cologne, would I have to wait for the next ICE to Brussels (ICE10 at
1943; which would mean an overnight at Brussels as that misses the
connection to the last Eurostar) or could I get a Thalys?

Thanks,
Nick

Oliver Schnell

2012-04-18 10:58:11 UTC

Post by Oliver Schnell
Did you put in Bruxelles Nord as an via as suggested above?
Doing this, Kufstein - London is still available for 49,- on 15th of July.

Sorry, no, I overlooked that detail.
One more question: seeing as it's a through Munich-London ticket, if I
did miss the Frankfurt connection on the ticket I mentioned above
(onto ICE14) and had to get a later connection from Frankfurt to
Cologne, would I have to wait for the next ICE to Brussels (ICE10 at
1943; which would mean an overnight at Brussels as that misses the
connection to the last Eurostar) or could I get a Thalys?

As your ticket, issued by DB, covers Munich - London, DB is responsible to
organise the continuation of your travel in case of a missed connection.
According to
http://www.bahn.de/i/view/mdb/bahnintern/agb/international/MDB69628-anlage2_gcc_civ_prr_2009_12_03_fr_de_en_pdf.pdf
the continuation of the trip with Thalys instead of ICE is not possible
with your ticket (section 9.1.3), but DB than would have to provide
overnight accomodation (section 9.4).
I guess they would prefer you to take the next Thalys then (and validate
your ticket for Thalys usage or issue a new one for it), instead of providing
you overnight accomodation. In any case you should inform the conductor
in ICE720, that you need to catch the ICE to Brussels at Frankfurt in case
even a slight delay of 720 should materialise.

Oliver Schnell

EE507

2012-04-29 18:16:16 UTC

Post by Oliver Schnell
Did you put in Bruxelles Nord as an via as suggested above?
Doing this, Kufstein - London is still available for 49,- on 15th of July.

Sorry, no, I overlooked that detail.
One more question: seeing as it's a through Munich-London ticket, if I
did miss the Frankfurt connection on the ticket I mentioned above
(onto ICE14) and had to get a later connection from Frankfurt to
Cologne, would I have to wait for the next ICE to Brussels (ICE10 at
1943; which would mean an overnight at Brussels as that misses the
connection to the last Eurostar) or could I get a Thalys?

As your ticket, issued by DB, covers Munich - London, DB is responsible to
organise the continuation of your travel in case of a missed connection.
According tohttp://www.bahn.de/i/view/mdb/bahnintern/agb/international/MDB69628-a...
the continuation of the trip with Thalys instead of ICE is not possible
with your ticket (section 9.1.3), but DB than would have to provide
overnight accomodation (section 9.4).
I guess they would prefer you to take the next Thalys then (and validate
your ticket for Thalys usage or issue a new one for it), instead of providing
you overnight accomodation. In any case you should inform the conductor
in ICE720, that you need to catch the ICE to Brussels at Frankfurt in case
even a slight delay of 720 should materialise.

What happened to the Railteam "Hop on the next train" promise, which
itself is no more than restating the CIV conditions of carriage...? DB
still part-owns and staffs Thalys, so I don't think the clause you
cited is relevant. Your argument would also mean DB Regio could refuse
to take stranded passengers to Aachen, since the planned carrier would
have been DB Fernverkehr.

As you can see I have been put on the next Thalys in the past:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ee507/6306759726/

Oliver Schnell

2012-04-30 06:38:56 UTC

Post by Oliver Schnell
As your ticket, issued by DB, covers Munich - London, DB is responsible to
organise the continuation of your travel in case of a missed connection.
According tohttp://www.bahn.de/i/view/mdb/bahnintern/agb/international/MDB69628-a...
the continuation of the trip with Thalys instead of ICE is not possible
with your ticket (section 9.1.3), but DB than would have to provide
overnight accomodation (section 9.4).
I guess they would prefer you to take the next Thalys then (and validate
your ticket for Thalys usage or issue a new one for it), instead of providing
you overnight accomodation. In any case you should inform the conductor
in ICE720, that you need to catch the ICE to Brussels at Frankfurt in case
even a slight delay of 720 should materialise.

What happened to the Railteam "Hop on the next train" promise, which
itself is no more than restating the CIV conditions of carriage...? DB
still part-owns and staffs Thalys,

According to
http://www.gruene-aachen.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1449:db-steigt-ende-maerz-aus-dem-thalys-aus&catid=80:verkehr&Itemid=62
they do not since end of March.

so I don't think the clause you

Post by EE507
cited is relevant.

You can think what you like. DB is responsible to arrange the continuation
of the trip without additional costs for the traveller in case of disruptions.
But it is in their decision, what they provide to the traveller.

Post by EE507
Your argument would also mean DB Regio could refuse
to take stranded passengers to Aachen, since the planned carrier would
have been DB Fernverkehr.

How that? DB-tickets are valid in trains where DB tariff applies.
International tickets are valid in Germany on all trains running under
the carrier-code <1080>. The limitation of the ticket to be used only on
trains mentioned in the ticket ends in case of broken connections.

Post by EE507
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ee507/6306759726/

There exactly that happened what I suggested above:" ... and validate
your ticket for Thalys usage". You did not use the Thalys on base of the
HOTNAT option, which furthermore is "subject to availability" according to
http://www.railteam.co.uk/for-your-journey/railteam-services/

Oliver Schnell

Neil Williams

2012-04-30 18:41:53 UTC

Post by Oliver Schnell
There exactly that happened what I suggested above:" ... and validate
your ticket for Thalys usage". You did not use the Thalys on base of the
HOTNAT option, which furthermore is "subject to availability" according to
http://www.railteam.co.uk/for-your-journey/railteam-services/

Presumably that refers to the availability of seats, as most Railteam
members operate a policy of compulsory reservations.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK. Put first name before the at to reply.

EE507

2012-05-01 09:29:23 UTC

What happened to the Railteam "Hop on the next train" promise, which
itself is no more than restating the CIV conditions of carriage...? DB
still part-owns and staffs Thalys,

According tohttp://www.gruene-aachen.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article...
they do not since end of March.

I have seen no reports about DB selling its 10% stake in Thalys. I
expect this will happen in the future, to the detriment of passengers.
At the moment holders of season tickets and BC100s can still use
Thalys.

Post by EE507
Your argument would also mean DB Regio could refuse
to take stranded passengers to Aachen, since the planned carrier would
have been DB Fernverkehr.

Which operators fall under the code <1080>?

Post by EE507
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ee507/6306759726/

There exactly that happened what I suggested above:" ... and validate
your ticket for Thalys usage". You did not use the Thalys on base of the
HOTNAT option

I would have done, if there hadn't been time to visit the service
point and the Reisezentrum. If I had incurred extra costs, I would
have claimed them back under the Fahrgastrechte.

Oliver Schnell

2012-05-04 11:49:58 UTC

Post by EE507
Your argument would also mean DB Regio could refuse
to take stranded passengers to Aachen, since the planned carrier would
have been DB Fernverkehr.

Which operators fall under the code <1080>?

See http://www.diebefoerderer.de/uploads/media/SCIC_-_Streckenfahrkarten.pdf
for details.

Post by EE507
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ee507/6306759726/

There exactly that happened what I suggested above:" ... and validate
your ticket for Thalys usage". You did not use the Thalys on base of the
HOTNAT option

I would have done,

but you did not

Post by EE507
if there hadn't been time to visit the service
point and the Reisezentrum. If I had incurred extra costs, I would
have claimed them back under the Fahrgastrechte.

Success guaranteed?

Oliver Schnell

Nick

2012-05-04 13:28:34 UTC

Post by EE507
Your argument would also mean DB Regio could refuse
to take stranded passengers to Aachen, since the planned carrier would
have been DB Fernverkehr.

Which operators fall under the code <1080>?

Seehttp://www.diebefoerderer.de/uploads/media/SCIC_-_Streckenfahrkarten.pdf
for details.