Nicolajh
Traveller
0 comments
Posted 11 years ago
Hi, I'm new here and I might be doing something wrong, so I would appreciate some help!
We have Eurail select passes which we plan to use to travel over Christmas. I'm trying to reserve a seat on the train from Vienna to Salzburg on Monday 23rd late morning, but the system won't let me select the 'reserve seat only' option, it keeps telling me that I have to buy a ticket, I can't reserve a seat with one.
Can someone tell me why this is happening? Or a way around it? Given the time of year, we don't want to leave it to chance. We want to make sure we are on the train because we need to travel to Salzburg that day.
Thanks for your help!
nltrainer
Traveller
1404 comments
do you KNOW how it works? its NOT an airplane-one can always get on the train.
Only those who fear the prospect of having possibly to stand-mostly only till next stop, or are too afraid to ask others to move their stuff from seats-risk it. And its extremely rare that trains are all fully booked by reservation.
And even if-that wont be the case till the day before. So if you happen to be in Austria-or for that matter anywhere in Europe with an EUrail-associated railway, pop in and have them do the work. Its only a few eur each.
Tickets NEVER ever sell out, noone will be barred from entering-not even those without any ticket, so be sensible and not in panic.
Ity may even be cheaper to use the competing WESTbahn service-they do not do reservations at all. State railway is OeBB
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
Hi.
Do it like nltrainer said and buy it at a station in Austria. It is the standard and cheapest way, to buy reservations offline at stations. Online booking of reservations is an extra service and sadly not available for every country and type of train.
If you want to book it online, do it via [ux]https://rail.shop/acprail/reservation[/ux]
But note: there might be handling fees and shipping fees. So to be honest: railway station is cheaper. :)
Peter :)
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
There are usually three fast train per hour from Salzburg to Vienna: A Railjet service, coming from either Munich or Zurich/Bregenz which is the fastest option, I would recommend a seat reservation; an IC, usually originating in Salzburg and a Westbahn service, originating in Salzburg as well. The latter are both slower than the Railjet but if you are at the station early enough you wont have troubles finding free seats without a reservation.
Flo 8)