Careful around DB (Deutsche Bahn)

[Disco]

It wouldn’t let me do that until I logged out and logged back in again, but all good now.


saw that, but I was after 1st class and just the three month trial card.

I’ve checked their trackwork page and looks like everything is supposed to be wrapped up by early December and I’m travelling in mid December so should be clear, plus I couldn’t see anything on the routes that I intend to take. So fingers crossed.

Kind of annoying though that I’m making three long-ish distance journeys between the 10th and 15th of December. My birthday is on the 16th December where upon I’ll be entitled to the extra discount for being 65 or over.

Good luck with your holiday and hopefully the app will notify you of the last minute changes

 

[Duggo]

I was traveling Berlin to Munich in August, I got notified 35 minutes prior to departure train was cancelled, we were in a taxi just getting to the station and this came via the app, I went to help desk in Berlin HBF and their words were you will have to find another train yourself. I had first class tickets booked and paid prior to leaving Oz and the response to that was you will have to do your best once you get on the train. Zero apologies and I actually felt like they were inconvenienced by me asking questions rather than me and my wife being inconvenienced for the travel disruption.
We ended up on a train that was very full and seated apart for the first couple of hours, apart from that the trains were great.
I was truly appalled at the attitude but I have a family member who has been in Berlin for 12 years and he was adamant that this was standard for Deutsche Bahn. I ended up writing a comprehensive complaint letter and received a voucher code just the other day for 71 euro for being delayed over 85 minutes.
German efficiency was a myth blown wide open, Deutsche Bahn was truly chaotic. Metro around Berlin was pretty good though in terms of scheduling and easy to navigate even though some of the trains and stations were pretty filthy but not all. The worst of the stations was after getting to Munich and going to Dachau, the station at Dachau was disgustingly dirty but it had a fabulous café outside of station near the bus terminal.

 

[RooFlyer]

I had first class tickets booked and paid prior to leaving Oz and the response to that was you will have to do your best once you get on the train.

Thanks. I also have first class tickets booked.

So did you just use the app to find a connecting train to your destination and then get on board, as it’s basically an any train ticket?

Did the App sort of recognise that your train was cancelled and the new train was substitute and therefore you were ticketed on it? Or did you just have to explain to the ticket inspector what has happened?

 

[Duggo]

Thanks. I also have first class tickets booked.

So did you just use the app to find a connecting train to your destination and then get on board, as it’s basically an any train ticket?

Did the App sort of recognise that your train was cancelled and the new train was substitute and therefore you were ticketed on it? Or did you just have to explain to the ticket inspector what has happened?

Yes, app notified of cancellation and it was just a case of finding another train we jumped in the first class carriage and found some seats and eventually were able to sit together after Nuremburg from memory. The ticket inspector scanned our tickets and kept moving without a second glance, as long as you have a paid ticket there is no problem. The cancellation of course meant two trains worth of passengers on the one train so it was pretty full. Certainly nothing wrong with the trains themselves, they are very comfortable but the network was certainly in disarray.

 

[mel-world]

Spring/summer '25 and, obviously DB has not improved much. I made several bookings via the DB App and a couple of seat reservations to use in conjunction with a Eurail Pass. It's not much value using an Eurail day unless you plan a lot of travel each day.

Almost as soon as I paid, I get an App notification and email telling me that the selected trip was cancelled and the ticket was valid for any train the same day. That's okay but all other options around the same time involve one or more transfers - not ideal with 6 weeks of luggage.

Then I get a time change for a trip where I had booked seats but now cannot see the train anywhere despite the ticket office at FRA station telling me the train still operates. Any alternative requires multiple changes.

None of the above would probably warranted a post until we came to take a simple journey from Frankfurt Airport to Koblenz yesterday. The original train was cancelled (see above) so got ourselves to the Frankfurt Main station for an 1142 Hamburg IC train with the first stop in Koblenz. The lack of information was impressive when the train was delayed - eventually departing 40 mins late, the platform changed and then the train took a different route, was stopped by every passing freight train and eventually arrived in our destination more than an hour late. I just pity any passengers going onto Hamburg as it was showing a 90 min delay as we left the train and we were at the first stop. The onboard information screens just kept adding time to the journey.

I'm glad our next journey is to Switzerland - they could not be any better. I have a feeling that our delays were not unique given the attitude of the locals on the train.

 

[dajop]

I'm glad our next journey is to Switzerland - they could not be any better. I have a feeling that our delays were not unique given the attitude of the locals on the train.

Watch those Swiss delays. I mean they have a good track record, but I experienced multiple late trains - by a minute or two

Although in all seriousness, SBB delays can be relatively common - on international routes they operate from other countries (particularly Italy and Germany) back to Switzerland. Domestic only trains, not so much. [as an aside there seemed to be a lot of pressure for the Swiss to open up its railways to competition from foreign operators, but a lot of pushback as well to preserve punctuality].