Group reservations and 1/2 fare tickets

Rkymtnbamagirl

When booking a group reservation from Zurich Airport to Zermatt and St. Moritz to Zurich City Center, do I go ahead and book the Swiss Pass ½ fare tickets, or do the people traveling in the group purchase their ½ fare ticket prior to my confirming the group rate?

Is the airport Zurich HB? What is it for Zermatt and then Zurich City Center?

I guess I’m confused when I’m setting up the group when it says Adults with a Half Fare Travel Card. I’m assuming this means everyone has a Swiss Pass ½ fare travel card.

Do I pick up the tickets upon arrival at Zurich Airport station?

If our flight is arriving at 8:15 a.m., is it best to book an early afternoon train to Zermatt?

Do I need to call SBB to see if an earlier train is available?

RolandP

Hello Rkymtnbamagirl

I suggest you to ring the SBB Contact Center to discuss all the questions: +41 51 225 78 56 (24/7, waiting times may be possible). It would be more efficient than with back and forth messages.

Here, we are the SBB Community, a customer support forum run by volunteers. We are unable to give you all necessary information.

Holding a group ticket, you are required to reserve the trains; you benefit from a discount, on the other hand you allow the railway companies to prepare their rolling stock due to the preannouncement of the respective groups; SBB rewards your early planning and announcement with a discount of 30% off on group tickets. However, not all trains can be booked by groups. Which train you can take you should ask SBB as only they know the available trains and group contingents per train.
It is possible to take another train with a group ticket but you will not have any priority. In the worst case you will face a denied boarding because of too much luggage and safety requirements for the Lötschberg base tunnel.

What concerns Zurich stations:

Zurich Airport is the airport station;
Zurich HB is the main (central) station. ‘HB’ means ‘Hauptbahnhof’, central station.
It is difficult to say how much time you will require to pass immigration and customs; we do not know your point of departure of your flight to Switzerland.

The Half Fare travel card and the Swiss Half Fare Card are one and the same; the former is for domestic people, the latter for tourists. (Swiss) Half Fare Card holders must be in the possession of the card latest before boarding a train / public transit vehicle; the purchase of the (Swiss) Hald Fare Card is not a preliminary requirement to ultimately purchase a ½ fare ticket. The ticket office will not check whether all of you will have the ½ card, the ticket inspector, however, does.

To calculate the group rate, you can simply declare the number of passengers with ½ travel card; you must make sure that everyone is in the possession of it on the day of arrival in Switzerland.
For group reservations with Glacier Express (Zermatt - St. Moritz), please refer to the Glacier Express customer service, run by Rhaetian Railways, the railway operator of the Glacier Express: https://glacierexpress.ch/en/contact-us

Kind regards,
Roland