Zurich Airport to Arosa - day or open return?

jontris

As part of a week skiing from 18-25 January my friend and I purchased return rail tickets from Zurich Airport to Arosa. When we tried to use the return halves we were told that they were not valid and had to buy new tickets. We didn’t quite understand why but we think it was because we mistakenly bought day return rather than open return tickets. Does this distinction exist with SBB, and if so why? The cost appeared to be exactly the same. Should we have had to buy new tickets and can we get a refund on the return halves we didn’t use?

Krist

You were indeed confused.
The SBB (like most continental railways) does whaty is now called “single leg ticketing” in the UK. If you buy a return ticket you actually buy two one way tickets, one from A to B, and one from B to A, valid on the same day. Cost will be twice that of a one way ticket.

“Open Returns” do not exist. You should have just bought a one way ticket from the airport to Arosa for your arrival day, and another one way ticket Arosa to the airport for your departure…

Getting a refund for the “unused half” of your previous ticket will not be possible, as you are not able to prove you did not use it.