Bought Bernina Express 1st class seats, SBB won't allow booking train ticket

Nocoalee35

As seats appeared to be disappearing on the Bernina Express, I booked 2 first class tickets for June 10. I had no entirely worked out the rest of my routing, but I was sure I wanted to do this part of the journey. Now that I have worked out the rest of the journey for that day, SBB is giving me a warning that I cannot book that train, that I need a seat reservation and it is full. How do I show that I have booked my seats?

Nocoalee35

Sorry, I see that as I play with this a little more, it will let me proceed to buying the ticket, I just don’t see a facility for showing that I have seat reservations. I am guessing the I show up with my ticket and my seat reservations, and I’m good? What I am trying to do is to keep a journey together - June 10 starting in Wasserauen 11:18 and then it incorporates the part that I purchased the seat for (St Moritz to Tirano) arriving 18:39. I had booked seats before because I was still trying to decide if it was better to buy a Half Fare card or not, I was still working on my itinerary.

Danhiel

Hello > Nocoalee35 I am guessing the I show up with my ticket and my seat reservations, and I’m good?

Yes, this is correct.

The best ticket could be a Saver Day Pass (with or without a Half Fare Card) but it is not refundable and must be bought in advance to obtain the cheapest price.

https://www.sbb.ch/en/offers/saver-day-pass

Kind regards
Danhiel

Nocoalee35

Thank you for your response, Danhiel - my hotels are booked now and normally I like to book my trains to have that peace of mind, although I keep reading that Swiss Trains rarely sell out. Right now I have book seats on the Interlaken - Luzern Express train and these tickets going to Tirano on the Bernina Panoramic Express (I will come on the regular Bernina trains). I have not booked any tickets yet - you mention the Saver Day Pass - that can be used in conjunction with the Half Fare Pass? We (two adults 62 and 67) have a journey on June 6 from Basel to Wengen, June 8 Interlaken-Luzerne Express, June 9 Luzerne - Appenzall, June 10 Wasserauen to Tirano, June 11 Tirano to Fuessen, Germany, June 12 Fuessen to Passau, Germany. We catch a boat and bike tour in Passau. On June 20, we go from Passau to Munich. June 21, Munich to Basel (where we fly out the next morning). A lot of trains I know, some days longer than others. Pondering which pass to get, or just pay as we go

Danhiel

Nocoalee35

For your trip to Germany, I suggest an Interrail Global Pass (if you live in Europe) or an Eurail Global Pass (if you live outside Europe): 4 days within 1 month with a Senior discount. Don’t buy a German One Country Pass, you have no Senior discount and it would not be valid from Tirano to Füssen.

For Switzerland, you could extend this pass to 7 days within 1 month and buy regular tickets for the shortest journey of your 8-day trip. But, if you plan a lot of expensive mountain excursions (e.g. Jungfraujoch), a Half Fare Card could be better. Saver Day Passes are also available for this Half Fare Card. With the Eurail/Interrail Passes you have 25% or 50% discounts on some mountain railways/cable cars/boats:

https://www.interrail.eu/content/dam/_new-structure/doc/res/Switzerland_railway_network_Eurail_Interrail_2025.pdf

Interrail:

https://www.interrail.eu/en

https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-an-interrail-pass.htm

Eurail:

https://www.eurail.com/en

https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-a-eurail-pass.htm

Nocoalee35

Danhiel, thank you for this feedback, it is very useful. I am in Canada, so I would need the Eurail pass. I have costed it out and my one snag is that I booked the Bernina Express St Moritz to Tirano first class seats - I am guessing there is a way to do it, but that means my June 10 journey from Wasserauen to Tirano becomes a first class booking, whereas I would prefer to keep just the St. Moritz-Tirano protion first class. Also, that complicates my choice of Eurail pass because you have to choose which class you want (most of my travel is second class, except for that day). Half Fare Card is ok for this, I don’t need to worry about class. We have not decided about mountain excursions yet, although we will start looking at this if it impacts our choice of pass. And of course that can be a wild card because it is weather-dependent - who wants to pass an even half price ticket for two people for Jungfraujoch if it is poor weather during the two days we are there - guess that is a roll of the dice. (An aside question: travelling through Switzerland or German in early-mid June - we would like to have a good chance of sitting together/having window seat - do you think this is realistic in second class, or do they tend to get full at that time of year? Hard to answer I know - most of this travel will take place Monday-Friday, except for the arrival journey Saturday (Basel - Wengen), and at the end of our boat trip (Saturday & Sunday - Munich, then Basel). Thanks for your advice!

Danhiel

Nocoalee35 I would prefer to keep just the St. Moritz-Tirano protion first class.

No problem, in Switzerland you can buy a route-specific class upgrade for a specific leg of your journey with a 2nd class Eurail Pass, e.g. only St. Moritz - Tirano. I don’t think that it is possible in every country.

https://www.sbb.ch/en/offers/class-upgrade

No seat reservations are necessary in Switzerland, you can find more information here:

https://community.sbb.ch/blog/23887-demystifying-seat-reservations-on-swiss-trains-a-comprehensive-guide

An exception is the Bernina line which suffers from overtourism, it might be advisable to reserve seats even on a regional train from Tirano to St. Moritz. Access to platforms might be restricted if you don’t have a reservation and you have to wait for the next available train.

I recommend to reserve seats between Switzerland and Germany and for long-distance trains in Germany. If you reserve on bahn.de (German Railways) you can usually choose seats on a map. Be aware that some seats designated with an exclamation mark are between two windows. More information here:

https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm

You can also reserve seats for two consecutive days for the same price, e.g. Passau - Munich - Basel by adding the intermediate city as stopover. Adapt the length of the stay until you find the right trains:

Nocoalee35

Danhiel, this is very interesting about the stopover - if I did a 7 day Eurail pass that would work perfectly, I would not have to choose to leave out my cheapest day of my 8 days of train travel, if I understand this correctly. I am pondering getting the first class Eurail for comfort and availability of seats because we do have a fair amount of train travel and I know my husband will not be crazy about being in an overcrowded train or being split up when we are seated, and I know he loves a window when he is seeing new scenery. I had a thought - last year when we took trains going around Cote d’Azur, and going to Nimes and Agen, we actually got mixed up between the 2nd and 1st class cars once and ended up sitting in 2nd class when we paid for 1st. Was not a long journey but it begs the question for Switzerland and Germany - are the trains well marked between 1st and 2nd class? If you get on the wrong one (with some of these short connections) are you able to walk between cars to find your class of car?

Danhiel

Nocoalee35 if I did a 7 day Eurail pass that would work perfectly, I would not have to choose to leave out my cheapest day of my 8 days of train travel, if I understand this correctly.

No, you don’t understand correctly. This stopover is only possible for seat reservations in Germany, but you need two travel days of your pass. Reservations are not mandatory in Germany and are never checked.

Nocoalee35 Was not a long journey but it begs the question for Switzerland and Germany - are the trains well marked between 1st and 2nd class?

1st class carriage have a yellow strip or a big number 1 or 2. To know in advance where 1st class carriages are situated, you can look at the displays at the stations or install the official mobile apps on your smartphone, e.g. SBB Mobile (Switzerland) or DB Navigator (Germany). You can also store your journey and receive notifications if a train is delayed or if it departs from another platform.

Nocoalee35 If you get on the wrong one (with some of these short connections) are you able to walk between cars to find your class of car?

It possible on most trains, but you have some exceptions. Trains may have different types of carriages (single or double-decker) or two or more units without intercirculation.

Two examples on SBB Mobile app:

Nocoalee35

Thank you so much for the clarification and the information ! Really appreciate it.