72625 posts
>> Hi, I am trying to purchase a supersaver ticket from Basel to Luzern, but the SBB site fails to accept my credit card (tried several times, with 2 different cards from different countries).
I take it you have an account with the SBB Ticket Shop, in which your credit card details are saved?
What type of credit card is it? (E.g. Visa, MasterCard etc)
>> As I found this a known problem, and I will have no chance to do this online, I wonder if I will be able to buy them in a SBB office when I arrive in Switzerland. Are they available there?
No, they are only offered online and through the SBB Mobile app.
>> and are they offered closer to the travel dates or only well before?
They become available 30 days before the travel date. Numbers are limited, so how long they last depends on demand.
Alpenrose
72625 posts
I take it you have an account with the SBB Ticket Shop, in which your credit card details are saved?
no. I tried to pay directly. But several threads in Tripadvisor forums show they have a problem with non-swiss credit cards, and it doesn’t help if you create a login.
I tried both with an international Visa card issued in Israel, and with an American Visa debit card.
72625 posts
SBB accept prepaid MasterCards. Could you get one of those and load it with sufficíent funds for your purchase?
The problem with using VISA might be the verifying process, which doesn’t always work.
I have had no problems using an Australian MasterCard.
Alpenrose
8889 posts
Hi yoavs,
You could try contacting SBB via http://www.dml.sbb.ch/content /sbb/en/desktop/meta/k ontakt.accitm.reisenin landgruppen1.html to see if they can resolve your problem. I have found them quite responsive.
Rocky