From which retailer should I buy Swiss Travel Pass
A traveler is considering buying a 15-day Swiss Travel Pass online while preparing for their trip to Switzerland. They need advice on choosing between two retailers, HappyRail and Switzerland Travel Center, due to differences in price and cancellation policies. Additionally, they're unsure about the correct departure date to input when booking the pass, given their arrival timing in Zurich.
- If cancellation options are important to you, consider buying from HappyRail due to its lower cancellation fee.
- Enter August 16 as the starting date for your Swiss Travel Pass, as it should reflect the first day of use.
- You can purchase the Swiss Travel Pass in various currencies, so check the total price in USD before buying.
- It's safer to buy Jungfraujoch tickets closer to your travel date since the visit depends on weather conditions.
AI-generated summary-
I am ready to purchase the 15 day Swiss Travel Pass online from USA. your website listed the retailers : HappyRail and Switzerland Travel Center. The price and cancelation policy for e-ticket are different for these 2 retailers.
HappyRail: 511CHF and 15% cancellation fee.
STC: 513CHF and non-refundable for Print@home ticket
Any advice on how to choose the retailer? The pros for STC are (1)company of the Swiss Railways SBB. The cons (2) Official Swiss Railways Shop. The cons are non-refundable for e-ticket, even when the personal data was entered incorrectly.
Does buying from STC has any advantage?
Also, I have question on STC booking question on the traveling date: the “departure date” . I depart San Francisco on August 15 but arrive Zurich on August 16. Which date should I enter? One day off can make difference sometime.
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Hi Ning!
Both options would be fine. It’s up to you to decide if the cancellation option is important to you. In any case, it’s best to buy your passes only once you’re sure of your plans. Yes, Switzerland Travel Centre (https://shop.switzerla ndtravelcentre.com) is the official SBB tourist shop, but HappyRail (https://www.happyrail. com/en/pass/europe/swi tzerland/swiss-travel-pass) is perfectly legitimate as well. So are all retailers listed at http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/price.
As for the date you should enter: as far as I can tell, STC only asks for the start date of your pass, and that should be August 16, or any other date on which you want the validity or your pass to start.
Some retailers may ask for departure dates in case of paper tickets that require physical shipment, so they know when to ship the product. Are you, maybe, referring to the 15 day Swiss Travel Pass Flex instead, as that’s still a paper ticket with most retailers?
We are leaving home for our trip to Switzerland on Sept 3, 2019. If I order our 15-day Swiss Travel passes today (Aug 7, 2019) from either STC or HappyRails, will they arrive in New York, USA before Sept 3? What happens if they don’t arrive in time?
STC claims to have a discount if I purchase my Swiss Travel Pass and a ticket to Jungfraujoch at the same time. However, I am not seeing a discount.
STC shows 513 CHF for the 15 day Swiss Travel Pass, and 132 CHF for the Wengen-Jungfraujoch round trip if I purchase them at the same time
http://www.jungfrau.ch shows the same 132 CHF for the Wengen-Jungfraujoch round trip.
Where is the discount that STC is offering? I don’t see any advantage to buying the STP and Jungfraujoch ticket at the same time. I can buy the STP from STC, and purchase the Jungfraujoch ticket at a later time from http://www.jungfrau.ch and the cost appears to be the same. Am I missing something?
I think I figured it out – the “promotion” on STC for Swiss Travel Pass + Jungfraujoch is not a discount on the tickets. The promotion includes free seat “reservations” on the Jungfraujoch railroad (normal cost is 10 CHF) and a Swiss Coupon Book (normal cost 49 CHF).
Hi SteveP,
Yes, correct! We have explained about that here: http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/free-reservations-to-jungfraujoch-more-discounts.
Annika,
Thanks for your response.
Good to know all listed retailers are legitimate and reputable. And no advantage to buy from STC than any other retailers.
I found STC has an option to pay in USD ($540) instead of CHF (513). But the price $540 is higher than the currency exchange rate ($527). HappyRail does not have the option. So don’t know what the final USD.
Regarding to the Jungfraujoch promotion, since the visit of Jungfraujoch will highly depend on the weather, it is risky to buy the train ticket at the same time as the STP, such as now. right?
Hi SteveP. In addition to Arno’s answer: note the Swiss Travel Pass will be sent as an e-ticket, so you’ll receive it within minutes through most retailers at http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/price. So that’s no problem for your departure on September 3.
Hi Ning,
Retailers indeed offer payment in varying currencies. But HappyRail surely provides USD too. Just visit https://www.happyrail. com/en/pass/europe/swi tzerland/swiss-travel-pass-consecutive and select your preferred currency in the lower right corner. Note that you can always use an online currency exchange rate calculator to get an estimate of what the price in any currency would be like.
Yes, a Jungfraujoch visit is weather dependent. If you’re uncertain, you can indeed buy your Swiss Travel Pass in advance and your Jungfraujoch tickets shortly before going up after checking weather forecasts: http://www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfraujoch/tickets. Please refer to the thread Arno linked to for further details and advice on this promotion.
Annika,
Thanks.
I try to buy STP from STC. I know the name on the ticket should match the one on my passport. However, the name on my passport is all uppercase. should I use all uppercase or can I use mixed upper and lowercase as I use everyplace or auto-fill. NING-CHIA YEH vs Ning-Chia Yeh?
Also, when I click on those agreement “Privacy Policy”, “Term and Condition”, etc.., there is no text in the pop-up window. I can’t check the box w/o reading the T&C.
I sent email to STC: backoffice@stc.ch and waiting for response. I thought I may get response from you faster than STC. Thanks for your help.
Hi Ning,
Upper case versus lower case doesn’t matter, as long as the letters are right. Using lower case with only upper case for the first letters of each name element is more common, so “Ning-Chia Yeh” should be perfectly fine. I’m not sure what’s happening with the pop-up agreement text on the STC website. You can read their privacy policy and terms and conditions using the links in the lower right corner of their website too: see the white links to “Privacy Policy” and “GTC” at https://shop.switzerla ndtravelcentre.com.
Annika,
Thank you so much. You indeed responded sooner than STC. I have not heard from them yet.
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