What if I lose my paper Swiss Travel Pass?
A traveler, Abhishek1691, tried to purchase the Swiss Travel Pass online using his Indian card but faced issues. He ended up buying a 15-day printed pass at the airport and was concerned about losing it since it cannot be replaced. He wanted to know if it's true that the physical pass can't be tied to an account for easy access.
- Keep your Swiss Travel Pass safe, as it's not replaceable if lost.
- To avoid payment issues, use a tourist-friendly site for purchasing the Swiss Travel Pass online.
- Consider getting an e-ticket in advance to prevent problems with physical passes.
- Old CHF notes are no longer accepted, but banks will exchange them for newer ones.
AI-generated summary-
Hi,
I tried purchasing the Swiss travel pass from the SBB website through my Indian debit/credit/travel card but was unable to due to some reason. The cards work perfectly at all shops in and around Switzerland but somehow It didn’t go through at SBB.
So I went to the SBB counter at Flughafen and purchased a printed 15 day STP. The attendant mentioned that in case I lose that print, i can’t reprint or do anything about it. Is that really the case? Isn’t it a little weird that physical passes can’t be tagged to an account on SBB thereby making them accessible on phone as e pass?
-
Hi ABHISHEK1691,
It is stated in the terms and conditions that the Swiss Travel Pass purchased directly from the ticket counter is not replaceable if it’s lost. So make sure you keep the STP safe. Keep the purchase receipt as well. I’m not sure it would help if you took a screenshot of the STP but no harm doing that too. For further assistance you should contact the SBB Contact Centre.
regards,
Anna
Hi Abhishek1691,
It sounds like you tried to purchase from the domestic SBB website. They’re mostly geared to Swiss residents. You’re likely to be able to pay though one of the websites listed on this page: http://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass/price. They are for tourists and are used to international payments. The SBB tourist web shop is on that list too: https://shop.switzerlandtravelcentre.com. Payment issues are rare with them, so you could try this next time. Of course there are always exceptions but they can usually be solved 🙂
And yes, paper passes bought in Switzerland can’t be replaced in case of loss or damage. That’s one of the reasons why gettting an e-ticket online in advance is recommended (as you tried to): https://www.myswissalps.com/train/ticketspasses/practical/wheretobuy.
Anyway, enjoy your trip!
We had our passes on our phone. Super easy
Hi Abhishek.
I had a similar experience when none of my online payments would go through with an Indian Credit or Debit card.
I came to know that there was some exceptions which the Indian Banks had to do to allow such transactions, after putting proper credit controls in place. HDFC Bank informed me that this would be possible around end August.
I traveled to Switzerland end July. However, I managed to purchase the Swiss Pass from Swisstours online, which had an Indian office and accepted my Credit Card.
One important clarification is that the Indian Credit card as well as Prepaid FCY card will work in all POS terminals. I had absolutely no issues making all my payments in Switzerland.
I had just taken CHF 70 in Cash, which was left over from our previous tour way back in 2007. Had to face some inconvenience when cash CHF 10 was not accepted in Rapperswil for a Doner payment and the vendor told me in broken English to go to Bank to exchange it. Luckily, I had carried USD Cash as emergency and could make the payment. After lunch, went to the Bank across and exchanged the old notes for new notes. This was a revelation for me that old notes had been taken out of circulation, but had no issues in exchanging for new notes.
Just posting my experience for other Indians.
I experienced the same issue this summer with Swiss money left over from a previous trip. (I always save it for the next trip.) Vendors rejected the paper cash but thankfully the Swiss bank exchanged it for the newer version. I had no idea that they had replaced their paper money. I also overheard someone else talking about the same issue when they were paying for lunch and had their Swiss money rejected. This is something good to know in advance, to avoid confusion and embarrassment.
Hi Shasukhy, Lastlook,
Thanks for sharing this piece of information. Had no idea about it. Good to know the old notes can be exchanged for newer ones at the banks.
Anna
- The thread ‘What if I lose my paper Swiss Travel Pass?’ is closed to new replies.
