Cross border ticket booking with pass?

abbykr

4 posts
new member

Jul 16, 2010 - 5:13 AM

Hi,
I am visiting italy and switzerland. I'll be in switzerland for 6 days and still to decide which pass to use either half fare travel card or swiss saver pass.
In any case, I will be travelling from florence to interlaken. Plan is to take train from florence at 3 PM and to reach interlaken by 8:22 PM.
I want to book ticket online now to take advantage of early booking saving on italian side journey. I was not able to book thru ticket using Trenitalia. Using SBB.CH.EN, I am able to select train from Milan to interlaken and all passenger information. But it doesn't show option of half fare travel card or swiss pass.
I want to travel on 30th August, 2010.
Is there any other way to book these tickets.
Regards,
A

Wandermann

302 posts
top member

Jul 16, 2010 - 7:41 AM

Hello abbykr,

If you use SBB.CH.EN and you want to order your ticket online, at one point you will see "Discount Switzerland" with a dropdown list.

If you don't see the Swiss Half Fare Card there, just choose Half-Fare Travelcard.
If you don't see the Swiss Saver Pass there, just choose Swiss Pass (or GA, 2nd cl.in case you don't see Swiss Pass either)

GA (General Abo) and Half-Fare Travelcard are used by Swiss residents.

The main thing ordering your tickets here is the indication whether you are entitled to travelling in Switzerland for half fare or for free.

So, I don't think you have to book these tickets elsewhere.

Ordering your Swiss Half Fare Card or Pass Swiss Saver Pass can be done online here:
SwissHalf Fare Card
SwissSaver Pass (sroll down)

I hope this answers your question and I wish you a very pleasant stay in Italy and Switzerland.

MySwissAlps.com recommends to read this:
About point to point tickets

abbykr

4 posts
new member

Jul 16, 2010 - 9:35 AM

Thanks. So I can board the train at Milan and will show the ticket and half fare card to conductor onboard.
I don't need to validate half fare card anywhere which I can't do anyway because I'll travel from Italy.
Also my travel is for
Milan to interlaken
Day 1 : jungfrau
Day2 : Murren
Day3 : Lucern with pilatus
Day 4: Bern
Day 5: free either Zermatt or Rhine falls or mauntrex golden pass, we can use Day pass with half fare here
day 6 : Zurich one way
We haven't planned any boat ride yet but we don't know.
Based on above, half fare travel comes a bit less than swiss pass for 8 days.
what would be ideal pass for this situation.
Regards, A

Olga

496 posts
top member

Jul 16, 2010 - 11:06 AM

Hello abbykr,

I can see you have done some calculating yourself, great, that's always the best way to find out! :-) Please also view the Railway FAQ for more questions.

To me a Swiss Pass has always been the most convenient. The free travelling and the discounts you get are good, boat trips (for example) are for free and since you also plan to make some longer train trips, this would be my preference. Of course, this is all personal and therefore just my two cents :-)!

Olga

Wandermann

302 posts
top member

Jul 17, 2010 - 4:48 AM

abbykr said: Thanks. So I can board the train at Milan and will show the ticket and half fare card to conductor onboard.
I don't need to validate half fare card anywhere which I can't do anyway because I'll travel from Italy.

Hello abbykr,

If you purchase a Swiss Rail Pass online, your supplier will probably send you instructions too. Follow these in order to validate your Pass the proper way.

The way Rail Passes are validated seems to depend on the supplier.

Rail Passes issued by Swiss Travel System (for European customers) require you fill out start (and sometimes) end dates. This is enough to validate the pass and it's not necessary to get to a ticket counter.

RailEurope (for non-European customers) seems to require a stamp from a railway official before using your pass. I don't know if the train conductor can validate your Pass before you reach the station where you want to start using your Rail Pass, but you can always ask.

I hope this helps!

abbykr

4 posts
new member

Jul 20, 2010 - 12:06 PM

Thanks. I'll be purchasing Swiss half fare card thru STS so I think i should be OK.
I'll be applying for Family card as well so my child should travel free.
Again there is no option for family card but there is option of junior card. shall I use this.

Also on printout it's showing half fare travel card 1/2/3 year and for child it's showing junior card but I'll be having some other type of card.
Is it going to be any problem?

Rgds,
A

Annika

7179 posts
expert &
moderator

Jul 21, 2010 - 4:26 AM

Hello Abbykr, I'm not sure which booking system you're using. You seem to have selected not the 1 month Swiss Half Fare Card for tourists, but the 'General Abonnement' for Swiss residents which is valid during a year or even a few years. This indeed can't be combined with the free Swiss Family Card. The Junior Card is different from the Swiss Family Card. For example, it's not for free. Maybe you tried to order through the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) website? Rail tickets and passes for residents are sold here as well.

If you order through the Swiss Half Fare Card page and click your country of residence, you'll enter the order system of STC, where you can easily opt for your free Swiss Family Card. An example can be seen through this link: you only have to click the box 'Family Card for children accompanied by at least one parent' and then continue your ordering procedure.

I hope it's clear now!

Last modified on Jan 27, 2020 - 11:14 AM by Arno

abbykr

4 posts
new member

Jul 21, 2010 - 9:50 AM

Thanks everyone.
Things are more clear now.
Card to be book from STS site.
Tickets from SBB site.
I also got reply from SBB site that while booking travel card 1/2/3 can be used for swiss half fare card, junior card for STS family card as mentioned by Wandermann.

rgds,
A

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