Online delivery of Swiss Pass - Processing time?

Dear all,

Me and my wife are travelling to Switzerland for the 2nd time as part of our honeymoon. We have ordered the Swiss Pass this time and have chosen online delivery so as to save on courier / delivery cost.

We are rather anxious to know when our Swiss Passes will arrive into our email inbox as we are using Swiss Pass to buy train tickets from Zermatt to Geneva Airport (taking a plane to London).

So:

- Does anyone know how long it takes to receive the Swiss Pass via online delivery?

- How do we use the Swiss Pass to buy train tickets via the SBB webshop (online ticket shop)?

We have already emailed the Swiss travel centre but their reply was inconclusive. I have just emailed the SBB wenshop as suggested on this forum

Hi ivanlyf,

Welcome to MySwissAlps, thanks for posting! Swiss Travel Pass points of sale are listed here, and in most cases the delivery time is listed there too. If not, the site where you purchase should provide that information. Now, it looks like you ordered from the SBB website at www.swissrailways.com, is that right? They offer physical delivery to Singapore in 5 days, and online passes take 3 working days to be received through e-mail.

You will have a Swiss Travel Pass, so you don't need tickets for the trains. You don't need to reserve seats either (see here). You can simply board the trains and show your pass when requested. Even if you would need tickets (e.g. if you had a pass for discounted traveling), there is no need to have the pass in hand to order those tickets.

Enjoy your stay!

Thanks for replying Arno.

Now we're more worried than ever - we purchased the Swiss Pass online on 4th April 2015 - it's almost 5 working days now and we have not received any emails from them. I don't recall deleting any emails as well. Very strange.

Regarding train reservations, we would still prefer to reserve a seat on board the trains particularly on our last day in Switzerland as we will travel down from Zermatt to Geneva Airport to board our plane for London. In this case, should we book the tickets at a train station in Switzerland or still buy them online?

Many thanks for your assistance.

You're welcome ivanlyf. If you order a pass well before your travel date they usually ship it later, about 3 weeks before the travel date, unless specifically requested otherwise. But in any case you should have received a confirmation e-mail directly after ordering. Well, you have contacted them so I guess you'll soon know whether or not your order has been processed.When will you arrive in Switzerland?

If ordering the pass failed somehow, you could consider ordering it from your local reseller in Singapore instead: raileurope.com.sg/pass /swiss-pass. That's cheaper anyway. For all prices, please see here.

If you prefer to book a seat for a Swiss train, you can do so through the same website at this page: raileurope.com.sg#tab3. Not all trains can be booked. In your case you best try the leg from Brig or Visp to Geneva (not the airport). Of course you can simply stay seated for the last few minutes from Geneva to Geneva airport. You can arrange for this in Switzerland as well.

I hope this will be cleared up quickly for you!

Thank you Arno.

I dropped a 2nd email to the Swiss Travel Agency and the rep informed that the Swiss Pass will be sent just before our travel date. Perhaps his English wasn't good but I hope he means 3 weeks before the starting date!

I think we will proceed with reservation of the train tickets first since that can be done without the Swiss Pass. I will call the company up should the Swiss Pass not arrive in 2-3 weeks prior to the start date.

Thank you for your advice and help! My 2nd time in Switzerland and while I'm familiar with SBB trains, I'm new to the Swiss Pass

1 new question - let's say I'm taking the train from Lucerne to Zermatt.

How do I know which train to take and the platform that I will board / alight???

I presume that I go to the ticket counter, inform the counter staff of my destination, flash the swiss pass and they will set me up with tickets from Lucerne -> Zermatt yes? It's all in 1 shot.

Because I know from my previous trip to Switzerland and France that the trains run like clockwork - everything clicks into place nicely and all we gotta do is change platforms if necessary.

Hello ivanlyf,

In Switzerland, it can't miss. Every train station has clear signs and there's a big chance that they will announce which platform you will have to take in the train already.

You can also check the Swiss Timetable if you want to know in advance.

If you have a Swiss Travel Pass you don't have to go to counters for tickets; your Pass is your ticket. You just show it when asked for during your trip.

Have a nice stay,

Olga

Thank you everyone.

I understand what you guys are saying now - everyone just hops onto the train like public transport. We just hope that there would be 2 consecutive seats for us!!

I downloaded the SBB app from Google play store - very useful app!