72625 posts
It has been my experience when trying to buy online from SBB that it is a complete nightmare. We tried buying reservations for the panoramic trains,as we already had a Swiss pass, (bought through an Australian website with no problem) I was online all day trying to figure out how to purchase the reservations. At the end of the day I had 2 debits on my credit card and 2 emails (after my emailing them to confirm the reservations) from SBB that in fact no such reservations had been made! My credit card provider immediately issued a disputed transaction form to me to use in the event that the transactions did not automatically disappear from card because if it says ‘authorisation only’ on your credit card then all it means is that the money has been set aside and the transaction has not yet been completed. Luckily in a couple of days the ‘debit’ did actually disappear from the credit card. In the end I simply rang Switzerland SBB to make the bookings on the phone and this process was quick and easy and they spoke excellent English. They will issue you with a booking numbers. When we arrived at Zurich train station I then gave them the booking numbers and paid by credit card. Hope this helps!
15484 posts
Hi SwissPass,
(1) I have heard of such problems before. In most cases it is actually caused by security measures of the card issuer. And in many of such cases they first deny there’s a problem on their end. You have to get through to their security/fraud team to allow the transaction. But, I don’t know whether that’s the case here as well. The SBB webshop for Swiss Travel Passes is http://www.swissrailways.com. Did you buy it there or on the domestic site sbb.ch? They might use different payment providers. Problems can occur everywhere, but I have heard of it more frequently regarding foreign transactions on sbb.ch.
I see you live in Japan. The cheaper and probably easier option for you would have been to order through http://www.raileurope-japan.com/pass/swiss-pass or http://www.raileurope-world.com/pass/swiss-pass (all the retailers for your country are listed here). It might be too late for that now since you depart in a few days and they don’t offer print at home passes. But you can check the first site; their shipping is pretty quick.
You can best contact the SBB and ask them to verify that your payment will not be accepted like the site said. If for any reason they will get the payment and not issue the pass, I am sure they will credit the amount back to you. It happened to me once as well, with a different retailer. They won’t just keep your money.
(2) The ticket counter at the airport will just have opened when you arrive. You can get your pass there. They offer passes for the regular prices, not the lower ones of the other sites I mentioned.
Enjoy your trip!
15484 posts
Hi Kalimpong,
Thank you for sharing your experiences here. In many cases seat reservations can be purchased along with your pass, in your case through http://www.raileurope.com.au, for example. You can also buy them separately: directly through the companies running the trains (which is not the SBB). Links are provided on each of our scenic train pages, under “Tickets”.
72625 posts
Based on your suggestion, I purchased the pass at http://www.swissrailways.com, which was far easier than the domestic site sbb.ch. The domestic site seems to use tight security to protect the card holder, which increases the possibility of rejection of transactions from abroad. This information should be widely shared among foreigners who plan to buy the pass online. Thank you very much.
15484 posts
Thanks for letting us know. I’m glad to hear it worked out for you. Enjoy your stay in Switzerland!