Seat reservations with Swiss Travel Pass

  • Buckfamily
    Participant
    3 posts
    18 October 2022 at 10:09:08 #828528

    Hello,

    My family of 2 adults, 17, 16 and 14 year old children will be spending one week in Switzerland in December before travelling on to Munich.

    We have purchased a 4 day Swiss Travel Pass however cannot work out how to get the accompanying Swiss Family Card for our 14 year old. Do we get this at a train station when we arrive? Or can we order in advance?

    Our pass will still be active when we travel from Zurich to Munich. I think we need to purchase tickets from St Margrethen to Munich only – is this correct? And do we need to purchase seat reservations for the Zurich to St Margrethen part of the trip?

    Thank you for your advice.

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    Anna
    Moderator
    6362 posts
    18 October 2022 at 15:03:24 #947865

    Hi Buckfamily,

    The Swiss Family Card is given complimentary with the Swiss Travel Pass. Did you purchase the Swiss Travel Pass online? You should contact your reseller and request for one. More details here: http://www.myswissalps.com/swissfamilycard

    In general, seat reservations on Swiss trains are not necessary, as explained here: http://www.myswissalps.com/train/reservations. Exceptions are panoramic trains such as the Glacier Express and Bernina Express.

    Let us know if you need more information.

    Regards,

    Anna

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    18 October 2022 at 16:18:27 #947866

    While buying the STP for the entire family, you could have entered the name of the 14 yrs child, including the date of birth. The system would have recognised it as child and issued the Swiss Family Card automatically. This is how it works with STS and SBB shops.

    Buckfamily
    Participant
    3 posts
    18 October 2022 at 19:27:53 #947867

    We purchased from SBB but when inputting our child’s details it came with a cost of 99CHF for her.

    I will contact them directly for assistance. Thank you so much.

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    19 October 2022 at 7:59:00 #947868

    Hi Buckfamily,

    if you have a valid Swiss Travel Pass (http://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass) you can get the additional Swiss Family Card (http://www.myswissalps.com/swissfamilycard) for your 14 old years at a train station too, here in Switzerland. For your children above 15 years old, you have to get Swiss Travel Passes as well. They cannot use the free Family Card.

    You can buy the Swiss Travel Pass here: http://www.myswissalps.com/swisstravelpass/price.

    Ildiko

    Arno
    Moderator
    15483 posts
    20 October 2022 at 12:57:54 #947869

    Hi Buckfamily!

    That’s correct, your Swiss Travel Pass covers the journey up to the Swiss border. Depending on the connection you choose, the journey is for free as far as St. Margrethen or Buchs. So you only need a ticket from that last station on the validity map to Munich. You can find more details below:

    For most trains on these routes seat reservation isn’t necessary. You can check for your specific connection in the Swiss timetable. The paragraph “Seat reservations” at http://www.myswissalps.com/timetable explains how.

    Buckfamily
    Participant
    3 posts
    20 October 2022 at 20:18:34 #947870

    Thank you for confirming that.

    cavitron
    Participant
    2 posts
    27 October 2022 at 21:58:09 #947871

    Hello,

    I am in a similar situation and will be visiting next summer with my family. I will be getting a Travel Pass. I know I don’t need reservations on the Golden Pass Line, but I want to, especially for the Scenic section. However, I have cannot seem to find anywhere where this can be done. Where can you reserve just a seat on a specific Golden Pass train? Any option I see forces me to buy a ticket, which I shouldn’t need if I have the travel pass. I saw in a thread somewhere that you actually need to phone.

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    27 October 2022 at 23:28:53 #947872

    All sites allow just the reservation to be made – although this only applies on two or three train services across the whole of Switzerland.

    For the MOB, start on this page: journey.mob.ch/en/routing

    then follow the process through until you get the choice of ‘discount’ – at which point you can opt for ‘reservation only’

    cavitron
    Participant
    2 posts
    28 October 2022 at 0:00:53 #947873

    Thank you! I had been experimenting with this before but realIzed I need to pick a specific route where this issue is relevant, such as Montreux to Zweisimmen for that option to appear.

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    28 October 2022 at 11:22:14 #947874

    Yes, all booking sites I have looked at require you to go deeper into the process than you are expecting to have to do, before giving you the ‘discount’ option.

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