Travel with child on Swiss train with reservations

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    3 May 2019 at 8:00:09 #821403

    HI – we are a family of four (2 adults, 2 children – ages 3 and 1) traveling from Como (Italy) to Luzern in June. I am about to book my tickets but I would like to clarify something. The train is an Eurocity train and it seems to have “compulsory” reservation. When I enter in 2 adults and 2 children it asks if any would require a seat. Given that it is a 3 hour train ride I am considering getting a seat for our 3 year old. Can someone please confirm that with “Compulsory Reservation Trains” I would be best off paying for his reserved seat? I have been told many times that kids travel free but I think this is one of those cases were I would actually need a reserved seat for him if I would want to put him in a chair? Is that correct? Any advice would be so great!

    Thanks!

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    rockoyster
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    8889 posts
    3 May 2019 at 9:41:08 #911380

    If you want your kids to have a seat on a Compulsory Reservation route then you need to reserve them a seat. Simple as that. Seat reservations are a different issue to tickets or passes to cover the transport costs.

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    5 May 2019 at 7:22:02 #911381

    Hi – thanks for your reply. I have another problem now and I can’t figure out how to solve it.

    As mentioned we are traveling from Como to Luzern, 2 adults and 2 kids (3 and 1). The SBB site (both mobile and computer) will NOT accept my USA or Canadian credit cards and yes I have checked with the banks and it’s an SBB issue with the Visa / Mastercard Verfication sytem. I have no idea how to get around this.

    So I decided to look at other sites to book the tickets (Happyrail, Trainline, Loco2, etc) and with all of these sites, when I enter 2 adults and 2 children it suggests I increase the age of my three year old to 6 years old if I would like him to have a seat. When I do this, they charge him for a full ticket vs. just the seat reservation like the SBB site does. This means that the cost of the tickets are $103 CHF on the SBB site that isn’t accepting my card and $130+ CHF on the other sites.

    Does a site exist where I can purchase 2 adult tickets and only 1 seat reservation for my three year old? I just wish the SBB site would work for my cards and all my problems with this issue would be solved.

    Thanks in advance for any tips/ solutions.

    rockoyster
    Participant
    8889 posts
    5 May 2019 at 7:35:03 #911382

    There are definitely problems with the SBB site and some credit cards. See http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/sbb-blocks-us-chase-credit-cards.

    Sorry I don’t have any experience of buying tickets through the other sites you mentioned.

    Did you try the SBB Mobile App or only the SBB website? Not sure it would make any difference but might be worth a try.

    Reservations on the Swiss side of the border are not compulsory even on an EC train, only the Italian part of the journey as I understand it.

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    5 May 2019 at 8:15:22 #911383

    Hi AK84,

    Rockoyster is right, you shouldn’t need to reserve seats on the Swiss trains but only the Italian leg where seat reservations are mandatory, see http://www.myswissalps.com/tr aintickets/italy for more info.

    Have you tried buying through the Italian site instead and reserving the seat there? Of course once you reserve the seat to the border town you might as well reserve it all the way to Lucerne.

    I wonder if that is a way around it 🙂 Let us know.

    Maria.

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    5 May 2019 at 15:28:11 #911384

    Hi,

    Can you direct me to the Italian site for booking? I feel like I have tried this but want to make sure there isn’t another site I am missing.

    Regarding not needing reservations from border to Luzern – how does this work given we have assigned seats from Como to Chiasso? Meaning if us adults are assigned seats 20 and 21 for example, what if someone else is assigned seat 23 next to us? I am trying to set up a scenario where I don’t have my almost 4 year old on my lap for 3 hours while not necessarily having to buy him a full ticket if that makes sense. Is there a way to just secure him a seat reservation at all?

    At this rate i seems like just purchasing two adult train tickets from como to luzern on a non SBB site is what I will have to do and hope the train is vacant enough that we can find seats for our kids and ofcourse move them to our lap for those with priorities.

    if anyone else has a work around please let me know, thanks for help

    Amini

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    5 May 2019 at 15:35:54 #911385

    Hi AK84,

    We have a number of approved resellers for train tickets here and I am sure you can mail them to ensure they get you the right tickets and reservations: http://www.myswissalps.com/tr aintickets/italy/price

    It would make most sense to book your tickets and reservations all in one go.

    or you can also try the Italian railway here: https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html

    Indeed, even though you don’t need reservations, I would still reserve all the way to Lucerne to avoid the problem you’re describing.

    Hope this helps resolve the query.

    Maria.

    Removed user
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    5 May 2019 at 19:27:40 #911386

    Hi All – thanks so much for your help. I ended up finding a solution, and that was borrowing my brother in law’s AMEX card to do the transaction on SBB. Lesson learned to just an amex all long haha. Thanks for your help and helpful tips!

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