Where to buy Swiss Pass?

I have two questions:

1. Is there any advantage to purchasing a Swiss Combi Flex Pass directly from SBB versus RailEurope other than cost, of course? I like dealing with RailEurope, because I can call and ask questions and the tickets arrive promptly. Would it be the same Combi Pass if purchased from either place?

2. I will be flying into Frankfort and then training to Interlaken. Intend to use the first day on my Flex pass for the Basel/Interlaken portion. How to I get validated if I purchase one ticket for the whole journey? Does Germany validate the CH portion of the ticket?

Hi connestee712,

1. All resellers offer the same Swiss Travel Pass Flex Combi. The main differences between the SBB webshop and the Rail Europe US website is the price and the way the pass is validated. Please see here for all the purchase options and differences between them. Be sure to select the "Swiss Travel Pass Flex Combi" from the dropdown list, and then click "Show results" to see the options.

2. Validation is explained on the page I linked to. Basically the SBB lets you validate the pass yourself by filling out a few blank fields (name, passport number, etc.). Rail Europe requires to validate it through railway staff, but you can simply do so on the train from Germany to Basel. Ask the staff before you reach the Swiss border.