Buying a Deutsche Bahn ticket
#17
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: HKG
Posts: 1,497
I'm pondering a journey from Munich to Salzburg. I fly into Munich and presume the luggage can come out efficiently and immigration to be smooth - all done in an hour. Is 1 hour too tight a connection? What if there are delays and I end up missing my train. Would the ticket checkers balk if I take the next train instead with my existing ticket?
#18
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 199
If you have a discounted ticket they are most of the time only valid for a certain train. Then will you will have to pay the full rpice in the worst case. Maybe you are lucky as a foreigner but remember: We Germans tend to be very correct
#19
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Amsterdam
Programs: KLM, Thalys
Posts: 308
I'm pondering a journey from Munich to Salzburg. I fly into Munich and presume the luggage can come out efficiently and immigration to be smooth - all done in an hour. Is 1 hour too tight a connection? What if there are delays and I end up missing my train. Would the ticket checkers balk if I take the next train instead with my existing ticket?
#20
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: HKG
Posts: 1,497
I can almost guarantee you will miss your train in one hour. The train leaves from Munich main station (HBF). You will take a local train (almost like a metro) from the airport to the HBF. This train takes 40 minutes. Walking to the station at the airport and walking from the arrival beneath HBF to the track where your train leaves will take care of the other 20 minutes, so it will be almost impossible to get a train that leaves one hour after you arrive.
#21
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 199
Sorry, to clarify - the departure is from the airport 1 hour after my landing. The DB website says I take the S-bahn and then transfer to the Salzburg train once I reach the city. Yes, it's also a discounted ticket as I see prices varying from 19-21 euros OW, which should include the airport -> city + city -> Salzburg runs.
Basically if your flight is late or luggage arrives too late worst case is waiting another hour and take the next RE train to Salzburg. So nothing to worry about
#22
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: HKG
Posts: 1,497
Hmm .. going back to the DB website for more details, the fare is Sparpreis , leaving Munich airport on the S-bahn an hour after my scheduled arrival time and then connecting to an RJ train. I suppose if I arrive late and miss my RJ train, I'll need to buy a new ticket for the next train?
#23
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: BER
Programs: Hilton Gold, BA Gold
Posts: 15,757
Hmm .. going back to the DB website for more details, the fare is Sparpreis , leaving Munich airport on the S-bahn an hour after my scheduled arrival time and then connecting to an RJ train. I suppose if I arrive late and miss my RJ train, I'll need to buy a new ticket for the next train?
#24
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 199
Hmm .. going back to the DB website for more details, the fare is Sparpreis , leaving Munich airport on the S-bahn an hour after my scheduled arrival time and then connecting to an RJ train. I suppose if I arrive late and miss my RJ train, I'll need to buy a new ticket for the next train?
#25
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Europe
Posts: 1,588
If you want the flexibility, buy the Bayern Ticket Single at 21 for 1 person (assuming you do not start your journey before 9am Mon-Fri). You have a train (with one transfer) approximately every hour. These are the connections showing up at 21 on your search (there are no 21 Sparpreis fares).
Although you can only travel on local trains (so no RJ nor EC), the overall journey is only about 15 minutes longer than on the fast trains, because you can change at Munich Ost (take the S8 from the airport, not the S1), and do not have to go to the Hauptbahnhof.
Although you can only travel on local trains (so no RJ nor EC), the overall journey is only about 15 minutes longer than on the fast trains, because you can change at Munich Ost (take the S8 from the airport, not the S1), and do not have to go to the Hauptbahnhof.
#26
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: AC*G
Posts: 23
no - you have to print the PDF you get after booking the ticket. They won't accept it if you, say, show the PDF on your laptop screen.
#27
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: EDKA, STR, ZRH
Programs: LH SEN, A3*G, IHG plat, DB Comfort, SPG gold
Posts: 964
As far as I know, there's the option of making your ticket flexible by paying the fare difference plus 15 EUR. I've never needed to do so, but at least in the early days of "Sparpreis", this was an option. But even if this possibility is still available, this will hardly be an option if you are likely to miss the connection (and I would NEVER buy a Sparpreis ticket if I'm to arrive by plane, unless I have several hours of layover) and if ticket prices are low. As far as I understand, the fare difference to Normalpreis will be less than those 15 EUR of penalty for upgrading your ticket from Sparpreis to Normalpreis.
#29
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Montreux CH
Programs: FB Platinum, M&M FTL, BA Blue
Posts: 11,524
Concerning missed Sparpreis tickets due to a flight delay, I asked about this recently, and apparently it would be possible to go to the counter and pay the fare difference, if the train is missed. So that way the ticket is not completely lost. But it would be good to know someone else's feedback about this.
#30
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Europe
Posts: 1,588