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Buying a Deutsche Bahn ticket

Buying a Deutsche Bahn ticket

Old Aug 8, 2011, 11:28 am
  #16  
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Old Aug 9, 2011, 8:51 pm
  #17  
 
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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?
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Old Aug 10, 2011, 4:01 am
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Originally Posted by hkskyline
IWould the ticket checkers balk if I take the next train instead with my existing ticket?
This depends on your ticket. The normal tickets are fully flexible. Reservations are of course linked to a certain train but the ticket itself remains valid also for other trains (exact date is printed on your ticked).

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
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Old Aug 10, 2011, 7:05 am
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Originally Posted by hkskyline
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?
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.
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Old Aug 10, 2011, 9:04 pm
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Originally Posted by JoostvD
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.
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.
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Old Aug 10, 2011, 10:55 pm
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Originally Posted by hkskyline
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.
The full-flex ticket is about 29.70 - 37.00 . Most likely you have bought the "Bayern Ticket Single" which is restricted for travel between 9 am and 3 am the following day on weekdays. Also you can only take regional trains (Regionalexpress) and not the fast ones. It is NOT limited to a certain connection on that day.

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
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Old Aug 11, 2011, 12:44 am
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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?
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Old Aug 11, 2011, 1:06 am
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Originally Posted by hkskyline
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?
you're assuming right. I am afraid, that's how it works.
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Old Aug 11, 2011, 1:31 am
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Originally Posted by hkskyline
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?
If you have bought the ticket already, yes, this will be the consequence. If you haven't bought it yet I would put it the 10 € extra for "Normalpreis" and then you are fully flexible.
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Old Aug 11, 2011, 1:58 am
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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.
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Old Aug 11, 2011, 3:28 am
  #26  
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Originally Posted by Analise
if I buy a ticket from this Dutch website from let's say Hagen to Schiphol, will I be able to print my tickets using the Deutche Bahn machines in Hagen? Will the DB machines even recognize that I made the purchase already?
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.
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Old Aug 11, 2011, 12:14 pm
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Originally Posted by hkskyline
I suppose if I arrive late and miss my RJ train, I'll need to buy a new ticket for the next train?
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.
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Old Aug 11, 2011, 8:28 pm
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Thanks for all your suggestions! I probably won't be buying the discounted Sparpreis ticket, although Bayern may not yet apply for me as I land around 6am. Probably full-flex then ...
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Old Aug 14, 2011, 10:05 am
  #29  
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Originally Posted by railways
If you want the flexibility, buy the Bayern Ticket Single at 21 for 1 person
Bayern Ticket should also include the S-Bahn from the airport to downtown Munich, if I am not mistaken. Is it not valid for up to 5 people to travel on the same ticket?

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.
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Old Aug 14, 2011, 10:09 am
  #30  
 
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Originally Posted by Concerto
Bayern Ticket should also include the S-Bahn from the airport to downtown Munich, if I am not mistaken. Is it not valid for up to 5 people to travel on the same ticket?
Yes it is valid on the S-bahn.

Bayern Ticket Single - 21
Bayern Ticket (2-5 people) - 29.
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