As said before, don't mind too much about "sold out". "sold out" means that there are no seats left to reserve, but reservations are not required for the ICE train. So just ask for a ticket CPH-FRA and buy a reservation for the leg CPH-HAM only. The reservations are per train, but the ticket is for the entire route and is valid for any train and is valid for two months; also for the "sold out" trains! Stopovers within this period are allowed, so theoretically, you could go to HAM, stay in HAM for two months and continue to FRA on the same ticket. I would suggest you to go for the earlier ICE train with no reservation. You could also change your EC reservation to the earlier EC train. Ask the staff on the platform about unreserved seats. Sometimes these are grouped in a special section of the train. However, on the EC CPH-HAM, reservations are required due to the ferry crossing. This is because of safety regulations, there is a max no. of passengers allowed on the ferry.

Regarding the "PNR": Train travel in Europe is anonymous, and train tickets do therefore normally not carry names. Thus, they are transferrable. Train tickets and reservations are normally also exchangeable and refundable in the country of purchase up to the day before departure, except for some discounted tickets. So: alot more flexible than most airline tickets!


[This message has been edited by chrismo1 (edited 06-17-2003).]