Originally Posted by
marks88
Thanks for explanation. I am not 100% but I vaguely recall one of the conductors ex-FRA on the DB train (outbound leg - not the missed one ex QDU) actually scanning the bar code on my BP. I could be wrong. Others (later in the same train leg) just checked it visually.
Walk-up train fare QDU-FRA was IIRC ~100 EUR which is also not really fair. In any case, seems like a rather big down-side to Express Rail - none of that is intuitive, or available online (certainly not at 10pm before 6am train!). I still cannot understand why LH/DB does not empower agents to issue (at least the train portion of) tickets. I had a confirmed seat on the specific ICE train and the DB ticket/help office at Dus central station refused to assist in getting my BP (or even pulling up my reservation) for that leg. And of course the LH code did nothing on the DB site. IIRC, Air France has a small ticketing office at some of the larger train stations for precisely this reason...
Yes, they scan the BP, that's how DB gets paid. The scan (or lack thereof) is not currently feeding back into LH's system. DB can't do much if anything here and while I understand that AF has staff at some stations, they are serving FAR less than DB/LH and it is simply not necessary to do that - DUS/QDU isn't exactly one of the largest airrail stations either.
Swiss/SBB has a better system where the barcode for the train is only on the ETKT - but only if issued by LX these days, doesn't work anymore on 016 tickets.
I always check-in at T-24 for such tickets to allow me to look for solutions in case it fails - last time the app/website switch did the trick.