Originally Posted by
LapLap
Thanks everyone, I really appreciate your timeu and experience.
We looked through and the ticket was very restrictive and the earlier train much faster and impossible to book as part of the itinerary (which spooked MrLapLap) and even with it being faster didn’t really leave much of a margin.
Given the advice, he preferred to play it safe so he’s instead leaving Ravensburg an hour earlier and enjoying a lunch time break at Lindau-Reutin. Has a small bakery and a pulled meat stand by the station with, importantly, German pricing so he can have a hearty meal before crossing into Switzerland.
I cancelled the other ticket, no penalty fee.
RE and RB trains in Germany and all trains in Switzerland are not restricted, so a through ticket Ravensburg-Zurich via Schaffhausen would allow you to travel on any train. And then Friedrichshafen to Lindau-Reutin is in the opposite direction as Friedrichshafen to Schaffhausen. It would be possible to travel Ravensburg-Friedrichshafen-Lindau to Zurich with a connection in Friedrichshafen to a local train and in Lindau-Reutin to the (restricted, as it's an international connection on an upper-class train) Munich-Zurich Eurocity train. Which do you have? The earlier train you mentioned (12:12 from Ravensburg) is an RE to Lindau-Reutin and thus avoid the transfer at Friedrichshafen.