abhilife2001

Hi Folks,

I tried booking some tickets in their site and after selecting the prices , no pf pax etc when pressing continue to go to payment tab it gives the below error ''We are sorry but we are unable to meet your request. Please contact Trenitalia's ticket desks directly. (Error 2020)''.

Any idea what the above error is ??

Also, I wanted to buy a ticket from Vienna to Florence from their site.. But how can I get it since as its an international route , I cannot travel only with PNR and they will also not home deliver the tickets outside of Italy ?? How do we get the tickets ??

Request help ..
Thanks
Abhi

Edit : Now I am able to proceed to payment step, BUT the prices change from the intial page.. In the initial page I am able to get smart Price tickets but in the payment page it shows charges for Smart 2 prices which are Eur 10 per person higher ...
The 2nd query for ticket from Vienna remains open for answers

sc flier

I'm sure that someone else has more experience here than me, but you can also check on RailEurope. Fares might be higher, though. If so, maybe post here again with details for more assistance.

Hawk Circle

Another possibility is the German Rail site.

alexanderrr

for tickets from Vienna use the page of the Austrian railways. They have a link to the special offers to Italy, but you should be able to get the same prices through the main booking engine.

abhilife2001

I maybe in the minority here, but I sometimes find the prices shown on their site confusing and not so user friendly..but yes, I guess for trains starting from Austria this is the only possibility..

We can only check for tickets here but not buy it unless there is a german train connection which is not the case for us... I normally use this for schedule planning for which it is one of the best..

Rail europe shows exhorbitant prices.. I am getting Smart 2 prices which seem quite 'smart" ..

Anyone else faced the experience of having seat available at smart prices but when we proceed to payment the prices change to smart-2 prices which are higher ??

abhilife2001

I checked this site and it was funny.. the rates they show on the sites are even more than the best flexible fares for this route !!!
For eg.. I checked for a particular route ( Vienna - Florence) for a date and the rates for restricted tickets this site showed was USD 152 ( abt Eur 117)
whereas the restricted ticket I bought was Eur 39 while the flexible ticket costs Eur 89 !!!!
Similar for another route I checked.. Venice - Vienna.. They showed the lowest restricted fare of USD 125 ( Eur 97).. I brought the ticket on the same train for same date for restricted fare of Eur 39 whereas the flexible ticket was Eur 69 !!!!

Dont know who buys from this site ..
Anyway, just wanted to share the above info for benefit of future travellers..

Thanks for ur help..

cheers
Abhi

bdemaria

People buy from the RailEurope site, esp. from the US, b/c = although the prices are exorbitant, you can actually complete the purchase for the ticket. The trenitalia site is notoriously unfriendly to foreign transactions [as you have been experiencing] both b/c of credit card compatibility issues but also b/c many of the discount fares that people read about on the trenitalia site are Italo-specific and have residency and/or other requirements.

abhilife2001

Personally the only problem I hv ever faced in trenitalia is yday when 1st i got some unknown error and then it changed the price of an intl trip from smart to Smart 2 while we wanted to proceed for payment.. But I later found out thru the OBB site and while purchasing tht ticket that Smart seats were not avaliable.
I hv brought many within Italy tickets in the trenitalia site paying with India issued CC's and till now it works..I believe even for intl sectors if the trips are originating in Italy, its best to buy from trenitalia site and if originating from another country then that countries train website.. BUT in NO way I will go to Rail Europe, but again this are only my thoughts ..

bdemaria

Its great that your CC happens to work but this isn't the case for many non Italian CCs.

It isn't an issue of what is "best" it is an issue of what is actually possible for many foreign travelers hoping to purchase online at trenitalia b/c the following fact is well established: the trenitalia website is incompatible with many [if not all] US issued credit cards making it impossible for US based customers to buy tickets online from the trenitalia.

abhilife2001

yeah.. i hv red abt this before.. but frankly in no way will i go for the rates in rail europe.. it makes the EU rail passes seem very cheap

abhilife2001

lucky me.. my Indian issued CC worked this time too on the trenitalia site and I was able to purchase tickets within italy easily ^
Something I noticed.. When we use Indian issued CC's in Indian sites, then we hv something called a ''verified by visa'' or ''mastercard securecode'' to be additionally entered while doing online trxns.. but this has never been asked when I purchase something while I am abroad from a foreign site.. but today in the trenitalia site this was asked and since I had it, gave it and got the tickets..
was surprising nevertheless .. is this additional layer of security also required now in Italy ..

thegoderic

Seat 61 has some great advice on using the site.

I managed to book a ticket from Naples to Florence yesterday with a degree of hassle. It only accepted my 4th card which was a Visa Debit, having rejected an Amex, a mastercard and a Visa Credit card.

However I did manage to get the 30% discounted tickets that I don't believe you can get elsewhere and the ticket was emailed to me in seconds once I'd found a card that worked.

sc flier

Really good tips! They even have a suggestion for contacting Amex in Milan if US residents want to pay with their Amex.

Thanks!

abhilife2001

+1 for that site..
luckily for me, I hv till now successfully managed to purchase tickets from the trenitalia site without any problems with my indian issued CC's.. only thing as mentioned below was an addl layer of security password that was asked which I normally require only for online trnxs when I am in India or doing with an Indian hosted site, but otherwise it was fine..

And yes, this 30% fares r not available anywhere else.. i checked for those in the austrian rail site and the same tickets are fully priced and no discounts for advance purchases ..so we can save decent money with advance purchases on trenitalia websites ^

biker

After I discovered the ridiculous mark up in fares on raileurope site I also tried to use trenitalia and ran into the same problem with my US based credit card. Finally I decided to buy train tickets at the station upon arrival for all legs of my journey (Milano to Firenze, Firenze to Rome, Rome to Luzern). This worked just fine although I had some trouble finding the kiosk.

I've had no trouble using my credit card on Deutsche Bahn's site. I still get emails from trenitalia in italian from the initial registration process!