rfrost

First, a big thanks to WaxComb and Concerto.
Second: two more questions: Can I set the date of validity of the BahnCard as my first date of travel, but still book my train tickets now taking advantage of the Bahncard discount? And should I mail the cancellation letter once I get to Germany, or is leaving it at a ticket window adequate?

WaxComb

Leaving it at the ticket window should be adequate. That's what I did. I didn't ask for a stamped copy, but it's probably a good idea.

Regarding when to set validity, I think your BahnCard need to be valid before you can book a ticket. Also, I think it's valid as soon as you pay for it. However, I don't know these for sure.

KQ321

I don't know whether you can post-date the validity of your BahnCard - but this should become apparent either way as you progress through the (online?) application process.

However, I think you can book train tickets before you actually have a BahnCard - the validity is checked when you travel (so you must have it by then, otherwise you are technically travelling without a ticket), but AFAIK not when you book. (For example, around the time my BahnCard expires each year, I can buy tickets for the period after it expires, before the replacement card has been issued. bahn.de gives a warning that my expiring BahnCard won't be valid as a form of ID at the time of the journey, but doesn't block the ticket purchase...)

bruce80

You can definitely buy the tickets (no validation is required to do so, as you can also buy BC-discounted tickets for someone else), however, you cannot (a) earn points on those tickets (as you'd have to enter the BC number during the booking process) and you cannot (b) use yout not-yet-existent BC as a means of identification for your online ticket (you'd have to resort to an ID card or your credit card).

As far as I know, you may enter the day of first validity during the application process (at least that has been possible on written application forms, but I haven't applied for a BC since they imtroduced the subscription model).

saltytheseagull

Two more questions.

I signed up for bahn.bonus, but the website said that I won't receive my card for up to 9 days. Can I get retroactive credit?

Also, is there a way to upfare a ticket?

I wasn't sure how long the 29EUR sale was going to last, so I bought a 2nd class ticket. The spread on first was too great, now of course 1st is back down to 39EUR. I'm going to guess that I would have to pay 15EUR to exchange the ticket, lose the 4,50EUR that I paid for the seat booking fee, and pay the 10EUR on top.

bruce80

No, unfortunately not. But didn't they tell you your (preliminary) bahn.bonus number after you've signed up? I don't really know the process, but when you order a BahnCard, you'll get a PDF printout with a preliminary BC number that should be good for collecting points (unless you have already purchased your ticket).

The only way, as you have already figured out, is to cancel your existing ticket at the cost of EUR 15 and get a new ticket at the current rate. Your reservation will still be valid, but of course useless.

However, you could purchase an upgrade ("Übergang 1. Klasse") during your train ride from the conductor. While I don't know whether you'll only pay the difference between a full-fare 2nd class ticket and a full-fare 1st class ticket or the entire difference between your ticket price and the full-fare 1st ticket (plus an on-board fee of ~10 EUR) and maybe even an EUR 15 refund/exchange fee (which I'd say is more likely), I wouldn't recommend this as this will most definitely become more expensive than cancelling your existing ticket.

rfrost

I was indeed able to date the Bahncard from my first day of travel. (I am not planning to collect points as I will be canceling it unless my plans change drastically in the next couple of weeks.)

Lewis42

Fireflyer05

Yes. You get 1 point for every spent Euro. Previously i think they also gave additional points for 1st class tickets, but i haven't found that anymore in the conditions. The german version is here: https://www.bahn.de/p/view/mdb/bahni...07_05_2018.pdf
I haven't checked if there is also an english version of the terms.

1flyer

yes

Concerto

I appear to have lost all my points, all 7,000 or so of them. I just presumed my DB credit card would renew automatically and I thought I had paid it, but obviously not. So the points just disappeared, without even mention of a Storno on my account. There's no sign that they actually existed. Obviously it's too late now, and I should have looked at my account more often (shows how inspiring bahnbonus is). But I just forgot about it, possibly because my main residence is now in Switzerland.

Realistically, I expect that nothing can be done, the points are gone. Can anything be done, do you think? Maybe even Kulanz Punkte? I personally think it is a bit harsh, just to evaporate all my points like that, with no warning at all (I received no Hinweis whatsoever). At least with the airlines you get a bit of time to spend them...and usually some sort of warning. I suppose Deutsche Bahn is a monopoly, despite the rise of other operators, and just doesn't care. I also think the value of the points has just gone down and down, given that I can often get such cheap Sparpreis tickets all over the place.

R.O.

Sorry you lost your points.

I can get a value of around 4 cents per bahnbonus point. Basically, I book non-flex awards for 1000 points whenever the Sparpreis rate after Bahncard rebate and after ecoupons (if any) exceeds EUR 40.

DB has recently gotten smarter in removing award inventory when Sparpreis rates are almost at the level of the Flexpreis. But I can still find useful redemptions. I usually book like between 1-3 weeks before I travel. YMMV.

Concerto

Working on getting the points reinstated. But first, I have to back pay the Bahncard from its beginning in late September before we can sort that out, So, they hold all the cards obviously, but the Bahncard will come in useful even if I don't get the points, or some of the points, reinstated. It will take a few days for the whole thing to go through and the actual Bahncard to reach me in the post (I did the Überweisung last week. As for the Deutsche Bahn credit card, not sure if they can reinstate that or if I have to reapply (sure hope I can do it with Swiss residency now).

A word as to how and why this happened, in case anyone's interested. I have an easy.com email address that I use for newsletters, advertising and things like Deutsche Bahn. That address got hacked during the summer, so I abandoned it and let it fill up with junk and die (there was nothing sensitive on it, so the threats from the hacker were futile). I called Bahncard services and asked them to change my email address but this change was not executed properly. So, I missed all the information and undoubted reminders that were sent to the defunct email address. Bahncard services accepted this as a good enough reason to look into my case and try and rectify everything. Oddly, it took me quite some time to realize that this was why this debacle happened.