You mean this isn't clear? :D

Yes, you need a separate ticket!

Excactly! Normal thing.... Also some concert-tickets are also a bus ticket etc. It´s also absolutely clear described on the Website. Only problem is, that the result is unpleasant for many travelers;)

You certainly do. Skytrain belongs to the public transport authority, ICE is Deutsche Bahn. To avoid the extra ticket you can take the S11 (which belongs to Deutsche Bahn) from the terminal station below the airport to Duesseldorf main station and board your ICE there. This is to my belief by far more convenient at least for any ICE journey towards the south than changing twice (at DUS Airport and Düsseldorf Main).

Only exceptions ticketwise:

You hold a Bahncard and got a free "city-ticket",

https://www.bahn.com/i/view/GBR/en/p...y-ticket.shtml

you bought an add-on with your ICE ticket called "city mobil"

https://www.bahn.de/p_en/view/offers...itymobil.shtml

or you hold a ticket good for the public transport authority's services only (which includes several Deutsche Bahn services but not the ICEs and ICs).

Clear as mud. :p

From a foreigner's perspective, all I know is I brought a ICE ticket on bahn.de from "Frankfurt(M) Flughafen Fernbf" to "Düsseldorf Flughafen." One would have expected that would coverage transportation to the terminal. Who knew you had to buy an additional ticket for Skytrain or walk the 2.8 km between the train station and the terminal. :)

No idea if the ticket is "special" enough to be a a special DB tickets, such as City plus, NRW-, Schöne-Reise-, Schöne-Fahrt- and the Schöner-Tag ticket"

I always wonder why I need to pay five dollars (and not just 1,6 euro) for the Airtrain from JFK to the subway....

Given you are from NY the DUS concept should not be a surprise for you.

The only difference between our country and then US is the more philosophical approach that the German system is based on trust (no fare gates) whereas the US system is based on 100 percent control.

This is however a more general approach in this country: we expect our fellow citizens to comply with the rules and do trust that they do it.

We will, however, survive a few guest that don't understand the concept because they don't pay unless they are forced to pay by fare gates. ;);) Again, given that you are from NY you should have no problem to understand that the Acela Express is not the subway and you need tickets for both. Even if you find excuses to avoid the result you don't fancy. ;) ;)

It isn´t. This are relative cheap tickets and not valid at ICEs

If one doesn't want to understand one will not understand even if it is as simple a this: An ICE ticket is generally not valid on trams, skytrains, subways and busses.

Translated into a New York experience: An Acela Express ticket is generally not valid on the port authorities busses, ferries, subway or the JFK Airtrain.

Or translated into a London experience: A Heathrow Express ticket is not valid on the Underground. A Southern Railway ticket is not valid on a Heathrow Express service and a bus ticket will not get you on the Underground.

Everybody considers this as normal in New York or London and here we see a lengthy discussion why people do not fancy it in DUS. I personally would decide to install fare gates and make everybody without a VRR ticket or pass pay 5 EUR (like for the Airtrain in NY) ;) Good for me as a taxpayer and a passholder. And it clarifies all "mud". ;)

BTW: Not presenting a ticket if requested will cost you 60 EUR on any no-long distance train and might result in criminal prosecution.

If the ticket was bought with a Bahncard and the journey is longer than 100km, then the (ICE) ticket includes the City+ option and is thus valid on the skytrain and all other transport for that particular area (Verkehrsverbund)

Read my lips: "generally". A BahnCard ticket is, however, not the ticket a tourist generally uses in this country. And if you had looked five posts up to post #34 then you would have seen that I even provided the link to the respective website of Deutsche Bahn. :D And this is not the only option to include public transport in a ICE ticket. More to be found in post #34

Not so important at Skytrain but I doubt it will ever happen. Consider the price for all the gates, it would be a major investion.

About 10000 Euro per gate if you need advanced technology. The old Paris gates will certainly be cheaper. And it is easy at DUS because you have a limited number of access points only. In London they have thousands of these in the Underground system. Cashing 5 Euro per pax would do the trick. Why should New Yorkers at DUS be treated better than Düsseldorfers at JFK? :D:D

BHX has a free (albeit short) shuttle train, there's the shuttle bus at FRA that goes between terminals (and the train station), which is free of charge too. There's more examples than just the one. DLR at LCY is a bad example since LCY is just a stop along a regular light rail line - SkyTrain just goes back and forth between the airport and the train station.

Like you said, the US system makes it very obvious you need to pay. I didn't pay simply because I wasn't aware you even had to pay to begin with. I don't recall any signs stating tickets are required for the SkyTrain.

Given DUS is an international airport with non-stop service to cities in North America and Asia where the public transportation norms are quite different, I think the SkyTrain operators can do a better job communicating a ticket is required.

When you travel to the airport you can use the VRR ticket for the sky train.

When you leave the airport there´s no VRR ticket machine at the sky train so you have to buy an extra ticket.
The next VRR ticket machine is at the train station when you leave the sky train.