We'll be arriving at FRA on UA 926 (3pm arrival) and plan to take a train directly to Stuttgart. I saw there was an old thread on the AA forum (from 2007). Should I purchase tix in advance or just wait, so that if arrival is early/late, I can catch the immediate next train? Has anyone done this recently and can provide some advice? Thanks.

When is your arrival in FRA? You have to buy discounted tickets at least three days in advance.

Buying discounted tickets is always a gamble. If you miss your train, you will have to pay a 15€ change fee and the fare difference between the discounted fare and the walk-up fare.

If you decide to buy the walk-up fare tickets, you can take any train you want. I would buy them at the airport from the red Bahn vending machines or from the counter. (But I don't know if Credit Cards without Chip/PIN are accepted)

I'd just buy it upon arrival. The train goes into Stuttgart central. Train to Stuttgart airport leaves from same station

IMHO, you should buy a full flexible ticket which costs about 61 EUR. As the ICE runs very frequent on this route, you will be able to jump in the first train after your arrival.

If you want to avoid the complex ticket station at the station, you can buy your ticket online for the same price. The refund for an unused ticket is free before the departure date, from the 1st day of validity its 15 EUR.

The Germany (Travel) Forum is the appropriate place to ask this question; thanks.

FlyinHawaiian, Co-Moderator
United MileagePlus Forum

Hi 2cardinalalums,

you have several options:


ICE-TRAINS (fast connection about 1h15)

Buy ticket at arrival
When you buy a ticket at arrival you will have to pay the regular fare which is
61.00� 2nd class
99.00� 1st class.
It's easy to use the ticket vending machines. Credit cards are accepted. You will then be able to take any train between FRA and Stuttgart and even stop on the intermediate stop(s) (for example you could leave the train in Mannheim, and take the train several hours later onwards to Stuttgart).

Ticket in advance (Saver Rate)
When you buy a ticket in advance on www.bahn.de, you can buy a "Sparpreis" which can only be used on the train you bought it for. So you won't be able to take an earlier nor a later train. Ticket prices are capacity controlled and vary between
35�/39�/49�/59� 2nd class
49�/59�/69�/79� 1st class.
When you want to take any other train than the one on your ticket, then you can do so BUT you have to pay a penalty of 15� and ADDITIONALY the difference to the regular "on-board" fare. The on-bord fare is the regular fare + 10% (min 2�, max 10�) so 67.10� 2nd/108.90� 1st: If you choose to do so, you can directly take the "wrong" train. When the train conductor passes by to check your ticket, he will bill you 15� and the difference.

Consider buying a "BahnCard"
Will you also take the train back from Stuttgart to Frankfurt or have some more train rides in Germany? Then you should consider buying a BahnCard. That's a card that gives you 25% or 50% off the regular price. The most simple version is a "BahnCard 25 valid for 4 months" and costs 25� in 2nd class. So if you have a Frankfurt-Stuttgart return for 122� regular fare this would make it 91.50�. However: Be aware that the card is a "subscription" and automatically renews into a 1 year BahnCard at 61� per year if you do not cancel the subscription. It's not worth buying one if you only have this one train ride in Germany. It's probably also not worth the hassle of cancelling the subscription if you only have one FRA-Stuttgart R/T. But it might be worth considering if you have more train rides in Germany (but not enough to consider a German Rail Pass http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/pri..._kv2-grp_LZ001). The BahnCard is not described on www.bahn.de's US version. If you have questions about this do not hesitate to PM me.



Cheaper connections without ICE but with InterCity (about 2h00-2h30)
Search www.bahn.de with "Further Search Options" and choose "All withouth ICE" and you can find connections with a local train to Frankfurt Main Station or Mainz and connecting to an InterCity train for 45.00� regular fare 2nd class.


Even cheaper option with local trains (about 3h30-4h00)
Search www.bahn.de with "Further Search Options" and choose "Only Local Transport" and you can find connections on only local trains for 35.90�.

That's what I would recommend as well. Touch screens at the ticked vending machines can be a pain to deal with and I don't recall seing a ticket counter at the airport train station, I believe there's a travel agent that sells tickets as you approach the train station.

If you buy a flexible ticket online, you won't have to deal with all of that, plus I think there's a surcharge for not buying the ticket online or from a machine.

Thanks all for your inputs.

We will arrive 7/9 at FRA. This will be a one way only train ride. No other train ride. We're picking up our new car, so only driving after that until we return it to the factory and we fly directly back from STR.

We have 2 adults and 2 kids under 13. So, if I get 2 full fare tix, then the kids go free.

So, looks like we have a few choices. Either 4:53pm or 5:20pm 2nd class full fare at 122 Euros + 8 Euros for seat reservation. 5:20pm has 1st class at 79 euro saver price. Any suggestions?

If you buy seat reservations and miss the train with your reserved seats (or take an earlier train), your reservations will be void (no refund) but do not affect your ticket.

When you arrive with the 3:00pm flight from SFO on UA, you'll arrive in Terminal 1 and when you just follow the signs to "Fernbahnhof" (Long distance trains; there is also a second train station for regional trains only, make sure you walk to the one for long distance trains) then you will be at the train station probably no later than 3:45-4:00pm. Immigration and customs won't take that long. Therefore, I do not recommend the saver tickets 1st class at 5:20pm.

I'd recommend to buy regular tickets only (122.00�).
However: Please make sure that you choose "2 adults + 2 children 6-14". They are free, but only when they are printed on the adults ticket! If that's not the case, then they will have to pay the full (!) fare on the train (+10%). (http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/pr...ard_fare.shtml).

And: Seat reservations are only usefull if you have them for everyone (i.e. 4 reservations).
I'd recommend seat reservations as you are a party of four. Even though at that time during the week, the trains will not be very crowded, but you might have a hassle finding four seats next to each other.

When you go to http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/ to book and change the "Passengers" to "2 adults" and "2 children 6-14" then the system will automatically recommend to reserve 4 seats (4.00� each = 16.00�).


I'd reserve the 4:53pm but you might even catch the 3:53pm train (where you have to change trains in Mannheim, but that is very simple: the connecting train will wait on the opposite side at the same platform (so it's only: leave the train, walk 30 feet, enter the connecting train).



Enjoy Germany and enjoy your new German car.

Additional question: Where are you staying?

If not at a hotel near Stuttgart Main Station then make sure to directly book your train ticket to your final S-Bahn station. Urban trains (= S-Bahn) are included if printed on the ticket as final destination. If you buy only until Stuttgart Hbf then you'd have to buy 4 single tickets (or day tickets) from there onwards.

You can buy a train ticket from FRA to any station seen on http://www.vvs.de/download/SBahn_Liniennetz.pdf at no additional fee (only S-Bahn; U-Bahn is not operated by Deutsche Bahn and therefore always costs extra).

Thanks for the excellent tip.
We're staying at the Althof am Schlossgarten, so it's walkable from the Hauptbahhof.

If you're picking up your car the next day after your arrival and plan to go there by local train/S-Bahn, you can include that ride in your ticket as well:

Go to "Further Search Options" and search from Frankfurt to the relevant station (Zuffenhausen (Porsche)/Sindelfingen (Mercedes); don't know about the exact stations but one should be able to find them on their websites) and add a stopover:
Stuttgart Main Station (Stuttgart Hbf) with a stopover time of 20h for example. Your ticket will then be valid from Frankfurt to Stuttgart on day 1 and from Stuttgart to Porsche/Mercedes on day 2.

(Tickets cannot be valid for more than two days, so if you are staying in downtown the day after your arrival, this trick might not be useful for you.)

The BahnCard does renew automatically, though you may cancel 6 weeks before renewal date. Payment is by bank transfer only, so if you don't provide your bank account details they will cancel the card after renewal date.

I'd just buy my train tickets from the DB machines (the red ones) when I get to FRA. I use to buy in advance, but now I just buy flexible tickets from the vending machines.

The DB machines accept mag stripe cards, and they accept American Express (as well as Visa and MasterCard).

For local travel, I'd buy from a DB machine because local transport machines just take at best cash and at worse just GeldKarte.

Not always. If the OP choses to buy a BahnCard, one bus/U-Bahn ride will be included in the fare, indicated by "Stuttgart+City" on the ticket. However, in Stuttgart the ticket will only be valid for fare zones 10 and 20 (covering the entire town center and most of the surrounding districts, but not the airport).

And for those looking for a ticket counter in FRA: When you walk into the long distance station (from the tunnel across the motorway), you'll find the ticket office straight ahead next to the large departure board.

This won't be necessary if the OP purchases a full-fare ticket as they are always valid for two days (at least if the distance travelled is greater than 100km). On discounted tickets, regional trains won't show up on the ticket but there will be a remark that regional trains before or after the long distance train ride may be used at own discretion. I'm not sure whether the trick described above will really work and personally, I wouldn't risk using both methods as the personnel on the S-Bahn may not know whether it's ok or not. And before you'll get endless discussions and hassle with DB's fare dodger department you should rather buy a regular single trip ticket for your S-Bahn rides on the next day.