Payment Issues with Deutsche Bahn
 

Is there an issue with buying train tickets on bahn.de (specifically on int.bahn.de)? I've tried multiple credit cards, web and app, and logged in and as guest, and it does not accept the credit card. Message is "Means of payment was refused". There's no activity on my credit card, so it's not even getting to that point.

Just curious if anyone has dealt with this and has a solution. I've contacted DB, and awaiting a response.

Is that a U.S. bank card?
Is it "strong customer authentication" enabled?

Since a couple years ago, bank card purchases online in the EU have to have Multi factor authentification. If your US bank card doesn't have it, the purchase simply won't go through.

I use the DB Navigator app on my iPhone with Apple Pay, I've used a Chase visa in the app as well, but not recently.

Consider using the app instead of the web version anyway since the ticket really needs to be on your phone be scanned.

I'll see about the multi-factor authentication issue with Chase, although I've used the card widely across Europe without issue. I tried in app and web, logged in and as a guest, and two different cards. Even tried Apple Pay route on app. Same message every time.

Given the timing and logistics for this particular part of the trip, I may wind up just renting a car - about the same time and cost - and I can actually complete that transaction.

Puzzling why the internet is angry with you.

Booked a ticket today in the app billed to a Chase card using Apple Pay, same as always.

I was in Germany recently, booked a ticket with DB with my chase card no problem, next day didn't work and used paypal, then the following day my chase card worked again *shrug*

Inherently, US banks have been slow to adopt the MFA standards for various financial reasons.....you see the result in the high bank card fraud rates prevelant in the US versus other countries with strong authentification.

When I first got my CSR (Chase Sapphire Reserve), it consistently failed with Bahn.de. Nowadays it works reliably, but my newer Ink Preferred (acquired as a possible CSR replacement for 3X all travel) seems to sometimes have issues now.


Assuming you have/create an account, it really shouldn’t matter where/how you buy the ticket as the phone will load it from the account.

I do recall having problems buying a ticket recently one way but not the other, but unfortunately I don’t recall which one eventually worked.

Bahn is such a mess.