DB ICE Surf & Rail
 

Arriving to FRA on LA 705 that is on average a half hour delayed and has a 10% extremely delayed status.

Will oneway fares on DB ICE always be the same as the oneway fare that comes up on the net. Are there ever any discounts buying just before departure? I assume not.

I find DB has fares now called Surf and Rail that appear to only be sold roundtrip in advance on net. On the FRA CGN route the ow is 55 euro but I find these fares for 39 euro rt.

Is it therefore advisable to book these?

If I am unlucky and severely delayed to FRA how does DB deal with situations like this. If I book much later train will they be able to change to earlier at FRA?

You should be able to find full terms and conditions on the bahn.de web site, but AFAIK these cheap advance-booking fares tend to be non-changeable and non-refundable - i.e., you either travel on the train you booked or you forfeit your ticket.

The regular fare is the same regardless of how and where you book.

In the situation you describe I would get a regular ticket, and buy it at bahn.de to save time on arrival.

actually, not true...

if you book your ticket on the train, it costs you more.

In my experience, booking in advance is advisable, simply because you can reserve seats (smoking, non-smoking, compartment, large open space, table, etc).

If you do not make your train because of the delay of your flight, but you are leaving on the same day/routing, most conductors will let you slide. You may lose your seat, but especially if you pull the tourist card, very few of them will actually make you pay the fare difference

Not all correct. You have to look at the ticket you buy. There are the standard flex tickets and there is no difference if you buy them on the net or just before you leave. The advantage of prebooking is that you can reserve a seat as pointed out. If your flight is delayed you can just take the next train and everything will be fine. You just lost your reservation for the seat and that's it.

But be aware if you by a discounted ticket for a special train. The conductors will not let you pass here but force you to buy a new ticket. I have experienced this quite often that passengers had to buy a new ticket because they missed the train they where booked on.

The policy may differ in other European countries. What I've seen often is people boarding the train without paying the zuschlag (supplement) in advance.

I had taken it as read that one doesn't board a train without a ticket. In fact quite a lot of train companies will treat you as a fare dodger, and fine you, if they find you on the train without a valid ticket.

Full-fare tickets are valid on any train, period. It's not a case of "most conductors will let you..."; you are absolutely entitled to travel on any train. If, on the other hand, your ticket is of the no changes/no refunds type then, as others have pointed out, they are not valid on any other train - the only exception being misconnections because of a late-running connecting train. Late-running flights don't count, so if you're arriving by air you should always get a flexible train ticket.

Hello! I found myself on a regional train that was late, and missed my ICE and another regional train as a result. I bought super-cheap tickets, and yet I was able to get the DB office to get me seats on the following ICE and the subsequent regional train. Please note that they stuffed me into the smoking carriage on the following ICE! Oh how I suffered, until I begged the conductor to get me a non-smoking seat.

I bought my tickets for 62EUR, for Aachen-Heidelberg return (that's quite cheap right?). So even though I had discounted tickets, the DB office still found me a place on subsequent trains.

Hope this helps abit.

You don't have to sit in your reserved seat. You can sit in any seat that hasn't got a "reserved" label on it. You should have just moved into the nearest non-smoking coach and sat down in an empty seat.

And DB will always allow you to travel on the next train if you miss a connection. In fact you could probably have got the attendant on your late-running train to endorse your ticket, which would have saved you from having to queue up at the ticket office. S/he probably wouldn't have been able to get you a reserved seat, but that wouldn't have been a problem because seat reservations are not compulsory.