DB booking: why does 2 x 39 = 98?
 

In booking tickets on the DB site for my wife and I, traveling on a Wednesday in February Frankfurt to Amsterdam, I notice I can get a 1 traveler booking for 39 Euro and for two travelers it's 98 Euro (It says "Single ride not available for the 78 Euro fare). In both cases getting the Europa-Spezial Niederlande fare. On dates around the one I need I get the 78 Euro price most of the time. Is there a reason why I do not want to buy 2 singles?

No.

It might be that only one seat is left at the 39€ rate.

I think you nailed it. I just rechecked my latest booking and the fare would now be 30 euros higher. The OP should check into upgrading to FC after checking the economy fare. In my case it was only 20 or 30 euros more RT upgrading to FC. Free newspapers, free chocolate santas and free coffee in the DB lounges too.

MisterNice

Thanks folks. I ended up purchasing the First as it was really not a heck of a lot more. :)

The Bahn is quite hard to understand...

My girlfriend visited me last weekend and came down from Hamburg to Hannover on an ICE. When we were looking for the ticket price as a return ticket we were shown a price of 58,- € (29,- € one way). The price for single journeys was 29,- € and 19,- €. So we just booked to singles! :)

The 19,-EUR fare was a special promo on a few selected short distance point-to-point services on the network !
Bookings were only possible for a short period of time.
So, you´re just lucky to grab that fare !!! And it´s availlable as a one-way only - that´s why it did not show up when looking for a return ticket ...
This fare is no more availlable now !
Now the lowest availlable one is again the common 29,-EUR fare ...

This is easy to understand. You are talking about different offers with different cancellation policies and/or special promos.