Is a BahnCard worth it for international trips through Germany?

Hello all (and happy new year, etc).

I expect to make 4-5 international trips through Germany next year, all using DB Sparpreis Europa tickets. Each one is usually around €60.

I know that the DB BahnCard doesn't offer much, if any, of a discount on this international tickets, but is there perhaps any value in getting one for the points or peripheral benefits?

Thanks in advance for any tips.

jamesontheroad said:

Hello all (and happy new year, etc).

I expect to make 4-5 international trips through Germany next year, all using DB Sparpreis Europa tickets. Each one is usually around €60.

I know that the DB BahnCard doesn't offer much, if any, of a discount on this international tickets, but is there perhaps any value in getting one for the points or peripheral benefits?

Thanks in advance for any tips.

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I'm not an expert on yhis, bit it seems there's no discount on this type of ticket with a bahn card, and you can collect bahn bonus points without a bahn card. I'd suggest registering for bahn bonus and getting the 250 point sign-up offer, then either forgetting about the bahn card or buying a 3 month bahn card probe 25 or 50 if it looks you'll need it (which you won't if you're only using sparpries Europa tickets). If you buy a probe 25 or 50 remember to give noticecancel it before it auto converts to a one year card.

You can already look up prices and calculate the difference by saying "I have a BahnCard" in the booking engine. You can then work out if you get a discount and if it's worthwhile getting a BC.

Can you register for BahnBonus with a non-German address? Maybe it was because I was using a mobile browser and couldn’t see the option, but I couldn’t find a way to change the country setting.

For some reason you can't register for bahn.bonus alone if you do not have a German address. If you have a BahnCard however, you can.

No idea why that is.

I have a Bahnbonus only and live in NL, as I mostly use non-reduceable landestickets or others and thus the BC will not pay off. For very short trip from NL there is still the 15% Rail+ discount anyway. In the 1st yr of using it there was a special bonus where one could earn many extra points-this gave me a free saturday BahnPass for the day. I gave off the bahnbonus enrollment peronal whilst in Germany once, it was processsed then without problem and I recently got after 5 yrs the new replacement sent for free home.
Its very easy to simply check what the discount with a BC is on the site-you get the discount for the german part. ON Full-Flex you get also the Rail+ discount for the foreign part. On Eur-** it used to be a flat 5 eur, but I think this is no more and anyway DB is to stop that ticketing soon as has been commented aplenty here IF your trips are not spread out in the yr but f.e. mostly summertime, there about always a ´probe BC´ for less that may then give advantage. You can book without holding the BC, but must have it with you whilst travelling and of coruse a valid one.

Yes, it may be worth buying a BahnCard for journeys across Germany, depending on the exact journeys you make.

Until a couple of years ago, BahnCard 25 holders received 25% off these tickets (with the exception of the London-Spezial, where the discount was a fixed sum of 5 euros). Now, the discount only applies to the German section of the journey. The proportion of the fare which is attributed to the German leg is not shown in the DB journey planner, but is shown on the ticket issued (under MwSt D [VAT in Germany]). The larger the proportion of your journey in Germany, the more discount you will thus receive with the BahnCard.

The BahnBonus loyalty scheme lets you collect a point for each euro spent. You also get 250 points for registering. These points can then be redeemed against tickets and other products offered by partners. The points are only valid for three years. You need 1000 points for a single journey or a regional (Bundesland) day ticket.

Thanks for all the input.

I only ever usually buy Sparpreis Europa and Super Sparpreis Europa tickets between Sweden and NL/Belgium, and the potential savings so far amount to less than a euro per trip. Therefore a BahnCard is not worth it.

DB Customer Service confirmed to me on Twitter that a German address is required for free BahnBonus registration, so that is also unavailable to me.

jamesontheroad said:

DB Customer Service confirmed to me on Twitter that a German address is required for free BahnBonus registration, so that is also unavailable to me.

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I've used Mailboxde.com to get an OV-Chipkaart forwarded, thanks to advice given on here, but that may not be economical for a BahnBonus card.