Buying an Interrail in the UK

[Flying Snail]

I would have thought that a paper pass would be a better option for most people than changing their phone just to use an interrail pass.

TBH if it breaks someone's enthrallment with the cult of apple I'd consider it a public service.

Globally the vast majority use Android, about 75-25%, North America being the exception and UK being higher apple users than the rest of Europe.

 

[Beebman]

I used a digital pass last year on an iPhone - I did have a couple of issues with the screen flickering which were fixed by powering off and on but no other problems occurred. For me it proved its worth in Germany when I suffered a cancelled ICE as my first train of the day and I was able to quickly replan my itinerary. I had no problems with any conductor scanning the QR codes apart from on the GySEV network in western Hungary where the conductors had no scanners but they were happy for me to scroll through the screen to show them the journey details.

 

[43096]

2. Do not use an iphone, the android version is much less problematic, most of the reported issues are on apple devices.

Well I only have one phone and it’s an iPhone. And I’m not changing to Android dross just to use a less-buggy Interrail app.

 

[AdamWW]

I used a digital pass last year on an iPhone - I did have a couple of issues with the screen flickering which were fixed by powering off and on but no other problems occurred. For me it proved its worth in Germany when I suffered a cancelled ICE as my first train of the day and I was able to quickly replan my itinerary. I had no problems with any conductor scanning the QR codes apart from on the GySEV network in western Hungary where the conductors had no scanners but they were happy for me to scroll through the screen to show them the journey details.

I've never used a digital pass.

I would have thought though that in disruption looking up a new itinirary on a phone (either with the Interrail App or more usefully one from the affected railway company) then writing the new details on a paper pass wouldn't be a lot more time consuming.

 

[Beebman]

I've never used a digital pass.

I would have thought though that in disruption looking up a new itinirary on a phone (either with the Interrail App or more usefully one from the affected railway company) then writing the new details on a paper pass wouldn't be a lot more time consuming.

It really didn't take me long, just 2 or 3 minutes, and for me preferable to writing on a paper pass.

 

[Flying Snail]

I've never used a digital pass.

I would have thought though that in disruption looking up a new itinirary on a phone (either with the Interrail App or more usefully one from the affected railway company) then writing the new details on a paper pass wouldn't be a lot more time consuming.

You can pre-enter several different options and select the one you need almost instantly.
Also for those that like to change plans on the fly you can delete and add without restriction.

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

Returning to the OP, it used to be possible to buy IR Passes over the country from STA Travel in London and a small branch office of a specialist agency at St. Pancras station. But that's all in the past now. The SwissTravel Centre, formerly in the Swiss Centre and now in an office near there might, but otherwise they are only available by post. If you are going via Brussels, you can always just use the standard public Eurostar fare to there from London and buy one on the spot at the SNCB/NMBS International Travel Centre at Midi station (allow at least 45 mins for this).

 

[AdamWW]

Returning to the OP, it used to be possible to buy IR Passes over the country from STA Travel in London and a small branch office of a specialist agency at St. Pancras station. But that's all in the past now. The SwissTravel Centre, formerly in the Swiss Centre and now in an office near there might, but otherwise they are only available by post. If you are going via Brussels, you can always just use the standard public Eurostar fare to there from London and buy one on the spot at the SNCB/NMBS International Travel Centre at Midi station (allow at least 45 mins for this).

Of course if coming from elsewhere in the UK you might want to also use your pass for that bit.

Depending on where you travel from and when, you can get a significant part of the cost of a short duration pass back just from the UK section.

 

[YellowBrick]

Related question: Why exactly /do/ you **have** to fill in the diary for the interrail journey to be valid? What sort of nefarious fare evasion activities are they trying to obviate with that anyway? Seems overkill if you have to do it even for 1-stop S-Bahn trips for example.

 

[AdamWW]

Related question: Why exactly /do/ you **have** to fill in the diary for the interrail journey to be valid? What sort of nefarious fare evasion activities are they trying to obviate with that anyway? Seems overkill if you have to do it even for 1-stop S-Bahn trips for example.

Do they still want you to send the journey log to them so they can see where you've been?

 

[rvdborgt]

Do they still want you to send the journey log to them so they can see where you've been?

Nope.

 

[Mainline421]

Now I guess it's mostly to make it easier for staff to track where you're going and make misuse (altering dates etc.) harder. Removing the requirement would also likely cause many arguments in areas off the beaten path.

 

[Watershed]

Originally I believe the argument was around revenue allocation. I think that argument has actually strengthened, since mobile passes must now far outweigh paper passes, and they must make it much easier to allocate revenue.

 

[AdamWW]

Originally I believe the argument was around revenue allocation. I think that argument has actually strengthened, since mobile passes must now far outweigh paper passes, and they must make it much easier to allocate revenue.

I thought that originally each country just kept the revenue for passes they sold.

My understanding was that the original move to a zonal system was driven by complaints that some countries (Italy, Greece?) were getting a raw deal because they had far more visitors than people buying passes in their own country.

Was there a requirement/request to post off the logs when Interrail first started up? I wasn't aware of it and without that I don't know how you would allocate revenue from them.

 

[weepingwillowb]

Are there any statistics showing sales of Interrail passes country by country in Europe?

 

[Flying Snail]

I thought that originally each country just kept the revenue for passes they sold.

My understanding was that the original move to a zonal system was driven by complaints that some countries (Italy, Greece?) were getting a raw deal because they had far more visitors than people buying passes in their own country.

Was there a requirement/request to post off the logs when Interrail first started up? I wasn't aware of it and without that I don't know how you would allocate revenue from them.

They used to offer a prize draw or other incentives to get users to post them back, that only stopped a few years ago.

It's hard to imagine staff spending time transcribing endless piles of these and matching the entries to operators/routes.

Considering users can now delete entries after the fact I'd wonder how exactly the data is collated.

 

[rvdborgt]

Considering users can now delete entries after the fact I'd wonder how exactly the data is collated.

I wonder too but fact is they they use the mobile pass data now. Most people however don't realise they can delete all entries after the fact and those who do don't bother.

 

[railfan99]

Are there any statistics showing sales of Interrail passes country by country in Europe?

no, but whether 'Eurail' only or 'Eurail + Interrail' I don't know, 'more than 600,000 annually' is a figure I've seen.

As I understand it, revenue is allocated according to what percentage of journeys are made by country. Whether this is calculated on the number of kilometres travelled is unknown.

I wish Eurail would publicise how it divvies up revenue. Seems to be a State secret, even though, despite more private sector competition, many rail operators remain under government ownership (plus UK where effecively now franchisees are almost completely under the DfT control).

 

[rvdborgt]

As I understand it, revenue is allocated according to what percentage of journeys are made by country. Whether this is calculated on the number of kilometres travelled is unknown.

I suppose it is not by country anymore, since some smaller operators are also happy to accept passes, e.g. RegioJet or Westbahn, and will surely get their part of the revenue.

 

[YellowBrick]

Do they still want you to send the journey log to them so they can see where you've been?

If you're claiming a delay-refund they do. Which given you can print one and write whatever you want on it.... (faking the random ticket collectors stamps would be harder, but I doubt they check their validity anyway so...)

I wonder too but fact is they they use the mobile pass data now. Most people however don't realise they can delete all entries after the fact and those who do don't bother.

You can delete journeys post-journey on the App? That makes even less sense! So not only would that inhibit your inability to get a refund, it also seems to render the "must have it in the diary" pointless for the journey, as well as meaning that any stats they collect for journeys are also highly suspect.

I wish Eurail would publicise how it divvies up revenue. Seems to be a State secret, even though, despite more private sector competition, many rail operators remain under government ownership (plus UK where effecively now franchisees are almost completely under the DfT control).

Surely you can get this from the various Public entities via a selection of Freedom of Information requests? Be a chore to do though.

 

[DeverseSam]

You can delete journeys post-journey on the App? That makes even less sense! So not only would that inhibit your inability to get a refund, it also seems to render the "must have it in the diary" pointless for the journey, as well as meaning that any stats they collect for journeys are also highly suspect

The app “phones home” though and I guess transmits the journey details in near real time. Deleting journeys is still worth it as it speeds up the app

 

[Peakrider]

I think Ffestiniog travel can issue them and I’ve also heard that www.switzerlandtravelcentre.com have the facility to do them

Yes Ffestiniog do sell it

Ticket Only - Ffestiniog Travel

Ffestiniog Travel's ticketing department prides itself on being a one stop shop for rail journeys throughout Europe.

www.ffestiniogtravel.com

 

[dutchflyer]

As for the various combined issues re sell and handling of these passes:
This comes, now from memory, from a dedicated forum in NL on passes etc., now ceased, and from someone posting on it who has worked a summertime job as student doing the administration for NS-INternational. NS in NL (my country, yes) is since many years the one railway doing the administrations for these passes and were asked to continue doing it some time ago due to general satisfaction on how it was done. But they suffered from extreme shortage of staff last year-which may explain the then very long delay in sending out passes to OZ=Australia.
Of course there are figures on sales etc-now of course even much better and faster as in the era of only paper. Traditionally (per head of pop.) most were sold in SE=Sweden-for many years, and most were used in the south of EUrope. Thus there had to be a way of compensating railways for that-even though fares (in the past most often fixed per KM, much more as now with dynamic prices) in the north were also much higher as in the south. And yes-this was indeed done by analysing these travel diaries, for some countries indeed up to the individual carriers-in the past of course in most countries there was just the state-owned burocratic monstrosity, like BR once also was. Since then however -esp. in south-east EUR, many once existing international links have ceased. Plus that esp. in FR-ES-IT those newer hi-speed lines were opened and all have mandatory reservation etc. To convince clients to do that sending in, presents were offered and after a while they even discovered that most would like to keep it as souvenir-so a send-back offer was also introduced.
In the past EUrail also was much more costly as INterRail and even more as for those above junior-age as only 1st cl. was available. And the UK was out of that scheme. Which may explain the many questions from Americans and the like about this. Both pass-systems have more or less merged into same: prices, availability. EUrail was much older as INterRail-it was aimed at filling the expensive TEE international trains started in the 50ies. Americans were thought of as being to much spoilt in luxury then to even consider 2nd cl in normal trains.(no AC then to start with!)
You can imagine this analysis was quite a costly and very specialistic job to do-so once they started these mobile passes and soon found it all worked properly, they decided to use only those now for these analysis. And more or less prompt all to finish or at least minimize sales of paper passes.
As I stated many monthes ago, they have since my try-out on 1 they have won me for the mobile pass.
And as I am now again in DE=Germany, Leipzig: DB and all others are now very, very well used to the QR-codes-as the major half of this new 49€/month Deutschland passes also have that. My plastic chipcard from Aachen is also read anywhere-DB conductors at least have new smart and very small (like a handy=smartfone) devizes for that but most often also have to show ID. But most buses cannot and I am just waved on.
Germany has some weird/old-fashioned (in the eyes of non-germans) traditions they tend to stick to: using cash money, using paper tickets and also printed timetables, always extreme caution when personal details are asked for, etc.

 

[railfan99]

This comes, now from memory, from a dedicated forum in NL on passes etc., now ceased, and from someone posting on it who has worked a summertime job as student doing the administration for NS-INternational. NS in NL (my country, yes) is since many years the one railway doing the administrations for these passes and were asked to continue doing it some time ago due to general satisfaction on how it was done. But they suffered from extreme shortage of staff last year-which may explain the then very long delay in sending out passes to OZ=Australia.

In 2022 it was a long wait before I received our Eurailpasses, even though I ordered paper passes months in advance.

Even if it was possible to easily purchase a Eurailpass in the UK, I would always buy significantly in advance as otherwise compulsory reserved trains might be booked out even in 1st class seats and especially in sleeping berths.

At one stage I was worried they wouldn't arrive, but eventually the postie delivered them to my house. The delay certainly wasn't the fault of NL Post, Australia Post or the airlines: it was Eurail's problem.

For forthcoming travels, delivery to my home in Melbourne, Australia this year was fast: only a very small number of weeks, so it looks like Eurail is completely back on track with delivery times.

I love paper passes and won't be switching to mobile. It's terrific that since 2019 validity extends to the UK.

 

[crablab]

I've never used a digital pass.

I've only ever used a digital pass.

The Rail Planner app is actually really good for journey planning - it's where I usually start. I rarely check it against the operator's timetable unless it's a particularly troublesome connection and haven't had any issues (touch wood).
As others have mentioned, the ability to scope out different journey options and choose the one you actually take on a whim (and quickly filter out 'reservation only' itineraries), is really useful. Replanning in disruption or due to booked out trains likewise.
My only criticism was with the issue at NS gates when they enabled their contactless payment trial, but the app now inhibits NFC on the pass page to prevent clashes.

I use the SNCB booking engine to check reservation availablity (as it doesn't need a pass number) and I book reservations either through it or the Interrail site (which seems to use SNCB APIs anyway) which is a bit cheaper, but sometimes lies about availability in my experience.

Not sure why I'd get a paper pass? Seems like a massive hassle and far more prone to getting lost or damaged... But this is just the debate about digital ticketing all over again.

 

[The exile]

2. Do not use an iphone, the android version is much less problematic, most of the reported issues are on apple devices.

Thus adding massively to the cost if you already have an I-phone. Not likely to have a problem with the “wrong sort of paper”. Equally - now we’re not in Europe, what about roaming charges?

 

[rvdborgt]

The Rail Planner app is actually really good for journey planning - it's where I usually start. I rarely check it against the operator's timetable unless it's a particularly troublesome connection and haven't had any issues (touch wood).

The rail planner app should actually NEVER be used for any planning. It's unreliable and often out of date. Consider yourself very lucky if all your planned trains actually existed, or if your train wasn't loaded with pass holders because the app only knew one of the trains on your route. It's a train database to help you register your journeys.
I use the DB planner as a start. It is updated twice per week instead of every few weeks, and its information about e.g. mandatory reservations is also more likely to be correct.

Even if it was possible to easily purchase a Eurailpass in the UK, I would always buy significantly in advance as otherwise compulsory reserved trains might be booked out even in 1st class seats and especially in sleeping berths.

Most reservations can be bought without having a pass yet.

 

[Re 4/4]

Equally - now we’re not in Europe, what about roaming charges?

I can recommend Airalo if your phone supports e-sim. Not affiliated, just a happy customer - 1GB of data over 7 days in Europe is US $5 which is nothing really compared to what some folks try to sell you. It's data only so you can't do calls or texts over the number you get for the period, but it works fine for apps that need the internet like interrail. If someone is going the digital railpass route and wants to avoid data roaming charges, and has an e-sim compatible phone, that's the way to go.

 

[DanielB]

The rail planner app should actually NEVER be used for any planning. It's unreliable and often out of date. Consider yourself very lucky if all your planned trains actually existed

Probably depends on the country as well (how often they update their timetables in the systems the app updates from). I've never encountered missing trains in the app and even amended timetables during track works where available in the app (even with the last update a while ago)

However, still won't recommend the app for planning as it just has much less options compared to the respective operator's app. The Interrail app won't give all options when planning a longer route in one go for example, but prefers the fastest option.
A good example is one from my last trip: without any hassle I got an itinirary from the SBB app from Bern to Brig via the scenic route over the mountain (instead of through a long tunnel). However to even find the respective train in the Interrail app, I had to add a via destination as it only gave the direct intercity trains as an option.

I've actually always used the SBB app for checking my trip while on the way, as it provides all the relevant information you'd need for a Swiss style short transfer, like: delays, updates on the departure platform, train compositions, locations of cars along the platform length etc. So about all the info you won't get from the Interrail app itself.

and its information about e.g. mandatory reservations is also more likely to be correct.

Thats also a thing indeed... the Interrail app gave all kinds of warnings about surcharges for panoramic trains on certain trains between Domodossola and Locarno, but on a train with such a warning a regular unit turned up where no supplements were payable at all. Wouldn't surprise that happens the other way around as well.

 

[rvdborgt]

Probably depends on the country as well (how often they update their timetables in the systems the app updates from). I've never encountered missing trains in the app and even amended timetables during track works where available in the app (even with the last update a while ago)

Consider yourself lucky. It does depend on the country, but I've also had to add trains manually in Austria, for example. As to changed times, the rail planner app will often have been updated by the time you travel, since changes for engineering works are normally communicated in advance. However, if you plan in advance using the app, then the chance is much higher that you see outdated timetables because the app can be weeks behind.