Dusseldorf airport - onward trains to Frankfurt (Hbf)

[WesternLancer]

OK I'm getting the hang of this (I think). Rail Pass ~£200 (with delivery), mandatory Eurostar reservation £67 return and ICE reservation dead easy on bahn.de at €9.

Now the tricky bit, how do I ONLY reserve a seat on the 08:47 VTWC to Euston (and return on 31/10)? There is no option for this on their website as far as I can see?

Hmm - not 100% sure but stations have always been able to do reservations only at ticket offices if you go in and show them a valid ticket for the route. So if you go with this option, and have your inter rail pass (does that cover the Liverpool - Euston fare?) you would just show that at a ticket office and ask for the seat reservation you want. They will probably give it to you.

Or just opt not to have a reservation unless you know that to be a busy train. After all you would be getting on at the start of the route so I'd expect to be able to find an empty unreserved seat. But peace of mind might suggest it is desirable to reserve one (usual reservation booking cut off was / is 6pm the day before train leaves originating station)

 

[Grumpy Git]

OK, I called VT telephone and the operator said they would make a seat reservation free of charge, so long as there is availability.

Do you get the full perks of VTWC 1st class on board if I buy a 1st class Interail Pass (anyone know what perks you get on a normal 1st ticket with VT)?

 

[WesternLancer]

OK, I called VT telephone and the operator said they would make a seat reservation free of charge, so long as there is availability.

Do you get the full perks of VTWC 1st class on board if I buy a 1st class Interail Pass (anyone know what perks you get on a normal 1st ticket with VT)?

This is the 1st offer

https://www.virgintrains.co.uk/experience/first-class/menu
https://www.virgintrains.co.uk/experience/first-class

No reason to think you would not get it. AFAIK priv ticket holders (eg retired BR staff) get the full offer when they travel 1st, so I assume everyone does.

On DB in 1st you get some free stuff too - German newspapers and also free mini Ritter Sport chocolate was handed out on my recent trip (so a rather modest free offer!).

At seat service in 1st from the DB restaurant menu - not free - which was a good quality meal and nice beer at a reasonable price. Tea / coffee other refreshments also available. Although the actual BordRestaurant (open to 1st and standard class passengers) looked a convivial place to go.

menu
https://db-bordgastronomie.de/dbgastro/downloads/DB_4060-Speise_und_Getraenkekarte-201910.pdf

I selected a reservation in a compartment, by the window, in a 'quiet zone' - which was respected.

Assume you will get the Standard Premier food offer on Eurostar leg.

 

[blackfive460]

OK, I called VT telephone and the operator said they would make a seat reservation free of charge, so long as there is availability.

Do you get the full perks of VTWC 1st class on board if I buy a 1st class Interail Pass (anyone know what perks you get on a normal 1st ticket with VT)?

Regarding perks, yes you do get them with Interrail, just as you would with a normal ticket. It's been a while since I traveled Virgin West Coast but I seem to recall a bacon sarny.
With first class Interrail you'll be in Standard Premier on E* which might be advantageous as there tends to be more availability for passholder fares than in standard and it's only a bit more expensive. You'll get a light meal plus wine depending on time of day though the 'meal' is definitely light.

 

[Grumpy Git]

Great information guys and I've just checked with Eurostar - I can make and pay the £67 mandatory reservation now without having the Interail Pass with me, (it won't arrive until next week).

Any other information I need to know to make sure I'm not caught-out (I see you have to manually enter your train details on your pass before you board)?

 

[WesternLancer]

Great information guys and I've just checked with Eurostar - I can make and pay the £67 mandatory reservation now without having the Interail Pass with me, (it won't arrive until next week).

Any other information I need to know to make sure I'm not caught-out (I see you have to manually enter your train details on your pass before you board)?

Good news!

I'd look at the seating plans on seat61 and make sure you select a decent seat with a view. No point going overland and sitting next to a pillar IMHO

Also - some tickets (and I suspect an inter rail one might be one) do not work the Eurostar automated check in gates, so you get directed to a staffed gate, and then issued with a seperate Boarding Pass. This can add a little time to the check in process so you may want to allow for that.

Be sure to get tickets endorsed in the event of any late running on any leg.

 

[Grumpy Git]

OK, last question (I hope). I have my Interail Pass, so now when I go to make the mandatory reservation only for the Eurostar, (on the Eurostar's own website) is there any way to change the seat afterwards?

 

[WesternLancer]

also worth using DB journey planner to check the arrival and departure platforms so you can be ready for any quick changes (esp at Brussels) - note seat61 guidance on using the 'south corridor' for speed. Tho I was fortunate in that it was a cross platform change the other week.

DB website also has good station plans (find them via google image search) so you can be prepared for station layouts where you need to change.

This excellent site will give you train carriage order and also interior seat plans where it can (and menus for catering vehicles in some cases)
https://www.vagonweb.cz/razeni/?&lang=en

 

[WesternLancer]

OK, last question (I hope). I have my Interail Pass, so now when I go to make the mandatory reservation only for the Eurostar, (on the Eurostar's own website) is there any way to change the seat afterwards?

Yes, so long as the E* site recognises your booking ref (so an interrail ref may or may not work)

Do these instructions work? basically requires the E* site to recognise your booking ref - and then you can change to another seat that may be free.
https://www.seat61.com/London-to-Paris-by-train.htm#Choosing_your_seat_on_Eurostar

As I'd booked with DB the DB booking site ref would not work, thus I could not change seats, but i had been allocated a superb seat automatically, so it did not matter in that instance.

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

To pick up one or two of these points, although it seems you are nearly all sorted now.
.
a. IR passes have to be bought by mail/phone/internet and therefore must be obtained in advance. They are not sold at any UK main line station (although presumably are available at Porthmadog FR...!)
b. IR pass fares can be bought at St Pancras although my understanding is that they charge a £10 fee for doing so. Much the best option is b-europe.com, as suggested earlier.
c. Once you have a PNR number ie a reservation code, you can change the ES reserved seat via the ES website. Even for tickets booked through DB and SNCB/NMBS....
d. The IR is not time restricted on the UK travel from Lime St. to EUS. You can get on any train and also can have the full first class offer.
e. You can buy 'trial' bahncards via DB's website. They issue a temporary card on a pdf which you print out and can prob loadinto the DB app as well these days. You MUST cancel the trial well before its end as DB will otherwise assume that you want it long term and will invoice you for the full annual subscription and renew it for you automatically beyond that.
f. In Germany, you can sit in any unreserved seat not just the one on your reservation. I would avoid those marked 'bahn-komfort' as these are reserved for regular pax with special cards and someone with this privilege will almost certainly turf you out if you are squatting.

Simples. With a plane you just need a booking reference and a passport, so maybe rail still has something to learn.....

 

[Grumpy Git]

Yes, I booked my seats directly via E* site. I used the European (but English) site so I paid slightly less € that the GBP equivalent, but then all my reservation details were in French, (it's a bug on the E* booking site)!
Thanks to seat61 I have decent seats (only about six left free on the outward leg on 28/10).

Looking forward to this trip now (instead of dreading the Manchester Airport experience - for the uninitiated, it's horrible). Total cost for the complete journey (including the £25 I lost cancelling my flight) for 1st class is £354. The economy trip via air (no food/drinks) would have been about £420 including trains (2nd cl).

Thanks again guys/gals.

 

[superalbs]

How about buying a three day Global Interrail pass?
That will get you all the way from Liverpool to Euston on day 1, you'll need a passholder fare, less than £30 (print at home ticket from https://www.b-europe.com/EN/Booking/Pass#TravelWish) and you'll be valid all the way to Darmstadt from Brussels though not on Thalys without buying another passholder fare. Likewise coming back on Day 3. The pass will cost you about £200 or a little less if you're 'senior'.

Probably best to book with the actual Eurostar website!

One of these links should be fine, if one doesn't work, try the other:
https://www.eurostar.com/rw-en/deals/interrail
https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/deals/interrail

 

[blackfive460]

Also - some tickets (and I suspect an inter rail one might be one) do not work the Eurostar automated check in gates, so you get directed to a staffed gate, and then issued with a seperate Boarding Pass. This can add a little time to the check in process so you may want to allow for that.

The passholder ticket has a barcode that works the gates unlike those on DB tickets.

 

[30907]

From very recent experience: the Passholder ticket is only valid with your IR, and ES need to see it, so the gate will reject your barcode. Just go straight to the desk with human beings at it! Same at Brussels.
And you have the Standard Premier offer of a light lunch with wine to top up on your VT breakfast. Have you got yourself a seat near the front of the train (a high numbered coach?).

Lastly, if you miss the connection in Brussels off the 1258 ES, head on to Liege which is a much more open station to wait in ( though watching the Brussels rush hour is an experience in itself).

PS Forget about the Bahncard -if you haven't already - as you have an IR.

 

[Grumpy Git]

Well it was all going so well, however, when I called VTWC to make the seat reservations (told me earlier on the 'phone they would do this free of charge), they now say its not possible for an Interail Pass and there is no way of doing this!

bahn.de makes VT look like something off the Ark. They obviously let Interail Pass users on their trains through gritted teeth it would seem?

 

[30907]

Well it was all going so well, however, when I called VTWC to make the seat reservations (told me earlier on the 'phone they would do this free of charge), they now say its not possible for an Interail Pass and there is no way of doing this!

bahn.de makes VT look like something off the Ark. They obviously let Interail Pass users on their trains through gritted teeth it would seem?

Really surprised. No problem with LNER. Mind you I didn't say it was an interrail.
As an aside, ATOC have put it about that Interrail ticket holders have to reserve seats, which is equally rubbish....

 

[blackfive460]

Well it was all going so well, however, when I called VTWC to make the seat reservations (told me earlier on the 'phone they would do this free of charge), they now say its not possible for an Interrail Pass and there is no way of doing this!

I've regularly made seat reservations in person at my local station when using Interrail and there's been no problem whatsoever. Mind you, my local station isn't Virgin staffed...

 

[WesternLancer]

Well it was all going so well, however, when I called VTWC to make the seat reservations (told me earlier on the 'phone they would do this free of charge), they now say its not possible for an Interail Pass and there is no way of doing this!

bahn.de makes VT look like something off the Ark. They obviously let Interail Pass users on their trains through gritted teeth it would seem?

Yes, just go to a station and show the pass, or even a print out / screen shot of a pass order or receipt for purchase. Good chance IMHO they will just book you a reservation if you get a friendly member of staff.

In fact, unless I get an online discount worth while I make a point of using the ticket office to buy my tickets (and not TVMs either) so over time the staff get to know you and have on occasion even issued me reservations for seats 'on trust' ie not even asked to see the ticket.

 

[Grumpy Git]

I was at Euston yesterday on my way to a footie game and the VT station staff gave me a reservation with no problem at all when I showed my Interrail Pass confirmation email.

The VT customer service telephone staff need to get their act together though. The bloke who I asked on Friday evening obviously didn't know the script, as he put me on hold for quite a while while (I assume) he spoke to a supervisor. He still refused to give me the reservation after this though!

 

[Grumpy Git]

Interail Pass arrived safely this morning at 09:00 by Royal Mail Special Delivery, so they process it and send it out in one day (I ordered it at 17:00 on Friday). I'm happy, great service, (upon booking it said it would arrive by tomorrow latest).

 

[WesternLancer]

Interail Pass arrived safely this morning at 09:00 by Royal Mail Special Delivery, so they process it and send it out in one day (I ordered it at 17:00 on Friday). I'm happy, great service, (upon booking it said it would arrive by tomorrow latest).

All sounds good - Look forward to hearing how the trip goes!

 

[Belperpete]

Total cost for the complete journey (including the £25 I lost cancelling my flight) for 1st class is £354.

Yikes! I paid £79.98 for a return flight from Birmingham to Dusseldorf almost exactly a year ago. I bought a standard off-peak return to Birmingham and paid a local fare to get me to Cologne and back, so I doubt the total cost was much over £120 (don't recall paying anything for the Dusseldorf monorail, or indeed anywhere to buy a ticket for it at the airport end). I appreciate that things have gone up a bit since then, and your trip was booked more short-notice, but even so I consider the fare you are paying to be way OTT.

This thread was starting to make me interested in travelling by train when I make a similar trip to Dusseldorf/Cologne next year, but it has left some distinct impressions on me:
1) the fares for travelling by train to Europe are astronomical compared to air
2) the booking process, and the number of options that need to be considered, are totally off-putting. Goodness knows how long in total you must have spent booking your trip by train.
3) VTWC and other TOCs seem to be deliberately making it difficult to book through journeys
4) if you don't have access to a booking office who knows how to deal with things such as giving you a reservation for use with an Interail Pass, then you are likely to have problems. Unfortunately I don't have ready access to a booking office at all - the nearest are an hour and a half bus journey away, and I doubt they deal much with international bookings.

So I think I will stick to air for my trip next year. Good luck with your trip though.

 

[Mag_seven]

This thread was starting to make me interested in travelling by train when I make a similar trip to Dusseldorf/Cologne next year, but it has left some distinct impressions on me:
1) the fares for travelling by train to Europe are astronomical compared to air
2) the booking process, and the number of options that need to be considered, are totally off-putting. Goodness knows how long in total you must have spent booking your trip by train.
3) VTWC and other TOCs seem to be deliberately making it difficult to book through journeys
4) if you don't have access to a booking office who knows how to deal with things such as giving you a reservation for use with an Interail Pass, then you are likely to have problems. Unfortunately I don't have ready access to a booking office at all - the nearest are an hour and a half bus journey away, and I doubt they deal much with international bookings.

So I think I will stick to air for my trip next year. Good luck with your trip though.

Indeed - the rail industry really need to get its act together if (for the sake of climate change) we are to be encouraged to travel by train to get to Europe rather than by air.

 

[Grumpy Git]

Yikes! I paid £79.98 for a return flight from Birmingham to Dusseldorf almost exactly a year ago. I bought a standard off-peak return to Birmingham and paid a local fare to get me to Cologne and back, so I doubt the total cost was much over £120 (don't recall paying anything for the Dusseldorf monorail, or indeed anywhere to buy a ticket for it at the airport end). I appreciate that things have gone up a bit since then, and your trip was booked more short-notice, but even so I consider the fare you are paying to be way OTT.

This thread was starting to make me interested in travelling by train when I make a similar trip to Dusseldorf/Cologne next year, but it has left some distinct impressions on me:
1) the fares for travelling by train to Europe are astronomical compared to air
2) the booking process, and the number of options that need to be considered, are totally off-putting. Goodness knows how long in total you must have spent booking your trip by train.
3) VTWC and other TOCs seem to be deliberately making it difficult to book through journeys
4) if you don't have access to a booking office who knows how to deal with things such as giving you a reservation for use with an Interail Pass, then you are likely to have problems. Unfortunately I don't have ready access to a booking office at all - the nearest are an hour and a half bus journey away, and I doubt they deal much with international bookings.

So I think I will stick to air for my trip next year. Good luck with your trip though.

Train tickets though are still relatively reasonable even at short notice. I paid about £150 return Manchester-Frankfurt with Lufthansa not very long ago (maybe 18 months), but those prices are I think history now. The fare for the aeroplane as of today (economy) is nearly £600 Frankfurt from Manchester for the same trip, with no food and plently of hassle (Manchester airport T1 security can be horrendous), plus the cost train to and from the airport at both ends. My £354 is first class (Standard Premier on E*). The walk-up fare on the return Virgin train I'm using (which is what I effectively have with this ticket) would be £484 on it's own!

 

[gordonthemoron]

Train is much more economical than air at christmas, providing you book with DB as soon as the tickets are available

 

[duesselmartin]

I booked Duisburg to London for the new year for €88 using Thalys and Eurostar.

 

[hooverboy]

I need to book a train from Dusseldorf Airport towards Frankfurt (and back) for travel the week after next, (direct Frankfurt airfares were silly money).

Can anyone with prior experience please tell me which booking site(s) they use please? The 'Trainline' allows this route, but I don't know if it's the best bet as there are not so many features?

if memory serves me correctly then there is an ICE train that goes from dusseldorf to munich via frankfurt.
can't remember whether you had to get the regional train from dusseldorf airport to hbf and change there or whether it was direct.....it was quite a few years ago.
Advance tickets were about €25.
on the day is expensive.

 

[Grumpy Git]

if memory serves me correctly then there is an ICE train that goes from dusseldorf to munich via frankfurt.
can't remember whether you had to get the regional train from dusseldorf airport to hbf and change there or whether it was direct.....it was quite a few years ago.
Advance tickets were about €25.
on the day is expensive.

That was my first option (after I had brought the Manchester - Dusseldorf flight), but whilst searching for trains from Dusseldorf to south of Frankfurt, it became apparent (with much help from posters on here), that a train end-to-end was much better value and much less stressful.

 

[30907]

if memory serves me correctly then there is an ICE train that goes from dusseldorf to munich via frankfurt.
Advance tickets were about €25. on the day is expensive.

Yes. If I have to fly, I book a 1st Advance onward that allows me an hour or more in the DB Lounge; unfortunately it seems Lounge access for Sparpreis passengers is being withdrawn, so it will have to be a bar next time

Alternatively, you can use the DB Rail+Fly offer (think that's the current name) which has to be booked through your airline (and the low-cost operators don't offer it).

That was my first option (after I had brought the Manchester - Dusseldorf flight), but whilst searching for trains from Dusseldorf to south of Frankfurt, it became apparent (with much help from posters on here), that a train end-to-end was much better value and much less stressful.

And you have a day for unlimited travel while you are in Germany - which you probably aren't in a position to make good use of.

 

[Grumpy Git]

And you have a day for unlimited travel while you are in Germany - which you probably aren't in a position to make good use of.

I might just have a few hours in Frankfurt (or Heidelberg) one evening if I get the chance?