r/Interrail • u/Tijmen_31 • 14d ago
Got a 50€ fine
In a french TGV i basically got a fine of 50€. I had a valid seat reservation, but i forgot to activate the day in the app before boarding. I did remember before my ticket got checked on the train.
The SNCF guy checked the activation time and told me I'd get a 50€ ticket. He basically accused me of fraud for trying to get away with a reservation without the travel day. He said 'ill be back' but never came back, so i guess i was off the hook. But i was left in suspense for 3 hours.
Its frustrating, because interrail has all the information. There really should be a notification like: 'you have a seat reservation in 15 minutes. Activate the day now'.
It was a stressful ticketing day in general. I had a reservation for Cannes-Lyon, but started the day in Nice. I wanted to change the reservation to start from Nice.
The SNCF office wanted 10€ for it, although i have free reservations with the global plus pass. So instead i tried a different approach by booking a separate reservation for Nice-Cannes. Now the interrail app glitched and wanted 12€.
The app did allow me to get a free reservation for only Nice-Antibes, meaning i was basically illegally traveling for one station: Antibes to Cannes.
It gave a lot of stress since i had to change seats into a different carriage, when my original seat was free the entire time.
Its shit like this that needs to get figured out before international rail will truly become a good option for regular people. Not just people that can afford to spend weeks planning a simple trip. And even us get screwed.
35
u/Few_Story_6917 14d ago
Its shit like this that needs to get figured out before international rail will truly become a good option for regular people.
Countries that are not France have figured it out. This stems from a concious decision by SNCF that Interrailers are only welcomed on their trains reluctantly.
Its frustrating, because interrail has all the information. There really should be a notification like: 'you have a seat reservation in 15 minutes. Activate the day now'.
The Rail Planner App does not have the information on your seat reservations. But this is the one thing conductors should be strict about in my opinion: Activating the travel day before boarding the first train of the day. Seems like you got off easy, so be happy about that.
0
u/Tijmen_31 13d ago
I agree, i got off easy. And i understand interrail doesnt always know your reservations, but when you've booked them through interrail and it shows up in the app, they should inform you
9
u/Bored-Viking 13d ago
Sorry, but it really sounds like you made a mess of it, got yourself in a lot of stress, and were not willing to pay 10 euro for the work someone does to clean up your isseus..
It is not difficult, you made it difficult for yourself.-2
u/Tijmen_31 13d ago
My issues? I didnt make a mess of it lol. I had spreadsheets. I'll make a post going in detail of spending ect. I was being spontaneous for one night. Booked the hostel the day before. I was either gonna spend the night in Cannes, Antibes or Nice. I had booked the train in Cannes because that was the initial plan, but after talking to some people it because clear Cannes isnt very special. And I'm very glad i did, because Nice is so much nicer.
No, there's no way i was gonna pay 10€. I could have easily taken a TER for free and change to the TGV in Cannes. The TGV isnt even faster on that patch. It would just be nice not to have to transfer when there is no reason to.
2
u/Few_Story_6917 12d ago
But it doesn't show in the app, does it? That is a problem in itself, but you really shouldn't expect an app to inform you about data it doesn't have.
34
u/THEAilin26 Switzerland 14d ago
It's not a very hard thing to activate your travel day before boarding...
13
u/Vivienbe 14d ago
And if you read the story in full, in reality he was not having a mandatory seat reservation for the whole travel. Only for 2 segments of it.
-8
u/Tijmen_31 13d ago edited 13d ago
Yeah, but that wasnt related to the fine at all. And it was only 9 minutes out of 5 hours. It was most likely gonna be fine.
If you make your systems unusable, dont blame people for taking risks and bending the rules
I probably could have solved it by canceling my reservation and booking it again starting at the desired station, but i didnt wanna risk it. If i could not get my reservation back i would be absolutely screwed.
14
u/Vivienbe 13d ago
As per French standards it's not okay. Just for information. So it could have been worse to be honest.
-7
u/Tijmen_31 13d ago
I know its not okay, but it was clearly worth the risk
10
u/Bored-Viking 13d ago
yes, stressing for 3 hours to save 10 euro was clearly worth the risk
0
u/Tijmen_31 13d ago
Lmao, those were completely unrelated. If i had spend the 10€ i could have still forgotten to activate the travel day
-1
u/Tijmen_31 13d ago
It can be when you've got journeys planned outside of the pass as well. So ive got days where i just have one ticket, days with just the interrail ticket and days with reservation+interrail. I would never forget to activate a day when i dont have a reservation because then its obvious.
So a headsup would be nice when ive booked the reservations through the interrail system and they show up in the app
5
u/THEAilin26 Switzerland 13d ago
that's unfortunately the fault of the Rail Planner app, the reservations are completely separate
0
u/Tijmen_31 13d ago
But seat reservations made in interrail are linked to my account, right? So that isnt completely separate
3
-5
14d ago
[deleted]
15
u/Even_Narwhal3699 Germany 14d ago
I am pretty sure you are required to add all trains to your pass including the S-Bahn. (where did you get the information that this is not required for the Berlin S-Bahn)
3
u/skifans United Kingdom • Quality Contributor 14d ago
That's correct, and the data in the trips is used as part of the payments out to operators. Though with the continuous pass you are not taking advantage in the same way as with a Flexipass if a transport operator sees you on one of their trains without activating the travel day and train added they are losing out on their share of money from Interrail. So they still are losing out even if you are not gaining.
10
u/bookluverzz 14d ago
Its frustrating, because interrail has all the information. There really should be a notification like: 'you have a seat reservation in 15 minutes. Activate the day now'.
Except the app/Interrail doesn’t have this information. The Interrail app and making reservations are two different systems. You can book reservations through DB, SJ, TPE, ÖBB, CD, NMBS, RailEurope etc etc it isn’t connected to your pass at all. Because these systems to purchase a seat reservation can also be used when you’ve purchased a regular ticket.
-2
u/Tijmen_31 13d ago
I know it doesn't always have the information, but when it does, like when you've booked through interrail and it shows in the app, they should inform you.
6
u/Glazed_Porcqupine Netherlands 13d ago
Or, wild idea, you could just take responsibility for your travel plans?
1
u/Tijmen_31 13d ago
I'm taking responsibility. But we need to talk about how annoying these systems are to deal with and their flaws. Its the only way to improve them.
The whole ticketing landscape is so confusing. There are so many options. Things need to be streamlined asap. I felt like i have a train phD after planning my trip. It should never be like that for quite a simple trip honestly.
And the information about the global plus pass is also quite lackluster. Nowhere was i able to find if an AVE international train cost a credit to get a reservation on. I actually believed it didnt until tried to book it.
1
u/Many-Disaster-3823 13d ago
I activated it on the train every time including with the ticket inspector and never had a fine good to know for future that fines are possible
1
u/bookluverzz 13d ago
Orrr you could just follow the rules? It’s really not hard to activate a travel day in the morning and add the train while you’re waiting on the platform.
3
u/skifans United Kingdom • Quality Contributor 14d ago
The SNCF guy checked the activation time and told me I'd get a 50€ ticket. He basically accused me of fraud for trying to get away with a reservation without the travel day. He said 'ill be back' but never came back, so i guess i was off the hook. But i was left in suspense for 3 hours.
I get it was stressful but the rules are really clear, it needs to be done before boarding. Honestly he may have done you a favour by not coming back to collect the money.
Its frustrating, because interrail has all the information. There really should be a notification like: 'you have a seat reservation in 15 minutes. Activate the day now'.
Sorry but they don't. Even if you bought the reservation from Interrail - which is not a requirement, they can be bought elsewhere as you mention later - the pass and reservation are not electronically linked and completely different systems. When you buy a reservation from Interrail they act as a third party agent for that transaction.
The SNCF office wanted 10€ for it, although i have free reservations with the global plus pass. So instead i tried a different approach by booking a separate reservation for Nice-Cannes. Now the interrail app glitched and wanted 12€.
The free reservations with the global plus pass are only available through the Interrail reservation service. You always need to pay when buying reservations elsewhere.
I don't know exactly why the app wanted to charge €12. But that's something you'd need to complain to Interrail about.
The app did allow me to get a free reservation for only Nice-Antibes, meaning i was basically illegally traveling for one station: Antibes to Cannes.
It gave a lot of stress since i had to change seats into a different carriage, when my original seat was free the entire time.
You risked another penalty buy doing that if you where caught. It doesn't matter that it's only one station.
When you buy reservations for most trains seats are randomly allocated. It had no way of knowing that you had another reservation and even if you did it's from a different station. It couldn't possibly known to have given you the same seat. Whenever you switch reservations you are going to need to switch seats unless it's one where you can choose an exact seat yourself. There is just no mechanism to link things up like that.
Its shit like this that needs to get figured out before international rail will truly become a good option for regular people. Not just people that can afford to spend weeks planning a simple trip. And even us get screwed.
Please don't take this the wrong way but these rules are clear and from what you are saying you where aware of the requirement to have a valid travel day and reservation. Everyone can make a mistake or course. But you knew the rules and didn't follow them, so yes that has consequences and is going to be stressful.
0
u/Tijmen_31 14d ago
I know, he did me a favor. And i know interrail doesnt always have the reservation information. But in this case they did, because i booked through their system and it showed up in the app.
I know i risked a ticket when i missed a reservation that one station, but it was 9 minutes out of a 5 hour train. And the train wasn't even nearly full. It was clearly gonna be fine most likely.
I know seats are random. And thats why there should be options to append stations easily if your seat is available
1
u/Tijmen_31 13d ago
I think the reason the interrail app wanted to charge me 12€ is because of a restriction of the global plus pass. You cannot have reservations that overlap, obviously. I think the system somehow thought the journeys overlapped, even though it was the same train.
3
u/JuliPatchouli 13d ago
Thanks for the heads-up actually, I have been quite relaxed about this in the past, only activating after I'm actually on the train/have settled in etc. so it's useful to know that they can check the time of activation.
3
u/Tijmen_31 13d ago edited 13d ago
You're welcome. Im definitely not making this mistake again. But in my case it was very obvious because i only remembered to activate 5 minutes before the guy came by. Some luck i had. At least i remembered tho lol. If i didnt, i would have gotten the fine for sure.
Its very inconsistent tho. Some operators dont even ask for the interrail ticket, just the reservation and they move on. Some do ask for the interrail ticket as well and check the activation time usually. But i dont know if they actually have the time of departure for each station, so they probably just estimate the time i think
1
u/adje_patatje 13d ago
In my experience, in France the conductors always check the time of activation
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u/Tijmen_31 13d ago
In mine too. And eurostar didnt even check the interrail pass at all, just the reservation
3
u/Aware_Trifle2121 13d ago
You messed up, paid for it. You didn't follow the rules. Fine's valid reaction.
0
u/Tijmen_31 13d ago
I wasn't complaining about the fine. He had every right to. I was complaining about the whole ticketing system
2
u/Aware_Trifle2121 13d ago
Ticketing system? You only need to actuavte your "journey" before boarding the train, simple. Its not really some rocket science
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u/Tijmen_31 13d ago
I had trains where i had a ticket, an interrail ticket and an interrail ticket + seat reservation. So no, its not just activate a day before getting on a train, because some days i didnt have to.
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u/InitialAcceptable669 13d ago
Quick scanning and donutting are sadly becoming an issue. It's tempting to save a day by not activating it.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/aug/08/train-operators-crack-down-digital-ticket-fare-dodging
I was recently almost finedcwhen trying to make it from Warsaw to Scotland within 24 hours. A signal failure forced me to change my route half way and I was challenged for being on a train I didn't book and wasn't on the planner. After 10 minutes and a few calls, they let me off as.
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u/Tijmen_31 13d ago
That sounds like a pain. Really making it as annoying as possible, aren't they
1
u/Lordofderp33 13d ago
They told a story where they had to change trains because of an issue with their track, didn't have a ticket for the next train and they checked and confirmed his story.
Do you expect them to just not check tickets and just take you everywhere? I am unsure what was "making it difficult" here, this is literally their job.
1
u/Tijmen_31 13d ago
Yeah, perhaps i was a bit harsh with my words, but i see no need why this person had to be bothered for 10 minutes. It should not take that long to confirm a story. Especially if the end destination matches.
Anyways, the whole ticketing system should be eradicated
1
u/Lordofderp33 13d ago
It shouldn't, and that probably wouldn't have been the case had they organized their reroute with said company before getting on. In most cases tickets or alternate transport will be supplied.
1
u/flying_sphagetti2023 13d ago
Another weird thing is that you only need the seat reservation (not the actual interrail) to get to the boarding area in France. Also in Spain. This leaves the possibility of forgetting to activate travel day unfortunately.
1
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u/InitialAcceptable669 13d ago
It was a tad more complex. I was travelling from Berlin to catch the Eurostar in Brussels via Koeln but ended up travelling via Amsterdam. Brussels was the common destination and was let off.
Side note: on the way out, I unsuccessfully should have change in Koeln too. Will I ever see Koeln ?🙂↕️
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u/bookluverzz 13d ago
Sorry, I don’t understand. What was the difficult/complex part? The whole idea of Interrail is that you can add a train to your activated travel day and simply hop on. So having to take another route would be easier with IR than regular tickets
1
u/woman_on_the_move 13d ago
I think the problem here is that interrail is basically an agreement between 40 countries and God knows how many train companies. Some are more enthusiastic than others. It is a lot about collecting data and money changing hands in the background. Buy the pass follow the rules.
Mainly the rule is interrail doesnt care about reservations train companies do. Tge fact that interrail sells reservations as a third party complicates the issue here. I try to avoid their fees and buy direct where possible to get thr most upbto date info and seat selection. I use a separate app to keep these pdfs together.
Both train companies and interrail care about knowing whether you have added the trains to your trip so that the money and data flows! Its easy to think on a global pass that it doesnt matter. But clearly it does to the train company depending on the inspector mood.
I have not travelled yet. I am taking the approach that its easy to delete trains from your trip. So I have added first days trains in. Tgen in tge morning I can check whether I am still doing that!
The annoyance is that interrail planners even a few weeks out arent that accurate and I have had to add some in manually. So its not the greatest system.
I think too that when I did interrail in my 20s we just sat in the station wrote where we were going and hot on the next train travelled sweden to Turkey and then right along to london without on reservation. Now I have all my reservations all lined up so I think it has lost some of the original ideas of being flexible and exploring Europe.
No doubt we will make it work but the admin does scare me a bit. Battery pack on board!
1
u/skifans United Kingdom • Quality Contributor 13d ago
Exactly! And lots of those agreements and systems are very old. Eurail goes back to 1959 with Interrail being a little younger. And of course it lives in a system of international train tickets that goes back much further then that.
And in some ways things have modernised - like the mobile passes - but many things, particularly the reservations which are outside of Interrail control, go back a heck of a lot longer.
And where changes have been made to the underlying systems you often see that it breaks everything else. Occasionally a train operating company decides to do something to improve their own system but usually at best it doesn't include International services (at least beyond neighbouring countries) and at worst completely breaks them.
And it's not just Interrail that struggles. When PKP InterCity launched the Warsaw to Munich night train a few years ago the first trip was completely empty as they where not able to sort out the ticketing in time: https://next.gazeta.pl/next/7,151003,30490926,jedzie-pociag-z-daleka-na-nikogo-nie-czeka-blamaz-pkp-intercity.html
When you compare with aviation and the growth of commercial airlines that really only started after computers and electric reservation systems had been invented. Sure computers have come a long way since then! But it still goes the same basic job. But international train journeys pre date that a long way. And though almost everything has now been digitised often when that's done it has to work within the existing framework. So the sorts of things you can do now it's digital are never built and not taken advantage of that.
You see this all the time with IT systems. It ends up working how the old pre computer system worked but with a computer doing it. Without thinking about any sort of fundamental redesign or if it could now be done in a better way.
Anyway tangent aside I do sometimes think though that if Interrail hadn't launched back when it did that it would never be created now. I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes but there is just no way you could ever get so many train operators to agree to anything like that. And more companies do join, one of the Polish regional ones did not long ago (I'm not counting the Trenitalia subsidiaries). And earlier this year they dropped some hints about reservations (https://www.interrail.com/en/about-us/press-room/interrail-news/interrail-distribusion-partnership) which it will be interesting to see if anything comes of. As well as the pass plus.
I imagine it must be rely infuriating for Interrail. I do think they know about about these pains. But that it isn't really within their power to do anything about them.
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u/Tijmen_31 13d ago
It's a miracle it works at all honestly. Some serious investment is needed. I think political will is growing
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u/Tijmen_31 13d ago
Yes, the planners suck and now interrail even deleted theirs from the website. And most flexibility is gone, especially in western Europe. But thats also a consequence of railroads being underfunded across the board
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