Europe Trains Guide Forum
General discussion => Train fares and tariffs => Topic started by: AlexWB on February 07, 2011, 11:35:02 am
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Do I need to buy a first class ticket if I want to reserve a 2-berth sleeper compartment (for travel inside Slovakia)?
I looked on Slovak Rail website and it says I do, but I thought this was usually the case with a 1 berth compartment?
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Slovak Rail website is correct, anyone travelling in a single or double compartment within Slovakia needs 1st class ticket. This is different to international travel, where 2nd class ticket for double is sufficient.
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Slovak Rail website is correct, anyone travelling in a single or double compartment within Slovakia needs 1st class ticket. This is different to international travel, where 2nd class ticket for double is sufficient.
+1
Sometimes it does happen that double requires 1st class ticket on domestic routes. Actually we even remember times when, for instance, SNCF required 1st class ticket even for 4 berth couchette. Hard to imagine, but it did happen. So it is far not the most horrible thing counting ZSSK very reasonable fares for sleepers.
Btw, if you are ready to play a small trick, then it is possible to save in such situation anyway. Just purchase 3 sleeper reservations for the same compartment (2/3, Tourist), it will cost you app. same price as 2 reservations for double. Afterward at another ticket counter - two 2nd class tickets. When boarding the train just hide one out of three reservations and show conductor only two 2nd class tickets and 2 sleeper reservations. Officially you would be fully fine, since you do travel in 3 bed compartment with 2nd class tickets, but there will be no neighbor since third berth in your compartment is sold, thus removed from sale.
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Btw, if you are ready to play a small trick, then it is possible to save in such situation anyway. Just purchase 3 sleeper reservations for the same compartment (2/3, Tourist), it will cost you app. same price as 2 reservations for double. Afterward at another ticket counter - two 2nd class tickets. When boarding the train just hide one out of three reservations and show conductor only two 2nd class tickets and 2 sleeper reservations.
Nice trick, but the problem is that some cashiers are not willing to sell just reservations without buying the underlying tickets (or at least showing the tickets if they were bought in advance).
But as we already started with tricks (an how to beat the system), there's another one which gives you a comfort of a single compartment for even less money:
You firstly purchase one 2nd class ticket and reservation T3 for yourself. Then, in another counter, you will purchase 2 tickets for people older than 70 years plus 2 reservations T3 to the same compartment as before. Those tickets for seniors are extra cheap (0,17 EUR for each 50 km, so Bratislava - Kosice costs 1,49 EUR) and you don't need any identity card to buy them. Or you can buy all those tickets and reservations on-line.
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Nice trick, but the problem is that some cashiers are not willing to sell just reservations without buying the underlying tickets (or at least showing the tickets if they were bought in advance).
Hmm... maybe it does happen, but, as far as we know, there is no such railway rule in general. Does it?
Such rule exists only in former Soviet countries. There, even if reservation and ticket are issued on separate ticket sheets (like all the international tickets), you anyway can't buy sleeper reservation without ticket no matter what.
... and you don't need any identity card to buy them. Or you can buy all those tickets and reservations on-line.
Wow, that is a very cool solutions ;)
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Hmm... maybe it does happen, but, as far as we know, there is no such railway rule in general. Does it?
You're right, currently there is no such rule, but I am almost sure there was such a rule in the past and unfortunately the cashiers are sometimes the last people to learn the new conditions.
As for the trick, it has one little inefficiency: Any berth which was not occupied within 15 minutes after departure from the original station can be directly resold by steward to any other person boarding in the next stations. This is very probable on peak days, e.g Sunday or Friday. The solution is to buy unoccupied berths (and tickets for seniors) from stations further en route - e.g from Trencin (assuming route Bratislava - Kosice).
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Thanks for the info guys :)