4 ms·

Ha, that reminds me of the time when we found a loophole in the European train ticket price system: Deutsche Bahn had (and still has I think) a "Europe Special"

by lqet 6y ago

Ha, that reminds me of the time when we found a loophole in the European train ticket price system: Deutsche Bahn had (and still has I think) a "Europe Special" where you could buy a ticket from any town in Germany to any town in Europe for 39 EUR flat. Our idea was to travel through Croatia for a few weeks, and we wanted to book a train ticket to Zagreb, from where we would start our trip. Sure enough, bahn.de (the journey planer of Deutsche Bahn) offered us a ticket for a train ride of around 16 hours from our home town to Zagreb, through Austria and Slovenia. We would have had to change trains 2 times. Then things escalated. We discovered that we could book the same trip, for the same price, but with a different route, making a 500 km detour inside Germany over my parent's town. Then we discovered that bahn.de allowed us to specify a minimum time to change trains. We set it to 24 hours at my parent's town, letting us stay at my parents for a night. Then we found out that we could set an additional via option in such a way that we had to change trains in Ljubljana. We set the minimum time to change trains there to 24 hours. Then we found out that the ticket price was the same if we travelled not only to Zagreb, but to Split (at the coast), which required a change of trains in Zagreb. But we wanted to stay a few days in Zagreb, and the maximum minimum time to change trains on bahn.de was 24 hours. We then discovered that (at least 5 years ago) all foreign tickets were valid for 30 days in Croatia. Effectively, this meant that we could stay in Zagreb for 30 days, and our ticket to Split was still valid. We got the ticket. After a week of visiting my parents (1 night stay), Ljubljana (1 night stay), and Zagreb (5 nights stay), we arrived in Split without problems. It was a 1,500 km, 7 day train trip for 39 EUR. The only minor problem we had was the German conductor in the first train after we visited my parents. He just stared at the monstrous ticket in disbelief and had to finally conclude that it was valid. After 10 days at the Dalmatian coast, we took the bus home.

SV_BubbleTime 6y ago
That’s really awesome. But why would the system allow for detours like that? I know multi city is a thing for flights, but would have figured the utility less for trains, but I’m not European so for all I know it’s common to make big not-salesmen-problem paths.
- lqet 6y ago
  It's pretty common in Europe for train journey planners to offer a "Via" option. This is often used to select a specific route if multiple options to go from A to B exist (for example, to get a scenic route).
- treeman79 6y ago
  Somewhere a coder with a deadline was happy the system worked. Dealing with insane scenarios is out of scope for current sprint.
  - amelius 6y ago
    Or management gave imprecise requirements, and coder implemented them in the most customer-friendly way without asking any questions.
- gpvos 6y ago
  It's not so much the distance, but which trains you take, how fully booked they normally are, and how much in advance you book. Sometimes a detour is cheaper than the direct route. If you don't mind sitting in the train a bit longer, one possible trick (of many) with the German system is to book most of your trip using regional (non-long-distance) trains, and only a small bit in an IC or ICE. That way you can usually get across the entire country for 39 EUR (or less with a Bahncard) even if booked a few days in advance. Extensions into neighbouring countries often come for (almost) free.
johannes1234321 6y ago
Until just a few years ago international train tickets were valid for two weeks. That was really useful, since as long as you travels towards a destination you could get quite cheap tickets for tours through Germany or Europe with multiple stops.
newdude116 6y ago
Will check it out. Until last year, you could use a neighbor country to buy train tickets to and from Germany. Since you did not have to start using the ticket in the first station but can basically board the train wherever you feel on the booked trip, you were able to buy all bullet train tickets for about 20 Euros (e.g. Berlin>Hannover, Leipzig>Cologne etc.). Best thing: Not bound to a specific train on that day and they were reimbursable until 24h before your trip started. Good times. But all good times come to an end :-( Just for a comparison: These 20 Euro rides would set you back 150 Euros otherwise. And for train ride information, there is always: https://www.seat61.com/ https://www.seat61.com/
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
polarrat 5y ago
I can attest to what OP @Iqet has said. I had travelled from Berlin to London very cheap in 2011 (I think under 20 Eur , because the whom I bought it from, secondhand, was sharing the group ticket as well). It was my first trip to Europe when I was a student in UK. And I had fallen sick, hospitalized (insurance took care of it), and I missed my flight back, as I was in hospital. I had no money to book a flight or a proper train ride back to UK. That is when one kind stranger helped find this ticket in a website which was only in German and gave me the ticket printout and instructions to board the train. It was literally a life saver.

by lqet 6y ago

SV_BubbleTime 6y ago

That’s really awesome. But why would the system allow for detours like that? I know multi city is a thing for flights, but would have figured the utility less for trains, but I’m not European so for all I know it’s common to make big not-salesmen-problem paths.

lqet 6y ago
It's pretty common in Europe for train journey planners to offer a "Via" option. This is often used to select a specific route if multiple options to go from A to B exist (for example, to get a scenic route).
treeman79 6y ago
Somewhere a coder with a deadline was happy the system worked. Dealing with insane scenarios is out of scope for current sprint.
- amelius 6y ago
  Or management gave imprecise requirements, and coder implemented them in the most customer-friendly way without asking any questions.
gpvos 6y ago
It's not so much the distance, but which trains you take, how fully booked they normally are, and how much in advance you book. Sometimes a detour is cheaper than the direct route. If you don't mind sitting in the train a bit longer, one possible trick (of many) with the German system is to book most of your trip using regional (non-long-distance) trains, and only a small bit in an IC or ICE. That way you can usually get across the entire country for 39 EUR (or less with a Bahncard) even if booked a few days in advance. Extensions into neighbouring countries often come for (almost) free.

johannes1234321 6y ago

Until just a few years ago international train tickets were valid for two weeks. That was really useful, since as long as you travels towards a destination you could get quite cheap tickets for tours through Germany or Europe with multiple stops.

newdude116 6y ago

Will check it out. Until last year, you could use a neighbor country to buy train tickets to and from Germany. Since you did not have to start using the ticket in the first station but can basically board the train wherever you feel on the booked trip, you were able to buy all bullet train tickets for about 20 Euros (e.g. Berlin>Hannover, Leipzig>Cologne etc.). Best thing: Not bound to a specific train on that day and they were reimbursable until 24h before your trip started. Good times. But all good times come to an end :-( Just for a comparison: These 20 Euro rides would set you back 150 Euros otherwise. And for train ride information, there is always: https://www.seat61.com/ https://www.seat61.com/

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

polarrat 5y ago

I can attest to what OP @Iqet has said. I had travelled from Berlin to London very cheap in 2011 (I think under 20 Eur , because the whom I bought it from, secondhand, was sharing the group ticket as well). It was my first trip to Europe when I was a student in UK. And I had fallen sick, hospitalized (insurance took care of it), and I missed my flight back, as I was in hospital. I had no money to book a flight or a proper train ride back to UK. That is when one kind stranger helped find this ticket in a website which was only in German and gave me the ticket printout and instructions to board the train. It was literally a life saver.