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> The DB Navigator is so terrible that I try to book the German leg of my international travels from one of the other countries apps whenever possible. While D

> The DB Navigator is so terrible that I try to book the German leg of my international travels from one of the other countries apps whenever possible. While DB Navigator does leave something to be desired the sheer width/breadth of the DB booking system makes it my go-to choice for international train travel. They're also quite forthcoming in paying back 25% to 50% of the ticket price when delayed more than 1 or 2 hours which is a frequent occurrence on the longer trips - from Sweden to the Netherlands - which I make about every other month. I can get prices directly without having to go through some silly booking agency, I can book tickets, reserve seats and sometimes actually choose which seats I want (something which doesn't always work). They did have some problems about a year ago when they moved to the 'new' DB Navigator and the price I was quoted suddenly quadrupled, this turned out to be an omission in the booking system which I submitted a bug report for. They fixed the problem and prices returned to where they should be (about 5% higher than before the change, they used the opportunity to raise prices...). No, the problem with DB is not to be found in their app or the booking system, those are at least on par and often better than their foreign equivalents. The problem lies in the unreliability of the long distance network, especially the ICE service which often sees long delays due to a lack of personnel, defective equipment, maintenance work, etc. Regional services tend to be more reliable, in part due to the higher frequency which makes it less of a problem if a single train does not run. All in all I can live with the problems and have switched over to rail travel whenever I can in Europe. The advantages - more space, more comfort, no security theatre, the ability to hack away while travelling, usually lower prices, I can take as much luggage as I can carry (which is a lot) - outweigh the disadvantages - longer travel times, need to change trains, delays which compound due to missing connections.

weinzierl 2y ago
They're also quite forthcoming in paying back 25% to 50% of the ticket price when delayed more than 1 or 2 hours There is nothing forthcoming about that, they are required to to that by regulations. No bonus points for DB here whatsoever. which is a frequent occurrence on the longer trips That is something we can agree upon. reserve seats and sometimes actually choose which seats I want SNCF-Connects lets you specify the exact seat configuration. You can choose single, double (window or not), quadruple (next to each other or face-to-face). In addition to that you can express your preference for family area and if you do not want to sit facing against the driving direction.
- hagbard_c 2y ago
  > There is nothing forthcoming about that, they are required to to that by regulations. No bonus points for DB here whatsoever. The way they implemented this process makes it easy and quick to get compensation while other carriers - who are supposed to follow the same rules - make it quite a bit harder to get compensated. > SNCF-Connects lets you specify the exact seat configuration. You can choose single, double (window or not), quadruple (next to each other or face-to-face). In addition to that you can express your preference for family area and if you do not want to sit facing against the driving direction. You can do the same on bahn.de or in DB Navigator (which is mostly equivalent to a canned version of the site plus a few extras). Not all trains allow seat selection, sometimes seats are assigned automatically. Other trains - e.g. Dutch Intercity trains - do not offer reservation at all. The Swedish/Danish Öresundståg (a service running mostly in the south and west of Sweden) theoretically allows reservation but this hardy ever works, at least when booking through DB. Do mind that I use DB to book trips crossing several countries using different operators, in this case SJ (Swedish state railway), Öresundståget, DSB (Danish state railway), DB, Eurobahn and NS (Dutch state railway). All in a single booking with a single payment and a single point of contact using a single ticket.
  - weinzierl 2y ago
    "The way they implemented this process makes it easy and quick to get compensation while other carriers - who are supposed to follow the same rules - make it quite a bit harder to get compensated." For the last compensation I tried to get it took Deutsche Bahn 15 days to send an automated acknowledgement that they had received my request. I took another 20 days until they processed it. I would not call that quick, but was it easy? Here is the procedure for the form translated from their site: Procedure in the digital application in the customer account: To do this, first select the main ticket for your journey in your customer account and start the online application. If you had no other disruptions (e.g. delay), enter "Delay of less than 60 minutes". In the next step, a new message box will appear with the following sentence: "I had additional expenses due to the delay | I was unable to use my reservation". Click on the appropriate box and follow the next steps. Alternatively, you can also request a refund of the reservation fee in writing (informally). Please send your request to the following address: DB Dialog GmbH Passenger Rights Service Center 60647 Frankfurt am Main Germany Needless to say that the form had me fill in a lot of useless stuff they either don't need to know or should know already. And of course you can send paper...

weinzierl 2y ago

They're also quite forthcoming in paying back 25% to 50% of the ticket price when delayed more than 1 or 2 hours There is nothing forthcoming about that, they are required to to that by regulations. No bonus points for DB here whatsoever. which is a frequent occurrence on the longer trips That is something we can agree upon. reserve seats and sometimes actually choose which seats I want SNCF-Connects lets you specify the exact seat configuration. You can choose single, double (window or not), quadruple (next to each other or face-to-face). In addition to that you can express your preference for family area and if you do not want to sit facing against the driving direction.

hagbard_c 2y ago
> There is nothing forthcoming about that, they are required to to that by regulations. No bonus points for DB here whatsoever. The way they implemented this process makes it easy and quick to get compensation while other carriers - who are supposed to follow the same rules - make it quite a bit harder to get compensated. > SNCF-Connects lets you specify the exact seat configuration. You can choose single, double (window or not), quadruple (next to each other or face-to-face). In addition to that you can express your preference for family area and if you do not want to sit facing against the driving direction. You can do the same on bahn.de or in DB Navigator (which is mostly equivalent to a canned version of the site plus a few extras). Not all trains allow seat selection, sometimes seats are assigned automatically. Other trains - e.g. Dutch Intercity trains - do not offer reservation at all. The Swedish/Danish Öresundståg (a service running mostly in the south and west of Sweden) theoretically allows reservation but this hardy ever works, at least when booking through DB. Do mind that I use DB to book trips crossing several countries using different operators, in this case SJ (Swedish state railway), Öresundståget, DSB (Danish state railway), DB, Eurobahn and NS (Dutch state railway). All in a single booking with a single payment and a single point of contact using a single ticket.
- weinzierl 2y ago
  "The way they implemented this process makes it easy and quick to get compensation while other carriers - who are supposed to follow the same rules - make it quite a bit harder to get compensated." For the last compensation I tried to get it took Deutsche Bahn 15 days to send an automated acknowledgement that they had received my request. I took another 20 days until they processed it. I would not call that quick, but was it easy? Here is the procedure for the form translated from their site: Procedure in the digital application in the customer account: To do this, first select the main ticket for your journey in your customer account and start the online application. If you had no other disruptions (e.g. delay), enter "Delay of less than 60 minutes". In the next step, a new message box will appear with the following sentence: "I had additional expenses due to the delay | I was unable to use my reservation". Click on the appropriate box and follow the next steps. Alternatively, you can also request a refund of the reservation fee in writing (informally). Please send your request to the following address: DB Dialog GmbH Passenger Rights Service Center 60647 Frankfurt am Main Germany Needless to say that the form had me fill in a lot of useless stuff they either don't need to know or should know already. And of course you can send paper...