Disclaimer: the following represents my own personal experience.
On 07/22/2015 12:21 PM, Rogério Brito wrote:
> I will be travelling from Guarulhos, Brazil (GRU) to the Frankfurt airport
> (FRA), but I am having some problems understanding the UI of the widget that
> is right at <http://debconf15.debconf.org/information.xhtml#train>.
>
> I would *highly* appreciate it if anybody could help me with some details.
> In particular:
>
> * There is more than one option named Frankfurt. Which one to choose?
You should choose "Frankfurt(M) Flughafen Fernbf" (the long-distance
train station at the Frankfurt airport). You may also choose just
Frankfurt(M) Flughafen - that will automatically select between both
train stations (one for regional, the other for long-distance) at the
Frankfurt airport. (Flughafen = Airport in German)
(Heidelberg is quite close to Frankfurt, but as far as I know there
are no regional trains going directly from Frankfurt to Heidelberg.)
Note that in Frankfurt you should follow the signs toward "Fernbahnhof"
one you get out. Fernbahnhof means "long distance train station"
(Bahnhof is "train station"); the distinction is only made at the
airport btw., all other train stations in Germany are called either
Bahnhof (train station) or Hauptbahnhof ("Hbf" in short, translation:
main/central station). Also, should you arrive at Terminal 2, you
first need to transfer to Terminal 1 if you want to reach the train
stations - there are some busses outside, which I would recommend, and
there's also a monorail called "SkyLine", which in my experience is a
lot less convenient.
> * Should I choose departure or arrival? I thought that the "source"
> vs. "destination" (supposing that the top field is "source" and
> "destination") already indicated that, but I am now unsure.
The selection in that form just lets you select the semantics of the
time you enter: whether you want to depart at $time (or later) or want
to arrive at $time (or earlier).
> When I click on search, a much bigger form is presented and I get slightly
> more confused:
>
> Even if I specify "Start" and "Destination" and select "Outward and return
> journey", I am still asked in the "Date and Time" section, to select
> "Departure" or "Arrival" for both legs of the trip.
Yes, because for both trips you can have either search criteria. Note
that the time you enter there is just a first approximation - once you
see the list of suggested connections, you can click on "Earlier"
and/or "Later" to find additional connections.
> Beyond that, I am not sure if I'm elligible for the savings fare or the
> standard fare.
So there are two types of tickets with the Deutsche Bahn:
- "Normalpreis" ("Standard fare"), which means that the ticket is
completely flexible: you may choose any other connection that is
of the same class of trains or lower that goes along the same route,
the precise time is irrelevant, and even the date is somewhat
flexible - you have to look at the ticket for precise validity. The
classes of trains are (from highest-priced to lowest): ICE, IC,
regional. If your ticket has "ICE" on it (because you booked it for
an ICE connection), you will be allowed to use any train along the
same route (with the exceptions of night trains that require
reservation and some other corner cases that you most likely will
not run into) but if you have a ticket with just "IC/EC"
(InterCity/EuroCity) on it, you may use it in any train that's not
ICE - and if you have a ticket with neither ICE nor IC/EC on it,
you may only use it in regional trains (with enough train changes
you can actually travel the whole of Germany just with regional
trains, it just takes forever), which include RE (RegionalExpress),
IRE (InterRegioExpress), S (S-Bahn) and some others. (Basically
anything except ICE, IC/EC and TGV.
- "Sparpreis" ("Savings fare"), which means that the ticket is
cheaper, but then you are bound to a certain connection, so if you
miss it, you have to pay for a completely new ticket. (Exception:
if you have a connection with 2 trains, and the first one is so late
that you miss the second one, then you may take another, but that
doesn't include flights or the such, so if your plane is late, the
Deutsche Bahn will have the attitude of "tough luck for you".)
Personal opinion: regular tickets are 25 euros from Frankfurt
airport to Heidelberg, the cheapest "Sparpreis" tickets are 19
euros, and especially if you are arriving via an intercontinental
flight, I would seriously recommend taking the regular (flexible)
tickets. The 19 Euro "Sparpreis" tickets are interesting for people
who arrive from other parts of Germany that are further away.
On the other hand, for your trip back, if you want to save 6 euros
and are reasonably sure that you can get to the train in Heidelberg
in time (just leave a bit earlier), then you might want to think
about taking a "Sparpreis" ticket for your return trip. (Just make
sure it arrives early enough in Frankfurt, for intercontinental
flights I usually calculate 3 hours between flight departure and
official train arrival time - so that even if the train has 1 hour
delay, you still catch the flight.)
- Reimbursement: if they are not used, "Normalpreis" tickets can be
fully reimbursed up to one day BEFORE the first date of validity
on the ticket. Starting with the first date of validity on the
ticket, you need to pay 15 euros in a reimbursement fee.
On the other hand, "Sparpreis" tickets can be reimbursed for 15
euros fee up to one day BEFORE the first date of validity on the
ticket. But starting with the first date of validity, the can't
be reimbursed at all anymore.
Note that German train tickets by default do NOT include seats. If you
enter a German train with just a ticket, you are allowed to sit on any
free seat that's not reserved by somebody else (or where the
reservation is only for a route where you will already have left the
train), but depending on the train, you might not find a seat if they
are quite full. You may buy a seat reservation for a couple of euros
extra (per trip). Note that this even applies to "Sparpreis" tickets,
so even though you can only use that ticket with a specific connection,
you don't automatically have a reserved seat unless you pay extra.
(If the train is not too full, you will find a free seat regardless.)
If you have a "Normalpreis" ticket and take a different connection,
your reservation will be useless, but the ticket is still valid for the
other connection.
On top of the concept of "Normalpreis" / "Sparpreis", there's also the
"BahnCard", which grants you 25% or 50% reduction on ticket prices.
(The 25% reduction may be combined with "Sparpreis", the 50% reduction
may not.) YOU SHOULD NOT BUY ONE OF THESE. The BahnCard is interesting
for people who regularly travel via train, because you pay ~ 60 euros
for a Bahncard 25 and ~ 250 euros for a Bahncard 50, which only makes
sense if you travel enough with the Bahn that the reduction pays for
that price. If you just to Germany just for DebConf, I seriously
doubt that that will pay for itself. (The other cards available in the
list parallel to BahnCard are similar cards from other European
countries with the same problem.)
> I think that, depending on the time of my plane (and delays, and grabbing my
> baggage, and potentially more delays etc.), this uncertainty would rule out
> the savings fare?
Yes. Also note that depending on when exactly you arrive at Frankfurt
and how much luck you have, it might take forever to get through the
passport check (NOT customs, that's usually quite fast). I've had the
case when it took me just 20 seconds (because there was no queue and
I'm a German citizen; but even if you're not, if there is no queue and
you have a valid visa, it should only take you a couple of minutes),
but I've also once waited over an hour because of a huge queue - just
to get through the passport check. That's really unpredictable.
(I assume according to your email domain your flying in from another
continent, so you will have to go through a passport check. Passengers
on flights that originate in other countries in the Schengen are not
asked for their passport, regardless of their citizenships.)
> Or wouldn't it? If, given these constrains, it is still
> possible to have the discount price, do I have to acquire the BahnCard 25 to
> take advantage of the lower price?
As I said above, the cost of the Bahncard will never recover that, for
a round-trip ticket from Frankfurt airport to Heidelberg you will pay
50 euros if you take the ICE ("Normalpreis"); the cheapest "Sparpreis"
would be 38 euros (train type doesn't matter, as long as you still
manage to score one of the "Sparpreise"), the cheapest "Normalpreis"
for ICE with Bahncard 25 would be 37.50 euros, but with an additional
cost of 62 euros for the Bahncard (or 25 euros if you take the "try
BahnCard 25 out offer"), so you won't really save anything.
> To be honest, I would like to, in principle, take the simplest (read:
> "smallest number of hops"), to avoid some anxiety problems.
Yes. As far as I can tell, all connections between Frankfurt airport
and Heidelberg are with a single stopover in Mannheim. (ICE to from
airport to Mannheim, then regional train, either S or RE, to
Heidelberg). ICEs from Frankfurt airport to Mannheim leave every
half-hour or so (so that's very convenient), and regional trains
from Mannheim to Heidelberg are also quite common. If you take a
"Normalpreis" ticket, even if you don't get your connection in
Mannheim, you won't have to wait long for the next train (although
that may be from a different platform, so you should check). My
suggestion would be to simply take a printed out copy of all ICE
connections from Frankfurt airport to Mannheim in a certain time
window after your flight lands with you - and then a printed out
copy of all connections between Mannheim and Heidelberg. Then just
buy a "Normalpreis" ticket for an arbitrary ICE connection between
Frankfurt airport and Heidelberg on the same day, and then just take
the most convenient trains once you are there.
Note that if you buy a ticket online and print it out, you will be
asked for a credit card for identification, in addition to whatever
payment method you choose, which can also be the same credit card.
IMPORTANT: you have to take that credit card with you and show it to
the person checking the tickets together with your ticket, otherwise
the ticket will be considered invalid and you'd have to buy a new
one (if you're in an ICE or IC or EC, where it's allowed to enter a
train without a ticket and buy one inside), or pay 40 - 70 euros in
fee for not having a ticket (in a regional RE or S-Bahn train, where
that's not allowed, where they will then also write up your personal
information if you don't have a valid ticket).
Btw. as mentioned somewhere on the DebConf website or the Wiki, when
you buy the ticket online, you should also consider adding the
"City mobil" when it asks you (later in the checkout process), at
least for the outbound journey (to Heidelberg), so you may use the
public transportation in Heidelberg to get to the hostel without
having to buy a separate ticket at the Heidelberg main station,
which will make your life so much easier. (Just take the single
ticket for 2.40 euros, "day pass" is only if you want to travel
around all day with public transport.) If you are asked for your
ticket in the tram or bus, just show your train ticket with (!) the
mark the person checking the ticket made in the train.
Anyway, hope that helps.
Regards,
Christian
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