Should i buy rail protection plan

If a product is ordered at short notice, ACP Rail International is not responsible for delays in delivery service or otherwise. Lost Tickets: ACP Rail International is not responsible for tickets or vouchers, which are lost, stolen, mutilated or destroyed.

Refunds cannot be authorized in such cases. Rail Protection Plan: Trip cancellation insurance is strongly recommended. Passes are valid from hrs to hrs Midnight to Midnight on a chosen day of travel.

In such cases, travel from 7pm and midnight of the following day is included and considered as one day of travel. If the overnight trip requires a train change before midnight, the traveler must use 2 travel days. This rule may vary by rail carrier. Seats, sleepers, couchettes, pass holder tickets for travel on high speed and night trains, luggage checking, and port taxes, are all subject to additional charges which are not covered by the passes.

Purchase Restrictions Passes cannot be issued to residents of the countries the pass is valid in unless otherwise specified in the product information pages. Passes are non-transferable and must only be used by the person or persons specified on the Pass. Train operators and their representatives may ask at any time for proof of foreign residency and reserve the right to confiscate the ticket or pass in such circumstances.

You are considered to be a resident of a country if you have been living in this country for longer than 6 months on the first day of validity of your Pass. Interrail Passes are available for European residents only. Even if you buy a Global Pass, your Interrail Pass is not valid for free travel in your own country of residence. Japanese Passes are not available to Japanese passport holders. To exchange your e-ticket, your passport must contain a Temporary Visitor sightseeing or similar purpose stamp or sticker showing permission to stay for 15 or 90 days issued by the Japanese Immigration Bureau.

The stamp or sticker is placed in the passenger passport by an immigration officer upon arrival to Japan. Only those with the passport bearing the stamp or sticker may use a Japanese Pass.

Passengers must present their USA Rail Pass and passport at an Amtrak office for issuance of tickets to be used on the train. Australia Rail Passes are only available to holders of foreign non-Australian passports and non-Australian residents. So in this case, if you spent euros on replacement tickets, we will transfer euros to your bank account.

If you spent euros, we will transfer euros. If you're traveling with children and purchased the Eurail Pass Protection for your Adult Pass, they will also be covered. This way, if you lose all passes, you can get a refund for all replacement train tickets. When ordering your Eurail paper Pass, simply tick the Pass Protection box in the checkout. File a police report within 24 hours of loss. The report must include the same name as printed on the Eurail Pass and must clearly state that the Eurail Pass is lost or stolen.

Continue your trip with replacement rail tickets or a rail Pass to a maximum value as specified in the terms and conditions of the Pass Protection below on this page. Log in to My Account and open the Pass Protection claim form. Eurail paper Passes are non-replaceable. If your Pass gets stolen or lost, you will need to buy costly replacement tickets to continue your trip.

From the day your Pass was lost or stolen, Pass Protection covers the extra costs up to the remaining value of the Pass. Middle names are not used. Passes are printed with the passholders' name s on them, and are not transferable to other people. Most rail passes sold in the US cannot be used by residents of Europe. You are not a resident of Europe if you live on an American military base or have only a temporary student visa for Europe.

You must provide proof of at least six months' residence outside Europe and outside the Russian Federation or Turkey when activating most rail passes sold in the US; a passport or green card is the usual proof. Certain passes, however, require only proof of residence outside the countries covered: Balkan, BritRail, European East, and Swiss passes.

A variety of other rail passes are designed for European residents, such as InterRail passes. Most European rail passes usable by non-Europeans are not widely available in Europe, and are sold only at certain major railway stations for the same price as in the US. Swiss and German rail passes, however, are sold at most stations in their respective countries. Before you first use a rail pass, you have to officially activate it by presenting it, with your passport, to a railway official at a ticket or information window at a European train station — don't wait till you're on the train.

In most cases, your pass must be activated within 11 months of purchase more precisely, within 11 months of the "issue date" printed on your pass ; the exceptions: European East, Balkan, and Central Europe Triangle passes — all of these must be activated within six months of purchase or, in the case of the Central Europe Triangle pass, you must choose an activation date when purchasing your ticket that's no more than six months out, as that pass comes pre-activated.

See more details on activating your rail pass. A couchette koo-SHET is a sleeping berth in a shared compartment. This exception aside, most couchettes are the same in first and second class. Get more advice about sleeping on Europe's trains.

Depending on the route and type of train, reservations which guarantee you a specific seat can either be required, a good idea, a pointless hassle, or not even an option. See our advice on seat reservations. Whether you're traveling with a rail pass or just buying tickets as you go, you can purchase seat or overnight berth reservations anywhere from an hour to several months in advance. How far in advance to reserve any given train depends on the inflexibility of your schedule do you have hotel reservations or a flight to catch?

Be aware that trains with compulsory reservations may have a limited number of seats available to passholders most notoriously France's fastest international services. Along some of the most popular routes, such as between Paris and Italy , direct trains run only a few times per day; these can sell out weeks ahead and overnight Paris—Italy trains don't accept rail passes at all.

For trains that don't need to be booked very far in advance, it's best to simply make all your reservations at one time at any staffed station in Europe. If you need to lock in your reservations well in advance of your train trip, book them ahead of time from home. It's easiest to get them through Rick Steves after all, you're already here! While reservations may cost a little less when booked in Europe, virtually all US-based websites and travel agents sell European train reservations for the exact same prices you'll find here.

Get more advice on making seat reservations on European trains. Main train stations are London St. If you're trying to get to places far beyond London, Paris, Brussels, or Amsterdam, it's worth comparing the price of a direct flight versus taking the Eurostar and connecting by train from its end points.

If you're ready to commit to a travel date and time, you may book some tickets up to nine months in advance, but more commonly starting six months out. With a continuous-day pass it's a no-brainer to use your Global Pass to cover a Eurostar trip, but with a flexipass it's likely more cost efficient to nab an early-purchase discount, if available — and assuming you aren't using the pass for other travel on that same day.

Keep in mind that seat reservations for pass holdders may also be limited; book as early as you can commit to a date. They're also sold in most staffed European train stations just remember that the cheapest tickets sell out well in advance.

I choose Standard class to save money. Standard Premier costs about 50 percent more no youth discount and gets you a little more leg and elbow room, a newspaper, and a small meal. Map of rail network in the Eurail countries. You may be given a small timetable booklet with your pass People often think that the trains in the booklet are the only trains you're allowed to take with your Eurail pass.

Nonsense, of course not! You're allowed to use any regular scheduled train run by the operators covered by your pass, whether it's in that booklet or not! Top tip, download the Railplanner App I recommend downloading the Railplanner App for your smartphone from www.

This is a great Europe-wide timetable app which you can use to check train times whilst on the move - the timetable works offline, so no data cost issues.

Eurail passes don't give free travel on buses, trams or metros in big cities as these are usually run by urban transit authorities, not by the national train operator. Eurail passes don't cover some private train operators For example, passes don't cover the Euskotren narrow-gauge local trains in Spain, the Circumvesuviana railway Naples-Pompeii-Sorrento or the Jungfrau line in Switzerland.

Nor do Eurail passes usually cover the private operators who now compete with the state-owned national train operator on a handful or routes, such as Italo high-speed trains in Italy which compete with the national train operator Trenitalia - as a passholder, you have to use Trenitalia.

Again, the country-by-country guide gives details of what is and isn't covered in each country. The best resource for finding train times anywhere in Europe for use with a Eurail pass? That's the excellent German Railways online timetable at www.

It covers data for the national rail operators across almost all of Europe. It doesn't hold data for Italo, FEVE, Euskotren, Regiojet, Leo Express or the Circumvesuviana and so on, only for the main national operators, so as a general rule, any train shown in its database can be used with a Eurail pass, although supplements or special fares must be paid on some trains.

It also helpfully says 'please reserve' on trains which have compulsory reservations. More info. Couchettes, 4-berth : Much more room than 6-berth! Using a pass on overnight trains You need to pay a fee to use a couchette or sleeper with your pass, the fee is usually per bed, not per compartment.

Berth fees for passholders are listed for specific routes in the Eurail pass reservation page. If you have a flexi-type pass, an overnight train only uses one day on your pass, the day of departure.

Here is the new rule, :which replaced the old 'After ' rule in January A Eurail flexi pass day normally runs from midnight to midnight. But if you board any overnight train before midnight, and do not change trains after midnight , you only need to use one day on a Flexi pass, the day of departure. It no longer matters what time your sleeper train leaves on day 1, or what time it arrives on day 2.

The date you write on your pass is that of day 1. As normal, you get unlimited travel from midnight to midnight on day 1, so you can use other trains on day 1 before boarding your sleeper, all on the same pass day.

You can then continue your journey on that direct overnight train until you get off at your destination on Day 2. The only proviso is that you cannot change trains after midnight, and that both the departure day and arrival day must fall within the overall validity period of the pass. For example, if you wanted to take the Dacia Express leaving Vienna at 42 on the 1st August and arriving Bucharest at on the 2nd August, you'd enter the date of departure, 1st August, in one of the unlimited travel boxes on your pass, and that then covers the whole of the sleeper train journey, even the part on 2nd August, in this example in the afternoon!

And as you'd have unlimited travel all day on 1st August, it would also cover you for any other journeys you wanted to make on that day, for example a preceding journey from Prague to Vienna to connect with the sleeper.

On the other hand, if you wanted to take an onward train on 2nd August after alighting from the sleeper, that means using up another travel day on your pass, this time dated 2nd August. But even if you don't use any other trains on 2nd August, that day of arrival still needs to fall within the overall validity period of your pass, in other words, if you had a days-inmonth flexi pass the 2nd August must be inside the 1 month period, it cannot be Day 32 just outside it.

Got it? When do you need a reservation? For journeys on local, regional or suburban trains For travel on longer-distance trains between cities, here is my rough - but actually pretty accurate - rule of thumb You can just hop on any train without a reservation, sit in any unreserved empty seat, and show your pass when asked by the conductor - even premier high-speed trains like Germany's superb ICE or Austria's railjet trains. Trains cannot 'sell out'. Passes retain their 'hop on any train' convenience factor in these countries.

Remember that with a flexi type pass, an overnight train only uses one pass day, the date of departure, see the explanation here. See the country-by-country guide for details of which trains need a reservation, and what these cost.

You can make reservations in advance with the agency that sells you your Eurail pass by phone or in some cases online -although they may charge you a booking fee on top - or you can make them when you get to Europe at station ticket offices. In only a handful of cases, you can make reservations online with no added fees direct with the operator, as explained here. For example, different types of train may serve one route, and only the faster or more comfortable type requires a reservation.

The choice between speed, comfort or avoiding the reservation cost is yours! In other cases trying to dodge the fast train reservation fee is more trouble than it's worth, as it means taking a relay-race of local trains, taking hours longer and involving several changes of train. Just bite the bullet and pay the fee! To find out if there is a reasonable no-fee alternative, try using the Europe-wide online timetable at www. How can I find out more?

You can find out more about Eurail passes at www. This is the site run by the Eurail organisation themselves, who run the Eurail scheme on behalf of participating operators. For a modest fee, DiscoverByRail. First, a reality check: There isn't a magic website that can do all passholder reservations at cheap prices with no fees all in one place.

Different operators use different reservation systems, many operator websites only sell regular tickets not passholder reservations. However, some passholder reservations can indeed be made online, with no added booking fees and simply printed out or collected at the station.

I'll list major train services from that country to neighbouring countries and tell you if they can be booked online, and if so where and how. Making reservations at the station You can make reservations and pay the necessary fees at station ticket offices either in advance or on the day of departure, sometimes up to an hour or two before the train leaves, sometimes right up to departure time. Just show your rail pass at the ticket window and ask for the reservation.

Many European railway staff speak some English, but if you don't speak the language, just write down what you want and show it to the booking clerk.

In Italy, you'll find it easier to use the self-service touch-screen ticket machines to make your passholder reservations, it's really easy, see an illustrated step-by-step guide to using these Italian ticket machines. The Railplanner App Eurail is the main pass range for overseas visitors to Europe, but several countries also have their own national railpasses which can be worth knowing about as they can often be better value if you are just visiting that specific country.

Paris Visite card: Unlimited travel on the Paris metro, and more. The Swiss Travel Pass for Switzerland. This is Switzerland's own-brand railpass, there is no single-country Eurail pass. Unlike many other railpasses you don't have to rack up a huge mileage to make a railpass worthwhile in Switzerland. And as virtually no Swiss train requires a supplement or reservation, a railpass still gives you that wonderful hop on, hop off convenience that railpasses have lost in France, Spain or Italy where every long-distance train now requires a reservation.

There's more advice on Swiss Passes here. You can check Swiss point-to-point fares at www. Map of the Swiss rail network. German Rail pass for Germany. Only for people not resident in Europe, Russia or Turkey. A good deal, as no supplements or reservations are required on most German trains, you just hop on and show your pass. For comparison, you can check German point-to-point fares at www.

Spain Pass for Spain. Renfe's Spain Pass works differently from the Eurail Spain pass, as it gives a set number of journeys, not unlimited travel - you can pay for between 4 and 12 journeys in a one-month period. However, the Renfe Spain Pass is usually better value than the Eurail Spain pass as reservations are included, there are no hidden extra reservation costs as with Eurail. You can buy a Spain pass either online at www. The pass is emailed to you. For comparison, you can check Spanish point-to-point fares at www.

Portuguese Rail pass for Portugal. You can check Portuguese point-to-point fares at www. Most Portuguese long distance trains require reservation before boarding. BritRail Pass for Britain. Reservation is never compulsory on British trains, and there are no supplements to pay, so you can always just hop on and show your pass, making BritRail passes very easy to use.

For comparison, you can check British point-to-point fares using the online form here or at www. There's advice on understanding the different types of UK rail fare on the Train travel in Britain page. For unlimited travel on the London Underground for 3 or 7 days when staying in London, you can get a London Visitor Travelcard, easily bought in London at an Underground station.

It used to cover Poland too, but I believe they pulled out. Available to anyone except residents of the countries it covers. You can buy this pass at www. You can buy one at www. You need to be doing quite a lot!