SwissPass card reordered

potato-swiss

Hello

I purchased a ticket from a swisspass partner (Gornergrat railway) today, with the ticket to be loaded onto my Swisspass card.

I then visited Swisspass.ch to check that the ticket was loaded (which it had) however I noticed when viewing my Swisspass card online that there was a box at the top stating that a new card was being processed.

I’ve only had the card just over one year (2022), has not been damaged and I haven’t requested a replacement personally.

I contacted customer service via online chat and they had a look into my account. They stated that a new card had been requested by them. The reasons were as follows (transcript from chat)

_“We have effectively ordered a new card for you. The replacement is carried out automatically to the latest version.”

“With the old card, there were sometimes problems with card readers at the ski areas. This has been fixed in the latest version._

Has anyone recently experienced this with their swisspass? Would the purchase of a mountain train ticket loaded to the pass trigger a replacement card to the latest version ?

I do understand that my new swisspass card when it arrives will not have the Gornergrat ticket loaded on it, I am currently in discussions with them to rectify this.

I am just curious if anyone else has experienced this.

Thank you

Will

RolandP

Hello potato-swiss

The card replacement is an ongoing process for all customers, regardless of whether you use partner services or not.

You can access your ticket even if you have a new card. As I have explained to you ↗ in another discussion, the ticket is not physically loaded onto your card. The ticket is saved on the customer file on the ticket server and can be accessed by any of your SwissPass cards.

Another example: when replace your bank account card is being replaced by your bank, your money won’t get wiped out, since the money is stored in your bank account and not on your card, right? The same applies with the SwissPass card.

You should not worry too much and trust the technology. Millions of Swiss residents use the SwissPass every day and there is rarely an issue with it.

Kind regards,
Roland

potato-swiss

Hi, your bank account analogy makes perfect sense, sorry for my ignorance in understanding 😊

So the “SwissPass” is actually the account that contains my personal data, travel cards and tickets etc not the physical card, which only acts as a gateway key to my account?

As it will be clear, I am not a Swiss national so I am just learning.

Thank you for your help and patience.

Will

RolandP

Hello potato-swiss

Exactly, you got it.

No worries, I do not want to appear rude or impatient, that was not my intention. Rather the opposite: I just wished to make you understand how the card works and to destroy any sorrows you might have.

Best wishes
Roland

potato-swiss

RolandP just another question out of curiosity , does the swisspass card number (the number that starts with S) change when cards are replaced? Or maybe just an issue number change (like going from 1 to 2)

As I’m just wondering if the Swisspass card number is unique to me just like the Swisspass customer account number and never changes.

Thank you again

Will

RolandP

Hello potato-swiss

The card number changes with every new card and from what I see, the number is not subsequent.

The CKM (000 - 000 - 000 - 0) and the GK (ABC123) are related to your customer account and do never change.

Kind regards,
Roland