Why does SBB need my date of birth when I purchase a ticket

Frankhe

When I purchase a ticket at the SBB machine at the airport it does not ask for my name and date of birth for me and my fellow traveler’s. Why does the online ticket sale ask for all of this data? What does SBB do with my personal data. Why does the ticket machine in the train station not ask for all of this data?

RolandP

Hello Frankhe

Firstly, welcome to the SBB Community.
We are a customer support page run by volunteers, we are not the SBB customer service.

E-tickets are personalised to avoid abuse or falsification. The name and date of birth are being verified by the ticket inspectors upon ticket check. And, this is not an SBB invention; all train e-tickets in Europe are personalised.

https://sbb-tickets.cc/en/help-and-contact/products-services/tickets/switzerland/tickets.html

This is not the case with tickets from the machine, where tickets are printed on special paper. There is no issue; if you do not want to declare your data, simply use the machine or get it at the station’s ticket office.

Kind regards,
Roland

Frankhe

RolandP Hello Roland,
Thank you for your swift reply. I tried to find answers to my question on the official site but could not find them. They don’t explain why this information is needed and what they do with it. A simple sentence like in your answer, train tickets are personalised would be all the information I needed to know from SBB. I will purchase my ticket at the machine in the airport. Thank you.

RolandP

Hello Frankhe

You can find further information here:

https://sbb-tickets.cc/en/meta/legallines/data-protection.html?hidebanner=true

For us, it is totally normal to provide this personal information as part of an online ticket purchase. Just as you have to do when booking a flight.

The date of birth is required to determine special fares, for example child, youth, adult. And, in case two people with the same name travel together, to distinguish them by their date of birth.

Kind regards.,
Roland