Buying tickets at train station vs. buying in advance

Nesoille96

Hi all. I’m flying into Zurich on 18 July and plan to take the train to Lucerne. ETA for flight is 12:50, but we all know flights can be delayed. I can buy tickets in advance, but if my flight is greatly delayed could miss that train. Will there be any potential problems if I wait to buy tickets when I arrive? I don’t know how likely the train is to fill up. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

Danhiel

Hi Nesoille96

No problem, you can buy tickets after your arrival, at the ticket office, on vending machines or in the SBB Mobile app. Such point-to-point tickets are valid in every train for one journey between Zurich and Lucerne. No reservations are mandatory in Switzerland and trains are never sold out. However, a ticket doesn’t guarantee a seat, but I don’t except a lot of people traveling on this day.

Kind regards
Danhiel

Tafunge25

Hello Nesoille96

In his response, Danhiel already wrote what is most key: Buy a point-to-point ticket. That one you can buy in advance if you like. There is no advantage to buying it in advance, but also no drawback. Importantly, do not buy a supersaver’s ticket, as they are limited to the selected connection and are not valid on a later train.

Nesoille96

Hi Danhiel

Thanks very much, Danhiel.

Nesoille96

Hi Tafunge25

Thank you. Are you saying that if I buy a point to point ticket in advance I can use it on any scheduled train that day? Not just for a specific time?

Danhiel

Tafunge25 There is no advantage to buying it in advance, but also no drawback.

In case of major disruption, you could arrive on the following day and the ticket would no more be valid. A refund is only possible before the start of the validity period.

An example: When you buy the ticket in advance, it is refundable until 17 July 23:59. The ticket is valid from 18 July 00:00 until 19 July 05:00. If you arrive later, you have to buy a new ticket.

Tafunge25

Hi Nesoille96

Yes, exactly. It is valid on any train that runs your selected route. You may even get off in an intermediate station to have a walk in the city and then continue your journey on a later train, as long as you don’t do detours with the train.

Krist

Nesoille96 Thank you. Are you saying that if I buy a point to point ticket in advance I can use it on any scheduled train that day? Not just for a specific time?

That a ticket is for a route, not a train, is how trains have operated for ages. That some tickets are now restricted to a specific train is a rather recent, new development.

Trains are mass transit. If you ride the subway (or whatever public transit your town has) you do not buy tickets for specific departures either, don’t you?

Nesoille96

Thank you all for your answers.

Just FYI, trains in other parts of the world don’t always work the same as in Europe. In the US and in Japan, you sometimes have to buy tickets for a specific trains at a specific time. And a ticket for, say, the 3:00 train won’t be valid on a train leaving at 2:00 or at 4:00.

Krist

But in Switzerland you do not buy a ticket for the “3:00” train. You buy a ticket for “Zurich to Bern”. And is how by default tickets worked all over Europe. In my youth we bought tickets to far away places without even knowing the train schedule. Those tickets were even valid for two months then.

When I took the train from Boston North to Lowell a while ago the ticket was a one way ticket for a number of zones, and I could just take any train I wanted with it.

Now you’ll counter that MBTA is commuter rail. But so is actually SBB…