Nightjets with huge price rises

Note: This blog entry was reposted from night-ride.ch, the predecessor website of nightride.com.  

Update 12.12.23: No mistake, (almost) all tickets got more expensive. Here is an initial, more detailed analysis.

Whoops. I was pretty surprised when I checked the Nightjet page this afternoon. My website had come to a complete standstill in the morning, apparently there had been problems. At first, I thought it must be due to a new price category ÖBB had already offered on certain lines in recent weeks. But more on that later.

What surprised me more was the sharp rise in prices. Some comfort categories are now more than twice as expensive as before. For example, a single sleeper compartment from Basel to Amsterdam suddenly costs 600 euros partly (without a discount card). Before today, it was available for 283 euros, even for connections after the timetable change.

Partly because the prices apparently no longer remain constant. Previously, there were saver prices (‘Sparschiene’) and normal prices (‘Standard-Tickets’). The standard prices were always the same for the respective route and compartment type, i.e. you could assume it didn't matter which day you travelled. The only difference was the saver prices, available in limited numbers.

Now it seems that the prices for the same route and the same compartment type sometimes vary. I found the above price of 600 euros for 16 January. On 9 February, the same compartment is available under the same conditions for 475 euros—that's around 20 per cent cheaper!

And it's not just the luxury categories that are affected by the increase. For example, I couldn't find the much-hyped mini-cabin on the route from Innsbruck to Hamburg for less than 190 euros (also without a discount card). Before the price increase, they were still available for 150 euros - an increase of around 27 per cent, which is steep even in times of rampant inflation.

It gets even more complicated

I am even more confused by the new price categories:

• Sparschiene: No cancellation possible - referred to here as Sparpreis
• Sparschiene Komfort Semi-Flex: Cancellation possible up to 15 days before departure, after which you only get a 50% refund - referred to here as normal price (semi-flex). Previously, only this price category existed in addition to the «normal» economy rail (which is why I still call it «normal price»).
• Standardticket Flex: The new category where you can cancel free of charge up to the last day. I call it - creative as I am - «Flex price».

So far, so good. Apart from the somewhat confusing name, you can give ÖBB credit for allowing more flexibility.

But the whole thing is highly confusing.

Why: sometimes the new flexible fare is cheaper than the semi-flexible one. In the example below, this appears to be the case if you specify a discount card, such as a Half-Fare travel card. Conversely, this means that the semi-flexible fare no longer adapts to the discount card, just like the saver fare (which was already the case before). But then I wonder what the point of this price category is - most people have some kind of discount, be it just the Half-Fare travel card or the Bahncard 25. I can also imagine that it will disappear entirely in the medium term.

Things are currently even more confusing for Swiss customers who prefer buying tickets on sbb.ch. It looks like only the new flexible fares can be booked here. For the same connection and a 2-seater compartment, you can only buy a ticket for CHF 250 from SBB (as SBB still uses the unfavourable 1:1 euro exchange rate). I haven't seen the semi-flexible ones here yet. And to make the whole thing even more confusing, they call the actually fully flexible category ‘partially flexible’.

Can that actually be true?

What I am describing here are isolated observations over the course of today. I will be collecting prices over the next few days and will hopefully be able to give an update soon. All information is not guaranteed, as usual. But...

... let's be honest: I can't quite believe that night trains have become so much more expensive overnight (no pun intended). A quick search didn't turn up any announcements, media releases, or anything like that. Only the new night train was widely publicised again today, and there was not a word about price increases. Most recently, ÖBB boasted that there would be no price increases for daytime connections with the timetable change (in contrast to Switzerland, where the tickets will be slightly more expensive).

I also don't understand that the same press release states that night train tickets can be booked from 11 October onwards. This was possible - but still at the old price. The new price rise only comes with the actual change. Could this really be an oversight? The complete absence of communication is a bit strange. What happens to the tickets already purchased (at a higher price)?

There are questions upon questions that will hopefully be answered soon. Price rises or not, night-ride.ch will continue to help you keep track of the price jungle.

PS: Yes, SBB has an updated booking system. And no, no prices are currently being fed into night-ride.ch. However, I am working on integrating the new portal. Sorry for the delay.

PPS: Because I had to update night-ride.ch to the new category, the new prices are only trickling in. Take the opportunity to see how much cheaper it was just a moment ago...