Hi all,
So I need to fly home in the Easter period, and off-course all flights from Zurich / Basel have high prices. I found a really cheap route thru Italy. And now my situation.
I will need to take a train from Zurich HB to Milano Centrale. If I just purchase a ticket for 2 people it will cost around 140 CHF.
But, if I buy a supersaver ticket from Zurich HB to Chiaso ( border town for Italy ) and then a ticket from Chiaso to Milano Centrale , I notice that I get Half a price for this route. With a mention that I buy for the same train ( so no getting off , being a direct route )
Would I encounter any problems if I do this ?
From my POV I basically pay for the whole route, just that I found a cheaper way to do it ....
As long as the trains actually stop at the station you are OK. But do you really want to go to Milano Centrale? Malpensa also has a stop at the Terminals
Well I only found this route to Centrale and then take a shuttle from Centrale to Malpensa .... but yeah, I will check if I can get something from Chiaso to Malpensa , thanks ... and yeah , I will verify if the train stops in the border town ( I guess, it should )
Thanks Bowlie, I found the best route : HB - Lugano , Lugano - T1 Malpensa ( without the extra change in Milano Centrale )
All trains to Italy stop in Chiasso since COVID.
Tom
Good to know.
Except for the trains on the Simplon.
no problem, just keep the other ticket in your bag.
In theory, on trains that have compulsory reservation in Italy (some trenitalia trains like the Eurocity, at least the last time I used one 5+ years ago), you need to have it from the start of the journey in Switzerland. So don't show the italian ticket while you are in Switzerland. I paid 5 francs extra the first time due to having both tickets on hand.
If the swiss guys see your ticket to chiasso and you're on a train that stops in chiasso, their job is done.
And as far as italians are concerned you got on in chiasso.
For some combinations (depending on the train company that takes over the train at the border) there isn't even the possibility to buy combined tickets at SBB.
When there is, it's unnecessarily expensive.
So buying separately for each train company is definitely the better choice.
I don't completely understand this.
Do you mean that the reservation must start in Chiasso and not in Como, meaning before the border? If so I agree, tickets must be split in Chiasso and not later, otherwise the stretch between the border and the first italian station would be without the mandatory reservation.
You don't need to go to Chiasso. The train from Lugano is direct to MXP T1.
If you're looking to split the ticket, the Lugano train stops at Mendrisio.
The border stations are Stabio and Cantello Gaggiolo and the train stops at both of them.
I've often used split tickets when going to Geneva by train using a mix of supersaver fares and / or ordinary tickets. Not even necessary to get off the train as long as it stops at the relevant stations.
Yes, this is exactly what I did / after further searches I found out that there is a train that goes directly from Lugano to MXP airport ( therefore no more need to change at Milano Centrale --> and saving an hour or so of our time )
So yeah , the conclusion for me is that it's better to split the tickets when buying in advance ( supersaver tickets have a really low pice )
The rules about reservations between the Swiss border and Milan do seem to be a bit fuzzy. A few years ago, I was coming back to Switzerland from a meeting in Monza, which is where I boarded the IC train. The SBB website clearly stated "Mandatory reservation Milano Centrale --> Monza". As I wasn't travelling over that part of the route, I didn't bother with a reservation... and was then fined 25 euros plus the cost of a reservation from Monza to Chiasso by the Italian ticket inspector. I showed her the page on the SBB website, and was told that the site was wrong, it wasn't her problem, and that I was lucky she didn't make me buy a reservation all the way to Zürich HB...
You don't need a reservation to Zürich, passengers come and go at every station within CH without reservation, CH rules fully apply. That would have been out of her authority I think.
However for the Monza-Chiasso stretch I agree with the inspector. Italian and Swiss staff do the handover in Chiasso, so I guess that Chiasso is the official station where Trenitalia rules end, and rules say that you can't board an EC in Italy without reservation. The SBB website was probably approximating with the wrong station.
Currently the SBB website reports for Monza-Zurich both "mandatory reservation" and "reservation possible", which is another type of confusion, but no mention of stretches.