DB reservation validity with changed stopping pattern

[biko]

I reserved EC 8 from Basel to Cologne on the 3rd of March and a connecting ICE from Cologne to Arnhem a few months ago, but last week, DB sent me a mail that my connection was no longer available. Doing some research with the planner it seems that EC 8 does not stop at Köln Hbf anymore and instead stops at Messe-Deutz. This isn’t a problem for my journey as I can change in Düsseldorf instead. However, I was wondering if my reserved seats are cancelled because of this (in the panoramic car so I hope to keep those). And I was wondering if someone knows if the reserved seats in the ICE will be cancelled because they won’t be occupied within the set amount of time.

Thanks in advance!

 

[rvdborgt]

I doubt it. You could check on bahn.de whether your seat is still occupied. That would give an indication.

 

[gordonthemoron]

The reservation on the Cologne-Arnhem ICE will self cancel 15 mins after scheduled departure from Cologne

 

[fandroid]

The reservation on the Cologne-Arnhem ICE will self cancel 15 mins after scheduled departure from Cologne

But it will pass Messe-Deutz before 15 mins is up, so at Dusseldorf the seat is likely to still be vacant. Do both trains stop at Messe-Deutz? If so the you could change there and grab the reservation! The EC will probably stop on the lower level and the ICE (if it stops) on the higher level but they're not far apart. It's just that Messe-Deutz has very few facilities compared with the Hbf

 

[gordonthemoron]

But it will pass Messe-Deutz before 15 mins is up, so at Dusseldorf the seat is likely to still be vacant. Do both trains stop at Messe-Deutz? If so the you could change there and grab the reservation! The EC will probably stop on the lower level and the ICE (if it stops) on the higher level but they're not far apart. It's just that Messe-Deutz has very few facilities compared with the Hbf

possibly

 

[biko]

Thanks all for replying!

I doubt it. You could check on bahn.de whether your seat is still occupied. That would give an indication.

My EC seats are shown as not available, but so are all face to face seats in first class, so I’m not sure if someone else has now taken it or that my reservation still exists although the train does not call at the station until which I have reserved.

The reservation on the Cologne-Arnhem ICE will self cancel 15 mins after scheduled departure from Cologne

Yes, I was thinking it worked that way. That will mean I don’t have a reservation for the ICE anymore.

But it will pass Messe-Deutz before 15 mins is up, so at Dusseldorf the seat is likely to still be vacant. Do both trains stop at Messe-Deutz? If so the you could change there and grab the reservation! The EC will probably stop on the lower level and the ICE (if it stops) on the higher level but they're not far apart. It's just that Messe-Deutz has very few facilities compared with the Hbf

Unfortunately the ICE does only call at the Hbf and the EC only at Messe-Deutz…

 

[DanielB]

My EC seats are shown as not available, but so are all face to face seats in first class, so I’m not sure if someone else has now taken it or that my reservation still exists although the train does not call at the station until which I have reserved.

A similar rerouting didn't affect my reservation in the EC8 last summer, though I'd proactively reserved till Düsseldorf (as the system actually didn't allow me to reserve till Cologne, even though the rerouting was not in the timetable at the moment of reserving)

Good luck with that EC anyway... I've tried Rhine-facing panoramic coach in the EC9 once and found the coach reversed (so my seat in the full train was at the wrong side) and last summer on EC8 the entire panoramic coach was missing. Hopefully for you you're luckier.

 

[30907]

Surely the simplest solution, given that the ICE is expected to be busy is to take the S-bahn from Deutz to Hbf? Half an hour for the 3-min transfer is more than enough unless EC8 is delayed.

 

[biko]

A similar rerouting didn't affect my reservation in the EC8 last summer, though I'd proactively reserved till Düsseldorf (as the system actually didn't allow me to reserve till Cologne, even though the rerouting was not in the timetable at the moment of reserving)

Good luck with that EC anyway... I've tried Rhine-facing panoramic coach in the EC9 once and found the coach reversed (so my seat in the full train was at the wrong side) and last summer on EC8 the entire panoramic coach was missing. Hopefully for you you're luckier.

I hope this will be similar for me, but I’m curious what will be shown on the reservation display. A station that won’t be served or whether it will be replaced by Messe-Deutz.

I will report back how it will go, I certainly look forward to the panoramic car so I hope it won’t be missing!

Surely the simplest solution, given that the ICE is expected to be busy is to take the S-bahn from Deutz to Hbf? Half an hour for the 3-min transfer is more than enough unless EC8 is delayed.

That’s actually a good idea that didn't cross my mind. If the delay of the EC is limited, I will probably do this.

 

[rvdborgt]

I hope this will be similar for me, but I’m curious what will be shown on the reservation display. A station that won’t be served or whether it will be replaced by Messe-Deutz.

It will probably just show "KOELN". IIRC they don't add the particular station.

 

[stuu]

Do you have an account with DB that you booked it through? When I travelled from Rotterdam to Hamburg on a DB ticket a couple of years ago, they emailed me about the journey no longer being available, and I was able to reroute and move the reservation online

 

[biko]

Yes, I booked through my DB account, but the website gives an error immediately after pressing the button for searching new connections.

An update: the panorama car was present and a paper reservation card was at my seat saying it was reserved from Basel SBB to Köln Messe/Deutz, so my reservation seems to have been changed automatically to the alternative station. The EC was only delayed for less than 10 minutes so it was an easy hop on the S-Bahn to the hauptbahnhof where I could pick up the ICE to the Netherlands without anyone else taking my seats. So it all went quite smoothly which is unexpected in Germany nowadays!