Thread by @benjaminschemel

I've travelled a lot through Europe by rail in the last years, mainly with @Interrail tickets. My latest journey from Sweden to Spain and back has been an utter disaster, mainly due to how the #Interrail system is organised as a whole. Let me tell you why: (1/15)

Let's start where my journey started last week, in rural southern Sweden. A regional train that should have brought me to Copenhagen with a nice transit time of 20 minutes was cancelled out of the blue, which is why I missed ALL my following reservations that day and beyond (2)

@Interrail doesn't offer insurance plans for seat reservations on high-speed trains (like my TGV from Bonn to Paris or my SNCF from Paris to Barcelona, each costing over 25,-€). This money, together with all my hopes of catching my ferry to Mallorca (another 30,-€) was (3)

immediately gone. Obviously, you also need to book new reservations for the follow-up trains because remember: @Interrail does not compensate you in ANY way. Also, they do not guarantee a spot on the next train if the previous connection was missed by no fault of your own (4)

What makes life even harder is that some reservations for high-speed trains need to be booked at the ticket office because in Interrail's booking tool (interrail.eu/en/book-reserv…) they sell them as physical paper-reservations sent to your home address (which takes 6 days...) (5)

After 35 hours of travelling rather than the intended 26, I arrived in Mallorca, having spent more than 150,- € in reservations and ferry tickets alone (the #Interrail mPass I bought hardly cost more). But if you think that's all, you're wrong - the worst is yet to come (6)

In Mallorca, my phone broke, which meant I couldn't access the RailPlanner App (where my mPass was saved) anymore. After being in touch with @Interrail's customer support, they were happy to help by unlocking the pass so I could activate it again on a friend's phone. (7)

Despite having screenshots of all tickets and necessary reservations on my laptop (my phone was still broken), the @SNCF team charged me a full ticket for today's journey from Barcelona to Paris, because I couldn't show the ticket "in the app itself". This cost me 265,-€ (8)

Expecting your customers to "just quickly buy a new phone" or "fix your phone in the middle of a trip/holiday" in case you lose access to the device with the RailPlanner App where the mPass has been activated originally is unreasonable, unjustified and quite frankly insane (9)

I'm now hoping that my onward connections today and tomorrow will let me board all trains to Sweden without having to pay for every ticket individually just because I don't have access to a functioning phone. It's utterly frustrating and annoying having to travel like this (10)

See it from this perspective: I'm already spending a fortune compared to the price of an airplane ticket and it takes me about 10x the time and energy - all just to #stayontheground and not fly. Instead of making it easy and convenient to take trains, @Interrail makes (11)

travelling through #Eurpope an unnecessary financial and physical burden - further deturring potential young Europeans to take trains.
Especially in the @EU_Commission's #EUYearofRail 2021 (europa.eu/year-of-rail/i…), let me suggest two things: (12)

1) Rail operators, @SNCF, @Renfe_SNCF, @Eurostar, @NewsroomThalys and others should offer more seats on their high-speed services exclusively to #Interrail passengers (if needed with a small reservation fee lower than 10,-€) like @DB_Presse and @unsereOEBB already offer (13)

2) @Interrail itself should make its mPasses more accessible on multiple devices, redesign its reservation policy to allow for cancellations and refunds as well as guarantee its customers a seat on the next train in case a connection was missed (14).

Now THAT would show real and honest commitment and be a worthy leap into the #EUYearofRail 2021, so more people around #Europe can discover and experience our continent by trains. Please, do your part and help redesign intra-European mobility for generations to come! (15/15)

@giulio_mattioli, @seatsixtyone, @kkklawitter, @_barbara_laa, @ulrich_leth, @ITF_Forum, @giztransport, @EurostarJustinp, @TrainTracksEU, @sleeping_train, @thetrainline

UPDATE from Sweden: After contacting @Interrail's customer service team about the incident with @SNCF on route from BCN to PAR, they have been happy to help with the specific ticket I had to pay. @SNCF's response is still outstanding but I have filed a request for reimbursement.