Ticket problems with Austrian Railways12/27/2006 05:25 PM
ÖBB, the Austrian Railways, have a quite good B2C web page where you can search for public transportation from and to any address in Austria easily. Features include even an online ticket, you pay using your credit card and print the ticket.
I experienced a problem in Vienna: ÖBB recommends to use a commuter train (S-Bahn) and the underground railway (U-Bahn) to go to Vienna main terminal and another train from there to my final destination Salzburg. The page states a price and you can buy your ticket online BUT the page DOES NOT state that the ticket for the underground in not included in the fare.
I called their call-center for verification and talked to two diffent agents:
First statement: The fare includes only ÖBB trains and no underground or commuter train even if the ticket states the name of a station not serviced by ÖBB (and the price is higher than from Vienna)
Second statement: The fare includes ÖBB and commuter trains (as they are operated by ÖBB) but do not include the underground.
Given that the second statement is true, I found a linger route without using the underground at all. I confronted the call-center with that option and they explained that the fare is still not valid, as I have to use the shortest route and this is by using the underground.
So why is it, that ÖBB is still not customer friendly?
Ticket problems with Austrian Railways12/27/2006 05:25 PM
