Just an observation I'd like to share.
In the past weeks I saw a few posts by people who claim to be working for "Rail Europe World", which seems to be the same as Raileurope (); you know, that company that tries to make every inexperienced train traveller believe that they have the best ticket deals in Europe. See for example #5 by "RailEuropeConnect" on this thread.
() at least typing www.raileuropeworld.com directs you to the regular Rail Europe website
As it happened, last week I was looking for a train ticket for a weekday in the last week of January, and this is what I found:
Departure from Amsterdam Centraal: 25 January, 07:04h
Return from Dusseldorf Hbf: 25 January, 19:40h
Train type etc: ICE international, seat reservation included
When booked directly through Dutch Railways (http://www.nshispeed.nl):
- Total fare €48,00
- Booking costs: zero
- Credit card charges: € 2,50 (no charge for bank transfer from an account in the Netherlands)
- Home-print ticket
TOTAL € 48.00 + credit card fee
When booked through Rail Europe, this same trip - on exactly the same trains! - costs:
- Total fare € 128,00
- Booking fee: € 8,00
- International delivery fee: € 12 (print@home/print@station not available)
- (optional) "Rail Protection Plan" (against loss or theft) fee: € 10,00
- Credit card fee: unknown
TOTAL €148.00 excl. protection plan and credit card fee
I'm curious to hear what service Rail Europe adds to warrant the €100 difference. They offer "the possibility to find a local customer services agent speaking your own language" and "to pay in your local currency". They don't mention if this implies that native speakers of Wolof, Quechua or Khmer can get assistance in their respective languages, nor what exchange rate they'll apply to your hard-earned rubles, kips or quetzals.
