Good joke! Russia isn't exactly a small country or anything. It's crazy how you see people on other forums like Tripadvisor or facebook who have bought tickets and then comment about the distances and costs of travelling between them. You'd think they would have looked at a map at least before committing to tickets.
Paid train tickets (including Moscow-SPB high-speed trains) went on sale for June 14 (the day of the opening match) today on https://pass.rzd.ru/main-pass/public/en. Here's a conversion chart for the rest of the tournament.
Thank you for posting this Saved me waking up on a Sunday at 6am for nothing (I had my dates wrong by a few days).
You sir, are appreciated. I had a crude version of my own. Went on yesterday and booked my VIP suite on the Red Arrow from St Pete to Moscow. Stoked!
Ok, so now we can do a little comparison among the different ways of buying train tickets. I picked the most popular sites (according to my research) and I'm taking a sample by selecting the cheaper seat in RDZ (the official site) and then searching that specific train in the other sites. We will see how much are those other sites grossing up the cost. Just bear in mind that some people reported problems when they tried to pay thru RZD and said that the other sites dont have that problem. If that is your case, at least try to go thru the 3rd party site that charges you less. Another reported benefit from the 3rd party sites is that they usually have a customer support in english, in case that any of you finds that important. I did some searches for my own trip, taking JUNE 14th as reference. I share them below: MOSCOW-SPB Regular Seat on Fast Train - Train # 768 - 4 hours RZD : 45 USD Russian Trains: 89 USD Russian Rail: 73 USD Tutu Travel: 52 USD UFS: 51 USD MOSCOW-SPB Bed in 2nd Class compartment (overnight train) -Train # 056A - 8 hours RZD : 29 USD Russian Trains: 71 USD Russian Rail: 46 USD Tutu Travel: 34 USD UFS: 33 USD NiNo-SPB Bed in 2nd Class compartment (overnight train) -Train # 059 - 14 hours RZD : 57 USD Russian Trains: 140 USD Russian Rail: 92 USD Tutu Travel: 65 USD UFS: 67 USD Final Thoughts: 1) As you can see, the official site has always the best price, followed by Tutu and UFS (I actually think that those sites are somehow related). 2) UFS is the easiest site to use. 3) Russiantrains and Russian Rail prices are ripoffs 4) At least at the moment when tickets go to sale, they are maintaining the same initial price as any other given day. There is no WC "premium" price. 5) Regarding the previous point, bear in mind that the prices fluctuate according to the demand (as a plane ticket), so book your trains as soon as possible. 6) My strategy would be to try to book first directly through RZD and my plan B will be UFS 7) Even if you decide to go directly thru 3rd parties, ALWAYS check first the train-table in RZD. I saw some trains that were NOT offered in UFS (weird)
Good comparisons, thanks for sharing. I decided to try to buy mine direct, as if I can do it myself, I don’t need to pay someone else a commission. Used my Chase Sapphire Reserve Card (USA issued), and had zero problems. I created a profile first with all of my information, which made it easier when booking my ticket. I didn’t get a confirmation email from them, but a confirmation page with options of PDF and a few others. I printed the pdf, and emailed it to myself and verified the charge is on my Chase card, and I’m good to go. One thing to remember, if booking with RZD, when time to input your information, don’t use “international passport” for your passport, or you will get an error. Use “foreign document” instead. I had a confusing time with that until I saw that advice on some webpage.
Some advice for anyone who wants to book a flight on Ural Airlines: use PayPal. The Ural Airlines website has trouble processing electronic payments. I tried paying for a flight on their website using both a Visa and a MasterCard and on both Safari and Chrome. The charge failed each time even though both "Verified by Visa" and MasterCard assured me there was no problem. In fact, they said they never even saw an attempted charge and guessed the problem was with Ural's website. I tried booking the flight on Kayak and it also failed there. But Ural also allows PayPal so I tried that (linked to the same Visa that had not worked before). The website still seemed to fail but the charge went through and I received receipts from both Sberbank and the airline. This whole process took two days because there was only one seat left at the price I was trying to pay. After each failure, a new higher price would be quoted for some time until their internal system returned the ticket I was trying to buy to the inventory.
Maybe Nick can pls translate: Добрый день! К сожалению, по техническим причинам сроки проверки номера заявки\билета на матч увеличены. В случае не одобрения проверки данных на матч (номера подтверждения на приобретение входного билета на матч Чемпионата мира 2018) на адрес электронной почты, указанный при регистрации, будет направлено письмо с причиной отказа бронирования билета на поезд, а также изменится статус в Личном кабинете в разделе "Мои заказы". В случае успешной проверки данных , не ранее чем за 60 суток до отправления поезда в личный кабинет Портала, а также на адрес электронной почты будет направлен посадочный купон. После получения посадочного купона процесс оформления бесплатного проезда на дополнительном поезде считается завершенным. Спасибо, что обратились в службу поддержки.
Do you show your train booking as “data sent to be checked”? Because according to google translate it seems like your booking verification is taking more time than usual Translation: Good afternoon! Unfortunately, due to technical reasons, the deadline for checking the number of the application / ticket for the match is increased. In the event that the verification of the match data (confirmation number for the purchase of the entrance ticket for the 2018 World Cup match) is not approved, an email with the reason for refusing the ticket reservation for the train will be sent to the e-mail address specified during registration, and the status in the Personal Account section in the section "My orders". In case of successful verification of the data, a boarding coupon will be sent to the e-mail address not earlier than 60 days before the departure of the train to the personal cabinet of the Portal. After receiving the landing coupon, the process of issuing a free ride on an additional train is considered complete. Thank you for contacting our support team.
This happened to me yesterday. I booked on the Ural site. I was confused but called Ural directly and the Russian woman explained that international credit cards will not work. And that I would have to use Pay Pal. So I did and was actually able to book 2 flights with them. Now I just hope hey are a reliable and safe airline.
My dates for a train aren't available yet but looking at your day a ticket for a first class sleeper train from Moscow to Nizhny is €70 per person. Do you know if those prices would have been cheaper when they first went online earlier today? Also it has a picture of a meal. Do they provide you with a dinner in the middle of the night or what? 2nd class is decent price wise at 30 euro each but is it recommended as you have to share with other people?
Thanks. Do you know what time each 'new day' opens up to buy train tickets for? i.e. what time during the day on March 20th can we start buying tickets for June 17th? Is it midnight Moscow time (17h00 EDT June 16)?