I decided to cancel one of my train ticket because I just want to change the seat, keep in mine there is a fee when you cancel, you will get from 150 to 250 RUB less but is not a lot, just like 2 to 4 USD per ticket. I usually have 2 tickets on the same route, one overnight and one fast train, I do recommend that or book tickets you may need because you can always have a last minute change of plans.
I had this problem with my CC's switched to debit card and it worked. But, only once tried to book different train with the same card and i have been unsuccessful. i didn't see paypal option. where did you see that?
I've been happy using Real Russia for trains. http://realrussia.co.uk/ Service has been good and they even gave me a 81 pound refund without me expecting it.
Hi Everyone, I am planning on attending the England v Belgium match and have reserved seats on the free train from Moscow to Kaliningrad for my friends and I (UK/American citizens) but just learned that I need additional visas for this particular train.... I sent an email to support@transport2018.com (the email address on the free train website) about transit to Kaliningrad and they said "To travel on an additional train to Kaliningrad citizens of foreign countries must have a document authorizing transit through the territory of the Republic of Lithuania and the Republic of Belarus. In regards of obtaining the appropriate documents please kindly refer to the relevant embassy." Are there any American/UK citizens out there who have been able to get a transit visa for Belarus/Lithuania? If so, how much was it? If it's going to be $100+ just for a transit visa, it might not even make sense to take the train and go through the visa hassle. It might make more sense to simply purchase a flight directly to Kaliningrad from Moscow.
I used tutu.ru, they had the paypal option but they do charge about 7-10% extra. I was unable to get rzd.ru to work with any of my cards so i gave up
Did you happen to look in any Belarusian/Lithuanian government webpage? Its 60 Euros for Belarus You don't need Visa for Lithuania http://mfa.gov.by/en/visa/consularfeerates/ https://keliauk.urm.lt/en/incoming/united-states https://keliauk.urm.lt/en/incoming/united-kingdom
Well, they refunded 81 pounds because the overcharged you more than 81+ pounds in the first place... I understand that RZD might fail, but like I posted before, your second choice should be Tutu.Ru or https://www.ufs-online.ru. You can look into my post on March 17th where I compared the prices for all sites, and these two were surcharging "reasonable" markups. Everything else is quite a ripoff
Did you call your bank? I gave Chase a call saying I was going to make a purchase on a Russian train website. The guy then explained that if it was declined, it was a Verified By Visa issue, and that I would need to call Chase while I was trying to make the purchase for them to push it through.
Chase sucks most of the time, I called before to make an spending notification and on two cards (wife and me) with different agents mine got rejected while wife's cc worked, this was on the first phase (2nd attempt went trough on my card). On the last FCFS last week I called again a day before and they rejected, it was the same Chase CC that was used before (FIFA tickets), got txt and email asking to confirm the transaction, click yes and tried again without success. I called and the person have to do an special modification and then it finally went trough. When I used my Barclays Mastercard cc it was much better, I didn't have to call, the system will ask you to send a confirmation code by my email and I got il in matter of seconds, after inputting the code the transaction was approved right away. I do have other cc from others bank and most of them have foreigner transactions fees or they are Amex.
Yea I called multiple cards and stayed with them on the phone, they all said they see the charge and did not block it but the site is still returning declined. Told me to retry later, I tried next day and still failed. I think (/hope) i'm a one off based on the others here so tutu.ru is an alternative with paypal if anyone else is having an issue, tutu sent me a pdf boarding coupon about a min after my purchase. Its about $5 usd more for each ticket.
Hmm weird. I think Chase has to then call Visa to push it thru. The Sapphire Reserve guy I spoke to seemed pretty knowledgeable.
I have a Visa Infinite with CNB and I didn't have any issue with RZD, I didn't tried my Sapphire Reserve or any other CC.
I had no issues with my Chase Sappire Reserve on RZD, but I did call Chase ahead of time and he said that if there was an issue with the card even after getting the OK in the Chase system, that it would likely be a Verified by Visa issue. I was actually quite relieved that there were no issues on RZD. I didnt have much room for error as I was after the morning Sapsan train on the day of the Moscow semi. That train sold out in 20 minutes.
I tried Tutu and my card failed three times, called my bank and they said there should be no issue. Real Russia was a recommendation from a well known blogger.
It all depends on what you are looking for.. if you are willing to wake up early and do it your self then yes... but o just called real russia... gave them all my itinerary, and thats it... they did all of it... i knew i was getting charged extra but to me it was worth it, specially because of costumer support, had to make changes and one phone call and it was done
In Japanese there is a saying “ten people, ten colors”. I had the exact opposite experience as you. I jumped from Barclays to Chase Sapphire Reserve. Ran into a few snags with Barclays before, and none with Chase. Booked tickets with FIFA twice this Cup, and train tickets two separate times on RZD, with zero problems. I did call Chase the first time, as I didn’t want any issues. After that though, the rest of the charges were a few months later, with no notification to them beforehand. As others have said, if you want to be sure, give them a call and have them note your account to be expecting a charge. Aloha
I’m not here to tell you how not to waste your money. You probably paid a 14 usd fee for a ticket change that doing it yourself would had a cost of 4 usd, just to start. If waking early was a problem, then I don’t know how you even got tickets for the matches... anyway let not fool ourselves, using the official web is really easy and there is no need to pay the middle man, unless you are having trouble with the CC. Still if you need to use a 3rd party, use the ones already mentioned. If you want to pay a LOT more and maybe get a refund and just sit while other people do what you are perfectly capable to do by your own, be my guest
IM sorry about the tone of my post, but with so many people here trying to stretch the buck to spend as much as possible I think is kind of irresponsible to recommend third parties sites for trains without acknowledging the surplus they charge for that, or justify it only on convenience. It like recommending people to buy tickets on viagogo or stubhub because “you avoid the hassle of waiting in line at 4am” but without acknowledging that you will pay a lot $$$$$ more about the
The reality is that for some of these high demand trains, you were better off going through RZD. Many of my friends used Russian Trains and it was a disaster as this 3rd party site could not get the trains that RZD offered in time. Of course, their customer support was supportive and they were able to get at least a train on the day of the Moscow semifinal. But, it was more expensive as they were too slow. So not only do you deal with the dynamic RZD train pricing, but then you get stiffed by the 3rd party's fees. I stayed up till 2am to buy the train ticket on RZD. I entered in my passport info and my 3 other friends' details a few days before. I got the exact train I wanted and paid the equivalent of $70 USD for each ticket. Of course, my card could have been rejected and that would've totally screwed me. It's a 50/50 chance in the end.
Hi I am trying to book the free trains but my tickets are just provisional IE for matches my team MAY qualify for but I keep gettting this "The number of your ticket or confirmed request for the match is entered incorrectly or cannot pass the check" Is there any way to do this I have the FAN ID but no ticket number as such. Thanks
I know I am a little late to the party so I would like to go to Saint Petersburg after the Samara QF. Only one plane direct, more than 300€... So any other options. Do you see a new plane popping up to make this transfer easier or no other choice? ANyone selling that ticket maybe? REgards: Peter
We are waiting for a new agreement between Russia and Belarus to be signed any time soon. There is a chance that FanID will be ok for entering Belarus. Stay tuned.