I know, I know. Many of you say skip it--just buy when we get to Italy. My original reasons for buying from home were good, but since my attempts to nagivate the Trenitalia website were fruitless, my stubborn nature has now kicked in. So, now it's a matter of honor--I'm bound and determined to get those tickets bought.

So, after trying absolutely everything, including using a virtual credit card number (mind you, I had to take out a new card for this privilege, but remember, I'm just a bit stubborn), and still having no success, I decided that I'd fool the system and try buying on the Italian site. Everytime until now, I'd successfully negotiated the train selection, the logging in, and gotten to the buy screen. On that screen, I'd entered my card #, my CV2 code, my name, etc. My card company had been prepped and told to expect to see Italian transactions. Then I would push the button to buy, wait about 5 seconds and get a note which said that payment had been denied.

So, this time, again armed with a virtual card #, a prepped and notified credit card company, I decided that I would use the Italian version of the website. After all, I know the screens by heart and could surely successfully negotiate the site. But, this time, when I got the timetable up showing the train I wanted, I hit a new snag. The buy button had a big "NO" rather than a shopping cart symbol.

The tickets I'm trying to buy are for May 9, which is less than 60 days, but more than 30 days out. I'm wondering whether the Italian version of the site is set to sell only within 30 days?

Just to be sure that I hadn't, all by myself broken the entire site, I double-checked the English version of the site. Sure enough, those same itineraries have the little shopping cart next to them. Could it be that the site is so smart that it knows I can't speak Italian? Or is it just diabolical?

I will keep trying. I won't need to let you know when/if I succeed, because you will all hear my shrieks of satisfaction when/if that happens.

BTW, I have searched this issue on Fodors, Rick Steves, here, Frommer's, Lonely Plantet, and Rough Guides, and every single forum is full of people plaintively crying out their frustration. Each forum also has at least one smug guy saying that it was a piece of cake and that only idiots would be unable to successfully purchase tickets on Trenitalia!

More to come.

Last year for some unexplainable reason I was actually able to book a train on Trenitalia website. I used my regular Visa and could not believe it was accepted. I don't recall if it was on my first attempt but if it wasn't I would not have persisted for any length of time. At a later date I tried to book another train to no avail. I did try to buy that one on quite a few occasions but gave up and bought from RailEurope and saved myself a lot of frustration.

Carole

Hi Janet,

Which train were you attempting to purchase tickets for today? Eurostar, regional, or local? Even at this point, the tickets for the local trains could be unavailable. If it was Eurostar, they should show up as available.

For the record-and even after purchasing two different types of tickets from their website before I left in 2006-I was denied twice this morning for Eurostar tickets for my May trip. And then, only ten minutes later, I was confirmed for the purchase of three Roma Passes by a different Italian site, so it is definitely not my Visa card. Hey, whatever, Trenitalia! (big raspberry!)

Best of luck on your endeavor to beat their website, Janet. However at this point, I believe you may need some kind of computer hacker to help you get those reservations.

Actually, I tried to book one Intercity trip and one Eurostar trip. All to no avail. I picture this impish, grinning, little fairy-book character sitting inside the site deciding completely randomly whether to grant a certain purchase or not. Thanks for the cheers.

Why not try www.ItaliaRail.com - they're North American agents for TrenItalia. You get the tickets mailed to your home. The fee might be a little more but the Web site is easy to use and probably not as frustrating as dealing with the TrenItalia site.

Thanks, Kathy. However, a key benefit to ordering on Trenitalia is getting the Amica 20% discount plus an additional 5% for ordering online. It's not just a slight premium to buy from ItaliRail.com, it's a whopping $50 for just one of our trips. Since my ongoing quest has become a bit silly at this point, with zero success, I'll probably just wait until we get to Italy and take an hour and go to the train station the day we get there to buy tickets from the machines. Hopefully the routes we want and the Amica fares will still be available.

I hate the Trenitalia website or maybe it just hates me. I tried to get May ES train tickets and wasn't able to. So my hubby (cause he is a man) decides he can do it and it must be something I did wrong . 10 minutes later he is screaming at the computer(like it can hear him) and saying how he hates the site. I guess the Trenitalia website didn't care that he was a big man it still didn't work. I hope you can break the system and get train tickets. I think I will buy mine in italy.

quote:

Originally posted by Katlady:
I hate the Trenitalia website or maybe it just hates me. I tried to get May ES train tickets and wasn't able to. So my hubby (cause he is a man) decides he can do it and it must be something I did wrong . 10 minutes later he is screaming at the computer(like it can hear him) and saying how he hates the site. I guess the Trenitalia website didn't care that he was a big man it still didn't work.

I understand, I also wanted to have my Eurostar ticket in hand when I want this May, too. However, I came to the same conclusion: I'll be buying my ticket from a kiosk in Italy, too.

When I was in Italy last summer I bought train tickets and got the AMICA fare up to the evening before departure.

I spoke with a real person in a ticket window and he said that the AMICA fare could be available on certain trains up until the time of departure as long as the trains were not fully booked. (I think the Trenitalia website said something different about the AMICA fare)

If the ticket machine doesn't give you the AMICA fare as an option, I would ask at the station.

The savings could buy a lot of gelato!

Well I thought it was just me...this whole debacle even made me search for answers and I found your message.
I successfully bought a ticket from Venice to Belgrade however, it first denied one credit card and then after purchasing with another card both cards were blocked. I rang my bank cleared it up and they authorised the payment to go through. And then on needing to purchase one more ticket, Rome to Venice, the problems really began. I thought it was me because the credit card didn't release payment automatically the first time they were wary. I tried a friend's (more than once; who wants to be defeated by a website?) but as you all are aware to no avail.
Why could I purchase a ticket to Serbia but not within Italy? Help!!!