Half Fare Card (1month) discount for EuroCity

[rushikeshagashe]

When booking a EC train from Interlaken to Milan, can I use the 1 month Half Fare card? I only see 1/2/3 year options for discount 

[rushikeshagashe]

Hello Fatima, 

Please see attached image. Can I use the 1 month Half Fare card for reduction?

[RolandP]

Hello @rushikeshagashe 

No, this not possible. Our colleague @FatimaH has correctly answered your question already, see below.

Best regards,
Roland

[FatimaH]

Hello @rushikeshagashe 

Thank you for your message.

The Swiss Half Fare Card (from the Swiss Travel Pass offer) is not a subscription and therefore cannot be selected as a discount card. The international ticket must therefore be purchased from or to the border. A separate ticket for travel within Switzerland must therefore also be purchased up to or from the border.

I wish you a good day.

Kind regards,
FatimaH

[cfrome]

Hi @FatimaH and @RolandP,

I think this is an interesting question. Can a tourist holding a Swiss Half Fare Card, select the option 'Half-Fare Travelcard 1/2/3-year' for the Reduction drop down to get the half fare benefit? To me it is still not clear, so would appreciate your feedback.

Per the instructions on this website https://www.sbb.ch/en/help-and-contact/produkte-services/offers-for-tourists.html, you can create a sbb.ch (SwissPass-login) account, purchase a Swiss Half Fare Card online while signed onto your sbb.ch account (SwissPass-login), and manually update your account with the ‘Half-Fare Travelcard’ as your Discount Card. Then it appears you get the same half fare benefits as a Swiss citizen holding a real ‘Half-Fare Travelcard’.

When booking travel from Spiez to Milano Centrale you are directed to the SBB Ticket Shop site, and have the option to sign on with your SwissPass-login or the Ticket Shop login. If you sign on with your SwissPass-login, it appears that the Ticket Shop site only uses your name and email from your sbb.sh account, not that you ‘have’ a Half Fare-Fare Travel card. You are presented with the Reduction option to select your discount card as shown in @rushikeshagashe  post. It seems like you should be able to select the ‘Half-Fare Travelcard (1/2/3)’, since you were directed how to manually add it to your sbb.ch account (SwissPass-login) per the website instructions noted above.

If you select the ‘Half-Fare Travelcard (1/2/3)’ option, you are presented with an offer where the pricing seems to take into account the half fare price benefit for the Spiez to Domodossala part of the ticket. The discount is not applied to the Domodossola to Milano part of the ticket. (Note: this is where the Spiez to Milano route option has 0 changes). It seems like you should get the same benefit if you have a Swiss Half Fare Card. Or is there something special that this half price benefit only holds when you actually have a real Half-Fare Travelcard and you book a ticket that has an international part, ie, the conductor actually differentiates between the Swiss Half Fare Card and the Half-Fare Travelcard on an international route?    

Thanks for your time on this. It is appreciated.

[LeaG]

Hello @cfrome 

The Half Fare Travelcard ( 1 year subscription on the SwissPass) and the Swiss Half Fare Card (valid 1 month) both allow tickets to be purchased at half price. For international journeys (to Italy), however, only the Half Fare Travelcard can be selected as discount card, because this is based on a contract. The Swiss Half Fare Card is not based on a contract and is not accepted as discount card for international journeys. If you have a Swiss Half Fare Card, you can buy a ticket from Interlaken Ost - Domodossola (border) with a Half Fare Card. And then buy a new ticket from Domodossola - Milano without discount.

Kind regards
LeaG

[cfrome]

Thanks for your replies @LeaG, @FatimaH, and @RolandP, and appreciate your patience. I now think I understand that depending on the ticket offering between Switzerland and another country, you will either get the interface that is included in @rushikeshagashe  post above (booking travel to Milan for example) or the following interface if booking a ticket to Paris for example:

If you get the interface as shown in @rushikeshagashe post you can NOT select the ‘Half-Fare Travelcard (1/2/3)’ discount option if you have a Swiss Half Fare Card. But if you get the interface shown in the Paris example above, you can select the 'Half Fare Travelcard' discount option if you have a Swiss Half Fare Card and will get a discount on the Switzerland portion of the journey.

Thanks again.