A pass that cost us more money, more time, and a ruined family trip
I bought four Eurail Global Passes (around €1,193) for a trip with my parents, who flew in from India to visit me. It was meant to be a relaxed European holiday for them. It became the worst travel experience I’ve had in years of living in Europe — and I say that as someone who works in customer success for a living.The pass is sold as a simple, flexible way to travel. In reality it failed us at almost every step. At Munich we were refused boarding on a full train and waited three hours with my elderly parents. On the Paris–Brussels Eurostar there were no pass-holder seats, so we were forced to buy full-price tickets on top of the pass we’d already paid for — paying twice for the same journey. We were hit with repeated mandatory reservation fees on other legs, spent around six hours reaching Brussels, arrived at 10pm, and lost a full day of pre-booked activities. Several travel days we paid for were simply wasted.When I complained, it got worse. Over two weeks my case was passed betwee
