Our general terms and conditions and data protection principles

You are offered a range of different services on the websites of Deutsche Bahn for which different terms and conditions apply. You can download these as a PDF or print them out:

- Internet sale of tickets
- Conditions of carriage for passenger traffic
- Standardised fare equality
- Purchase and use of BahnCards
- Arranging tourism services such as flights, hotels and hire cars
- Purchase and use of season tickets

Read the general terms and conditions

Since the protection of your personal data is very important to us, in particular with regard to protecting personal rights when processing and using this information, we would like to inform you of the following:

- Information on data protection and data security
- How securely is my data transferred over the Internet to Deutsche Bahn?
- How securely is my data held in your database?
- How can I check the encryption in my browser?
- Cookies - What are they?
- External links

Read the data protection principles

1. Your Contract

1.1. When you book a ticket with the Deutsche Bahn UK Booking Centre (a branch of DB Vertrieb GmbH), you enter into a contract with the carrier or other service provider. We act only as an agent for the carrier or service provider and accept no liability for any matters arising from, or connected with, your contract.

1.2. Your contract applies from the time your booking is confirmed by us.

2. Your Booking

2.1 Information on availability and fares is valid only at the time given and is not guaranteed to be correct at any time thereafter.

2.2. At the time of booking, we confirm the details of your booking together with the price applicable. You are advised to check the accuracy of your tickets immediately and in any event within 2 days of receipt of the tickets. We will assume you have accepted tickets as being correct unless any errors are brought to our attention.

2.3. Tickets will normally be dispatched within the UK by standard post unless you specify other delivery requirements at the time of booking (these will be at your own expense).

2.4. There is a minimum order value of £10. Orders under £10 are subject to a £5 booking fee.

2.5. Payment can be made by most credit or debit cards and also by cheque. A 2% surcharge is applied all for credit card bookings.

2.6. ALL tickets must be retained for the duration of your journey and must be produced as required both during your journey and for any after-sales enquiries and/or refund requests.

3. Changes

3.1. Changes to the date or time of the ticket for your journey are only possible with certain types of ticket and are subject to availability. Tickets are subject to different refund and change conditions. You are advised to enquire about the conditions that apply to your ticket in this respect prior to booking.

4. Refunds and Cancellations

4.1. Some tickets do not permit refunds. If you choose not to use a ticket refunds will depend on the conditions applicable to each ticket type. Some tickets are subject to a cancellation charge even if cancellation is permitted. You are advised to enquire whether refunds are permitted and what conditions are applicable to your purchase prior to booking.

4.2. When applying for a refund, ALL tickets must be sent to the Deutsche Bahn UK Booking Centre,
PO Box 687A, Surbiton, KT6 6UB.

5. Travel Documents

5.1 Neither we, nor the service provider, accept liability if you cannot travel because you do not have the correct documents including a full 10 year passport and visa where applicable.

6. Tickets

6.1 We cannot replace lost, stolen or mislaid tickets nor refund their cost. We advise customers to take out travel insurance to cover these, and other, eventualities.

7. Liability

7.1 We accept no liability for the failure of any carrier, tour operator or other service provider.

These terms and conditions are subject to English Law and to the jurisdiction of the English Courts. Bookings made through the bahn.de website will be subject to German Law.
The details of these Terms & Conditions are correct as of 12.08.2009

Trains to, from and within Germany

Groups consist of 6 or more adults, i.e. people from the age of 15 upwards.
Child rates apply for 6-14 year olds.

Group bookings, meaning an allocation on a particular train for a certain number of people, can be made up to 12 months in advance, provided that the timetables are available.

At the time of booking a 10% deposit (min. €50.00 per direction of travel) is required.

Seat reservations are then requested from the group reservation department in Germany, which will normally confirm the seat allocations 3 months before departure (or 2 months for international trains coming into Germany). Seat reservations cost €24.00 in second class and €30.00 in first class per direction of travel (and include 1 connecting train) for the whole group.

Final numbers must be advised and payment of the balance made at least 4 weeks before departure.

Group Rates

Depending on availability there are possible reductions of 50%, 60% or even 70% on standard fares.

Changes / Refunds

Exchange: up to 7 days before departure

Refunds: up to 7 days before departure

No monies can be refunded thereafter.
Cancellations for individual passengers incur a charge of €5.00 per person (max. €30.00) and for cancellation of the whole group there is a charge of €30.00.
A change of train or date is also regarded as a cancellation of the whole group and tickets for the new connection may have a different price.

If any changes or refunds are to be made, all the tickets need to be returned to our office.
Please allow sufficient time for posting.

Adding Passengers to an existing group

Passengers may be added to an existing group as far as there is group availability.
Otherwise they will be booked at the cheapest available individual rate.
For this we also need the original ticket(s) in our office.

International groups (not travelling in Germany)

Groups consist of 6 or more adults. The age limit to qualify for a child rate varies from country to country.

Group rates vary from country to country.

Bookings can be made from 6 months in advance.

At the time of booking a 10% deposit (min. €50.00 per direction of travel) is required.

Seat reservations are then requested from the group reservation department in Germany, which will normally confirm the seat allocations from 3 months before departure. Seat reservations are €24.00 in second class and €30.00 in first class per direction of travel (and include 1 connecting train) for the whole group.

Final numbers must be advised and payment of the balance made at least 4 weeks before departure.

Changes / Refunds

Exchange: up to 7 days before departure

Refunds: up to 7 days before departure

No monies can be refunded thereafter.
Cancellations for individual passengers incur a charge of €5.00 per person (max. €30.00) and for cancellation of the whole group there is a charge of €30.00.
A change of train or date is also regarded as a cancellation of the whole group and tickets for the new connection may have a different price.

If any changes or refunds are to be made, all the tickets need to be returned to our office.
Please allow sufficient time for posting.

Groups on Global Fare trains

Groups consist of 10 or more adults. Children usually pay from the age of 5.

Global fare trains are trains that require a ticket including a seat reservation.

For example:
Eurostar
Thalys
TGV
CNL (City Night Line – night train)
X2000 (in Scandinavia)
Warsaw Express

Bookings can usually be made either 3 or 2 months in advance, or even 6 months in advance for CNL.

Payment of the full amount is required at the time of booking.

For these trains special refund/cancellation policies apply, which are available on request.

The fees/charges are stated in Euros. These are converted to pound sterling at our current business exchange rate, which can be advised on request.