Staying on CNL past booked arrival..

Hi Jools,

Thanks for your question. Sadly my answer won't be what you want to hear. Travellers should always have a valid ticket for the entirety of their journey, even if the seat/cabin isn't booked by another passenger after they alight.

To answer your specific questions - I agree it's very unlikely that the cabin will be booked by another passenger at Berlin. I can't say whether the conductor will be "officious" or if they will try to penalise you for overstaying the validity of your reservation. But what I can say is that the guard will most certainly wake you up at your ticketed arrival point. It's their responsibility to wake passengers in their cabins before the train reaches its destination. So in order to avoid an awakening, rude or otherwise, I would recommend that you try to amend your reservation prior to boarding the train.

You should check the specific terms and conditions of the reservation you purchased to see whether it is exchangeable. Sorry to be a stick in the mud, but rules are rules :-)

Let us know how you get on. Kate

Oh while I'm here, I'll probably try to change this booking at Amsterdam, where I also hope to get the rest of our sleeper reservations. Assume I'll be able to do that there, for say Railjet Vienna - Zurich?

(I tried to book them here but sadly wasn't oragnised in time to factor in the postage, sorry!)

Thanks Kate, I thought that might be the case actually, better be safe than sorry etc!

That's a pity, but you're forgiven of course. We've only launched the reservations only part of our site so we're still learning at the moment. Hopefully we'll get you next time :-)

So long as you have a valid railpass it is possible to purchase reservations and pay supplements at the station before you travel. In most of Europe the reservations systems are interlinked, so you can purchase reservations for trains departing from a different station from the one you're at. Hope you have a fantastic trip.