Seating on Deutsche Bahn trains

I have a seemingly stupid question, but Google was not my friend on this particular topic, nor was a search on the DB website.

I am traveling for the first time on a DB train tomorrow (Munich-Garmisch.) I have a ticket but not a seat reservation.

So the question is: Can I just go into any compartment and sit wherever, and hope it isn't a reserved seat, or is there some special area for unreserved seats? And are there any tips or tricks I should be aware of when trying to land a seat unreserved?

Thanks in advance. I'll leave the house at 10:30 am, so any tips before that time would be great.

Are you riding the ICE train? If you do, you'll be lucky if there is a seat that is not reserved. You'll have to check the little plates above the seats, they usually tell the stops they are reserved, for example Munich to xyz, xyz to Garmisch etc.
There definitely is not a special area for unreserved seats.
Best to do is to wait until everyone is seated and then look for a free seat and by the time the reservation holder comes (maybe 3 stops later) you may be lucky and another seat close by is then free.

Enjoy your trip

Leeza, I'm going to assume you're not travelling on an ICE. I don't know if there even are ICE trains through Garmisch.

You've got these things going for you:

1. You're not on the first train of the day;
2. You're travelling on a Thursday which is not part of a holiday weekend;
3. It's November, not the high tourist season;
4. If worse comes to worst, Garmisch isn't that far from Munich.

If you're on a regional train or the BOB, there are no reserved seats. You just need to find a seat in the correct class. If the train is for some reason packed, which I don't think it will be, check to make sure that people who are "saving seats" really do have a friend coming and are not just making more room for themselves.

Besides the tips from goodlife above about ICE travel, the reservation system makes the reservation from a specific starting point to a specific ending point. If someone has a reservation from Munich Hbf to, say, Nuernberg, and they try to get on at Pasing instead of Hbf, their reservation is technically invalid.

Hmm, that's not quite right. You have 15 mins from the time the train departs, let's say as in your example from Munich Hbf, to claim your reserved seats. Your reservation is still valid in Pasing if you're quick enough to find your seats. Which shouldn't be a big deal as there are posters depicting where on the platform your carriage can be found.
Apart from that, if I know that I want to get on the train in Pasing then it would be silly not to reserve from Pasing in the first place.

leeza - You should hae no problems finding a free seat. I have travelled alot on the DB and only have had to stand a few times and that was always in connection with the World Cup, Oktoberfest or some other large event. Just get to the Hbf a little early and get on the train early and you will be virtually guaranteed a seat.

What Cinzia said.

I have travelled millions of times from GAP to Munich & back and have never seen reserved seats (on RE/RB) except for large groups. Usually these trains only have one 1st class section too, I have also never seen it that crowded in the middle of the day on a Thursday.

So from what you all are saying, there aren't reserved seats on the regional train to GAP in the 2nd Class. That's great news, now I am all sorted. Thanks a lot!

And don't try to get into the 1st class car with only a 2nd class ticket because you will get fined for that if you are caught (2x the cost of your ticket or 40€).

What is stopping you from making a seat reservation?

errr they don't do reservations on RE/RB trains.

Even if the seat is empty during the whole journey? That sucks.

Just for standing around in there too.

Why on earth would that "suck"? The main reason people pay extra to sit in first class is because it's quieter there, so the last thing they want is for their carriage to be full of people who paid half the amount. In fact, the entire concept of first and second class would disintegrate if second-class ticket holders were allowed to sit in first class.

If they let "the plebs" who are all riding on heavily discounted tickets into first class it would defeat the purpose of first class innit.

A friend of mine who works for DB and i were travelling on the notoriously overcrowded Viel Länder Express last weekend back to Munich.
He told me that DB staff are NOT allowed to open up 1st class seats to 2nd class tcket holders in the case of overcrowding with the exception of the disabled and pregnant women.

Yep ditto what STB said, besides their toilets are just as bad as second class so your not missing much.

edit: If you are riding the ICE buy coffee/snacks before hand, the DB likes to charge you like a first class citizen.

I pay extra to sit in first class as there are usually fewer children in first class and that's definitely worth the extra cost of the ticket. Nothing annoys me more than crying children on a train or children running through the carriage. Regarding getting fined when you're not suppose to be, where is that stated and how is one to know that there is a fine? It seems the total amount of the fine could be the cost of the first class ticket depending on where you're traveling.

It is in the DB terms and conditions of carriage that you legally accept when you enter into a contract with DB ie buying a ticket or boarding one of their trains.
Yes, fines for fraudlent travel are higher than the fares. That's errrrrm, the point of them.

According to my colleague who's wife works at DB and who asked me to do a translation into English of the notice in German that they will/have put on the 1st class cabins, it says basically what I posted up above. Entrance into First Class cabin without a ticket are subject to fines totally twice the amount of your ticket up to 40€. (You wouldn't believe how they tried to translate in the first place - it made no sense in English - that's why my colleague asked me - DB getting something for free...again)

As I travel all the time on Deutsche Bahn, I thought I'd confirm about the fine. I just spoke to someone at Deutsche Bahn at 018051941951 to ask if there is a fine and he said if you are found to be sitting in first class and your ticket is for second there is no fine. You will be asked to pay an uebergang and pay the different in the ticket from first class to second class. If you do not want to pay the different than you will be asked to sit in 2nd class. If you don't won't to sit in second class and refuse to move from 1st class you will be escorted from the train by the polizei.

Edit: So apparently the person at Deutsche Bahn didn't know what they were talking about. But I remember this happened to me long time ago I was sitting in first class and had a second class ticket. I just paid the difference and there was no fine. They were probably lenient because I didn't speak the language.

They CAN be lenient and usually they are. BUT, if they think you are taking the piss, they also have the framework to charge you the €40.

Yep I have personaly been kicked out of first class myself on a couple occasions, mostly on the account that I was pissed. If you are diplomatic they usually recind in kind.

Try sitting on a Business Class or First Class seat on an airplane when you can't get your preferred economy seat: and enjoy the treatment...

I agree with all your points. Definitely a 1st class passenger does not want to hear a crying baby beside him /her. But when a handsome, quiet gentelman(or woman) is travelling in an EMPTY 1st class cabin with a 2nd class ticket then the story should be different. :-)

The first class carriage is never empty, and if it is then presumably there will still be seats in second class.

Britain has so far managed to go half the way with regards to locking up all noisy people into the same carriage, with the introduction of both quiet carriages and family carriages. All they have to do now is drag their antiquated booking system into the 21st century so that people can actually choose whether they want to be in those carriages or not (important since most people buy their tickets in advance due to the extortionate costs of not doing so, and a seat reservation is included in the price). Because their ticketing system can differentiate between first and second class and nothing else, I (as a solo traveller) often find myself placed in the family carriage, so I ignore the reservation and head up to the quiet carriage only to find families with kids in there.

Luckily these people are nice people because about a year ago, I bought a Bayern Ticket to Salzburg for a group of 5 women. I knew that we could not take the ICE train (no stops) and had to take the regional trains (lots of stops) and we had to wait until after 9 am. Well, in the rush to buy the ticket, I told the other ladies 'Find the train that goes at 9:15 or so to Salzburg' and ran off to buy the ticket. I ran back and we ran to the train that they figured out was the correct train. I said to the train guy as we were getting on 'Going to Salzburg, right?' and he said 'Correct'. Once were sitting down and the ticket guy came around, we proudly gave him our Bayern Ticket. He said 'oh, you can't take an ICE train on a Bayern ticket. He didn't make us pay the difference or anything. I think because we were 5 attractive women together and we were obviously foreigners and the look of shock on my face when he said we were on an ICE train. He was extremely nice. We flipped him 50€ for letting us off the hook.

Which reminds me, I'm also in favour of women-only carriages. Not because of the security aspect, mind – purely for the purpose of noise reduction in the other carriages...

I've never seen an ICE go to Salzburg...I'm assuming you mean IC

It's also pretty damn obvious with the color of the train...

Well, we're talking about 5 Americans - 4 of which do not live in Germany and one (myself) who never takes the train anywhere. Plus, I was literally running to the train and did not even notice what color it was or anything, because, if we had missed it, we would have had to wait for a later train. So, we just ran and hopped on. It was an easy mistake, believe me.

That's only true for trains with a conductor, or more exactly with a conductor who can sell you tickets. Here it is even possible to board the train without any ticket and buy it from the conductor (for a small service fee). And to buy an uebergang, i.e. upgrade to first class, is something always possible. I've even seen that upgrading to 1st class already when on the train was recommended in DB leaflets.

But since April 2007 buying tickets on board is no more possible on regional trains. Thus also upgrading is no more possible on these trains. If the train has still a normal conductor, the chances are good that he will just ask you to sit in 2nd class. If your ticket is checked by plain clothed ticket controllers the risk to be fined is much higher.

Bavaria: If you are on a train without a valid ticket then you are defrauding and are liable for a € 40 fine.

I was on a regional train yesterday heading to Wurzburg and a women did not have a ticket. The conductor took her ID left for about five minutes and came back and fined her. On the ICE trains I frequently travel on I've upgraded my ticket onboard from second to first by paying additional money on board.