If rail customers make a mistake when booking, they now have less time to cancel many tickets free of charge.
How long can you cancel tickets with Deutsche Bahn?
THE German Railway has reduced the deadline for the so-called immediate cancellation from twelve to three hours.
Immediate cancellation applies to all ticket categories, including super saver and saver fares, which cannot be cancelled at all or often can only be cancelled upon payment of an administrative fee. If you cancel immediately, the fare will be fully refunded and there will be no additional costs.
But now there are nine hours less time than before. The reduction in time should not affect most customers, at least according to the federal company’s assessment. When asked, a railway spokesman said that 90% of passengers spent less than three hours with the immediate cancellation.
For which tickets does the immediate cancellation option apply?
According to Deutsche Bahn, immediate cancellation must take place before the first day of validity of the ticket, so this does not apply to tickets purchased on the day of the planned journey. Furthermore: the possibility of immediate cancellation only applies to long-distance tickets purchased online via the website or app.
Even for tickets booked via the platform “international-bahn.de” immediate cancellation is not possible. Bahncard orders cannot be cancelled immediately.
Deutsche Bahn explains where you need to click in your customer account to immediately cancel a booked ticket online on this service pagewhich also collects all the further information on this topic.