One or multiple tickets, what difference does it make?

Your journey consists of several legs, and one of the train services has been cancelled or delayed, causing you to miss your connection. Are you entitled to reimbursement, re-routing, assistance and/or compensation? That depends on the type of ticket(s) you bought: one through-ticket for all legs of your train journey or multiple tickets.

We distinguish three scenarios:

• You bought your train ticket from the railway company in one single commercial transaction
  In other words, you bought one ticket for all the consecutive legs of your journey, even if that ticket in fact combines separate tickets. If your journey is disrupted, you must appeal to the railway company concerned to assert your rights (reimbursement, re-routing, assistance and/or compensation).
  The situation is different if the railway company clearly specifies during your purchase that it combines different tickets of different railway companies. In this case, each railway company is responsible for the leg that it services and only has to offer a solution for that particular leg.
  
  
• You bought a rail ticket from a ticket vendor in one single commercial transaction
  Your rights will vary depending on the type of ticket:

• One ticket with one unique booking code with the railway company or companies concerned. You can contact the railway company or companies concerned in case of problems.
• Separate tickets but during the purchasing process you were not informed that your purchase combines separate tickets? Did you miss your connection due to cancellation or delay of the previous train service? The ticket vendor must reimburse the full price of your purchase together with a compensation of 75% of that amount.
• Separate tickets but during the purchasing process you were informed that your purchase combines separate tickets? In that case, the ticket vendor bears no responsibility if problems arise during your train journey. You must contact the railway company responsible for the disrupted leg, and a solution may only be requested for that particular leg only.

• You bought separate tickets for each leg of your journey in multiple commercial transactions
  The tickets are separate from each other, with all the consequences.

Good to know: thanks to an arrangement between several major European railway companies (incl. NMBS, NS, SNCF, DB, CFL, ÖBB, Renfe, Trenitalia), you can continue your journey if you miss a connection due to problems on the previous leg, even if you bought separate tickets for the different legs. It should be noted that this only applies if tickets were bought in one single commercial transaction. The arrangement only guarantees a re-routing to your final destination. No reimbursement or compensation.