Frequently asked questions
If your child is under 4 years of age (6 years for ICE), s/he can travel for free, thus does not need to reserve a ticket. No seat will be assigned to him/her and s/he will travel on the lap of a parent or accompanying adult. One child per parent or accompanying adult is allowed. However, if you want to book a seat for your child, you can book it at a reduced child rate.
If your child is under the age of 12, s/he must be accompanied by a responsible person of at least 16 years of age.
Baby changing spaces are in several cars, and some carriers provide bottle warmers. In all cases the bar staff will be happy to warm up your dishes and bottles.
For international trips always remember to take the identity card or passport of your children as well as a letter showing parental consent to travel for adolescents of 12 to 17 years of age.
Except for specific terms of certain rail companies (such as Thalys and Eurostar, for example), all trains are equipped with luggage compartments. A maximum of 3 bags per passenger is allowed (2 suitcases of max 32kg collectively and one carry-on bag). Be sure to affix a tag stating the name and address of the traveler to each piece of luggage. One oversized piece of luggage (bike, skis, snowboard, musical instrument, stroller etc.) will be accepted per passenger and be considered as a suitcase.
Bikes: It is possible to take your foldable bike disassembled or contained in a bag of maximum 85cm of length on the trains. If it is not foldable and the cover exceeds 85cm of length please go to the counter for further information about extra luggage and variable pricing depending on the carrier.
Ski and snowboard: If you want to take your skis, there is no problem as long as they are contained in a bag measuring max 3m in length.
Strollers: Strollers are accepted on international trains, but must be folded during the journey and stored in the luggage compartment.
Thalys and ICE accept pets in a basket and traveling on the lap of the owner. TGV charges €10 for pets. Eurostar only accepts guide dogs. No pets are allowed on board of the Thalys Snow and Sun.
Disabled persons usually travel in first class for the price of the standard class. If you require assistance with boarding, please contact the carrier before your trip. Manual or electric wheelchairs will be placed in a luggage compartment provided for this purpose by the carrier.
For most international trains sales opens 3 months before the date of travel, and the Eurostar open its sales 6 months before departure.
Discount card: we accept Bahnhcard 25/50, Railplus, Free-term Belgium, 50% discount in Belgium, 40% reduction in the Netherlands and ThePass Business / Premium / Weekend. To qualify, complete the type of card to which each traveler is entitled (max 2 per passenger).On-board inspection is likely. You will need to present proof for your discounted rate.
Loyalty card : We accept The Card Thalys and Eurostar Frequent Traveller loyalty programs.
Digital Homeprint tickets and Thalys ticketless are registered to the purchaser. These tickets cannot be used by a third party. The other train tickets are anonymous and therefore transferable. In case of loss of anonymous tickets the carrier will not offer a refund exchange nor duplicate tickets.
3D Secure is a process of secure online payment used by banks. Established in October 2008, this system allows identification of the card holder to prevent fraud, including fraud being the result of credit card theft.
When you make a purchase on the internet in a secure environment (https), after filling in the information of your credit card you will be redirected to your bank by Ingenico. The procedure is specific to each bank. Your bank authenticates the purchase and then performs the usual checks to complete the transaction before you return to the merchant site.
Because of constant updating of the availability of seats in the reservation system common to all European carriers your reservation at the quoted price will be valid for 20 minutes. After this period it is possible that prices will change. We have no influence of this process.
Because of liaison with the reservation system we are dependent on information provided by the carriers in the common European reservation system. Rates may change unexpectedly.
Only Eurostar trains require you to be at the counter 30 minutes before departure. If you must pick up your tickets at the counter, we advise you to be present 45 minutes before departure. Holders of Business Premier tickets or Eurostar Carte Blanche can use the express check-in up to 10 minutes before departure. Remember that all travelers including children, need their ID cards, passports, and visas, even for a trip from Brussels to Lille. For all other trains it is not necessary to arrive in advance. However we advise that you arrive 20 minutes before departure. Arrivals under 2 minutes before departure are subject to boarding denial.
You can reach the Contact Center of our partner SNCB Europe +32 (0) 70 79 79 79 (€0.30/min) whose staff member will resend your confirmation email.
In general, OnlyTrain is exempt from the obligation of issuing an invoice to travelers at the delivery of a ticket. However, if you need an invoice for the provided services, a simplified invoice R 376 can be prepared by the station on presentation of your original ticket.
You must present the credit card to purchase your tickets when picking them up from the PLC or the counter. This is an additional security step to prevent fraud or malicious abuse.