Suche
Mein Konto
Bahn abolishes family reservations: now traveling will be expensive!
Deutsche Bahn will abolish family reservations from June 15, 2025, which will lead to significant price increases for families.
Bahn abolishes family reservations: now traveling will be expensive!
Deutsche Bahn is causing a stir among families: from June 15, 2025, family reservations will be abolished. This means that in future each person, including children up to 14 years of age, will need their own seat reservation. While children can still travel for free when accompanied by an adult, all travelers must pay for their seats on the trains. The changes come into force with the timetable change and are intended to improve the difficult economic situation of the railway, which recorded a loss of 1.8 billion euros last year zvw.de reported.
Price increases in detail
The cost of a reservation will increase accordingly: in second class the price will now be 5.50 euros, which means an increase of 30 cents. Anyone sitting in first class has to pay 6.90 euros, 40 cents more than before. Families with two children are particularly affected, as they have to pay a total of 22 euros for reservations, instead of 10.40 euros as before. For a return trip this adds up to a whopping 44 euros. This drastic increase has already caused strong criticism from the ecological transport club VCD and other associations that take care of the needs of travelers, such as tagesschau.de highlights.
Politics and society react
Deutsche Bahn's decisions face resistance from various political parties as well as organizations such as Greenpeace, the German Social Association and the Pro Bahn passenger association. Critics warn that the additional costs will particularly burden low-income households and that the railway will force families into cars. Jörg Bruchertseifer from the Pro Bahn passenger association is therefore calling for more attractive pricing for environmentally friendly travel by train. He emphasizes that families urgently need reserved seats to ensure travel comfort, such as br.de reported.
In 2024, around 5 percent of long-distance travelers used family reservations, which corresponds to around 6.7 million passengers. This shows that the offer was probably not only appreciated by a few. It remains to be seen how the new framework conditions will be accepted by travelers. While Deutsche Bahn reports the changes as a necessary step to reduce costs, the social response is clear: criticism is growing and many are calling for a rethink of the railway's pricing policy.