4

I am re-posting this question, because it was marked as duplicate. However, the other ask-and-answers did not address my key question: Where/when during the Thalys ride does the ticket get stamped? This is important to anyone in my situation -- i.e., needing to return to Amsterdam after boarding the Thalys, but needing their ticket stamped to ensure their return itinerary is not cancelled.

Original question Traveling Amsterdam-Brussels with KLM ticket on Thalys - When / where does my ticket get stamped?

Supposed duplicate Can I skip my train leg booked with a KLM flight?

I purchased a ticket to Brussels via Amsterdam on KLM, with the Schiphol to Brussels-Midi portion on the Thalys. The return portion of my itinerary is on Air France several days later. This was done in good faith (i.e., not as a fare dodge) since I really do need to go to Brussels.

However, it now turns out that I have a meeting in Amsterdam the day I arrive.

I realise I am required to board the train to Brussels to fulfil the terms of my KLM ticket, and that I will need to get my ticket stamped on the Thalys in order to board my return flight. What I want to know is where and when this takes place, since I need to return to Amsterdam. Will I need to ride the train all the way to Brussels, or can I get my ticket stamped and then disembark in Rotterdam or Antwerp?

Alternatively, is there any possibility of getting my KLM Thalys ticket issued for a later train, so that I can attend my meeting in Amsterdam before heading to Brussels?

Improve this question
2
  • 1
    Have you actually read the answer you say it's not a duplicate of? It explicitly says "Unlike air segments, the airline has no real way of knowing if you actually boarded the train, only that you picked up the tickets. So as long as you pickup your train tickets (not just your boarding passes!) at Schiphol then your will be considered to have "flown" that segment, and thus you will not face any implications from skipping it - because as far as the airline is concerned you didn't skip it."
    – jcaron
    Feb 8, 2016 at 22:52
  • Please don't post the same question twice. Rather, edit the original question if you need to.
    – JoErNanO ♦
    Feb 9, 2016 at 11:08

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
8

Just back from my trip to Amsterdam / Brussels and I can share my experience.

  1. My Thalys ticket was not checked until the train had left Rotterdam. As a result, the earliest opportunity I had to disembark was Antwerp. Doubling back to Amsterdam from Antwerp took substantially more time, and was much more expensive. However, YMMV. It was not clear whether this was true for all cars; could be that people further back on the train were checked before Rotterdam, or it's possible that conductors wait until after Rotterdam to begin checking tickets.

  2. The conductor scans your ticket with a 3D barcode reader. He also has a physical stamp that punches a small hole and time/date-stamps the ticket, which is what KLM says you need, but the conductor did not use it until I specifically asked for the physical stamp. This was surprising to me, since KLM makes such a big deal of it, and there must be many people riding the Amsterdam-Brussels train with a KLM ticket.

  3. For the return trip to Brussels, check-in was at the KLM-Air France desk at Brussels-Midi train station. (This is where they issue your boarding pass for both the train and plane segments home.) Despite KLM's insistence that I would need to present a stamped ticket from the Amsterdam-Brussels segment, they never asked to see it. It was not clear to me whether this was because their system ties into the Thalys database and saw that my ticket had been scanned electronically, or because they do not enforce the 'stamped ticket' policy as rigorously as claimed.

Improve this answer
1
  • The answer to the duplicate question was most probably correct: it's highly likely that KLM only mentions the requirement to get a stamp to avoid people dumping the train. On some trains the conductor might not even reach the passenger, so it's hard to rely on them.
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Feb 8, 2016 at 19:08

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .