Is RailTeam's HOTNAT guarantee generally honoured in practice?

Is RailTeam's HOTNAT guarantee generally honoured in practice?

8/28/2022 2:54:20 AM

I used the "hop in the next train" guarantee and here is what I advise: if you have time, go to the counter in the station with your stamped ticket. They will issue a new train ticket for the next part of your journey free of charge with a reserved seat.

This enables you to show a valid ticket to the conductor, without any need for them to check any stamps on your original tickets.

9/7/2019 2:26:21 PM

I discovered the wonderful HOTNAT in July when my Eurostar train to Paris was delayed just outside St Pancras, and it was clear I would not then get across Paris in time to catch my booked TGV to Libourne. I found the train manager on the Eurostar to ask his advice, and he immediately wrote out the HOTNAT document for me and stamped both my Eurostar ticket and the one from Paris to Libourne. In Paris I could take a relaxed metro without worry, and at the right mainline station, I was waved through the ticket barrier and given a free upgrade to the first class disabled seat (I am not disabled but am so-called elderly) which gave me space and a big table. The train went very fast to Bordeaux, where I changed to Libourne without discussion. I arrived only a short time after the original direct one to Libourne that I was booked on, and as it was over 40 degrees outside and the air conditioning all worked well, I was very happy indeed with the service. I suggest however that the key part was getting it sorted out while on the delayed train – hunting down the manager took a bit of time – so I had no concerns about anything that might happen after I got to Paris, and did not have to queue and try and prove a story while in Paris.

10/17/2018 8:29:14 AM

There is a special stamp to prove you’re entitled to hop on the next available train:

Ticket with HOTNAT stamp

The text in the upper bubble roughly means, ‘The HOTNAT stamp indicates approval for using THA’. The image is taken from page 9 of this document:

https://www.cit-rail.org/media/files/public/Passenger/AJC_AppxII_Delay%20confirmation_Stamps_EN_2017-07-01.pdf.

Ideally, if there is enough time, you’d go to a DB ticket counter in Köln Hbf and get this stamp, which validates your ticket for Thalys.

I can only guess that a regular DB stamp might not be generally recognized by other train operators, hence this special Railteam stamp.

Are the Thalys staff sometimes unaware of the HOTNAT provisions (…) ?

Considering the negative examples you found, it’s probably fair to say that we’re likely to make bad experiences public in the hope of some improvement, while we see little reason to talk about the ordinary, that is, when things went smoothly.

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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