ÖBB Reviews 

I got fined 105 euros because i was a tourist, even though I had a valid ticket... the man said that the ticket wasn't valid for me, as a tourist, and proceeded to fine me 105 euros even though my ticket was on hand. I tried to send an application online to appeal, and they immediately dismissed me, saying the refund was not possible. This is a scam of a company, and they will abuse their power on sole individuals. This felt personal and caused a big scene on the train, with onlookers also confused with what happened. I paid 50 euros for a monthly valid ticket and had to pay an additional 105 euros for the fine

Impossible to book proper seats in the train. The lady promised us that we could seat where no reservation is indicated.
She just lied to us. You cannot know if a seat is reserved until someone claim their seat.
At every single station, my family, with a 1-year baby, had to move with all our luggage to find an empty place… temporarily of course!
We paid a not-cheap ticket just to finally seat on the floor with our two young kids.
Shameful

I left my backpack on a train - I found out about it 10 minutes later, ran to their Lost and Found counter at the Hauptbanhof thinking the faster I am, the faster they can locate it before somebody snatches it. How wrong I was because that is not how it works in Austria. I thought they would contact the train conductor or driver or some staff they have at the stations to check the compartment (I knew exactly where I left it). I was travelling with two small kids and had a lot to handle so the idea that all my important things (money, cards, IDs, phone, ...) are left to be stolen was terrifying. When I found out about the loss, I left my husband with the rest of the luggage and my older daughter and ran quickly to the counter with a baby still in a baby carrier. The staff of OBB told me they do not have phone numbers or other means of communication (!!!) for the trains and told me to fill out an online form!!! You are telling me that a professional company in a developed country in the 21st century does not have a way to quickly contact the train?? The train had just left the station where I got out and was continuing to Salzburg which was a two-hour journey so the chance that the backpack would still be there at the end of the journey, or even after a few days when somebody checks the online form, was ridiculous. The staff had a desperate tourist-mother with a baby on her chest in front of them and all they said with a stone face was: "you are not the first who lost something on a train"... So thank you Austria and your train company for this ridiculous approach, in the 21st century!! I should have told them there was a bomb in the backpack and see if they would also say that they are not be able to contact the driver/some other staff and locate the bag.

Watch out for the ticket machines as they ask whether you want a return and then charge you for two tickets. We spoke to staff at the station and they said it happens to tourists regularly. We were not given a refund for our duplicate tickets. They hide behind their terms and conditions. We were offered a voucher to use in their trains but given it's our only visit to Vienna it has no value.

WORST The train was cancelled on the same day and without any notice from Innsbruck to Rovereto with very little communication on the train and only in Austrian. We were thrown out of the train in the cold at Innsbruck (and this is December) with no idea where to go and only after an hour were we offered a replacement bus to Trento which was not our arrival station, so we had to make do with another train at our own expense for all subsequent destinations which were not only mine in Rovereto, but also Verona and Bologna, with the resulting delays. For those who had to take other subsequent trains it was really dramatic and a very bad service, there were elderly people in difficulty, of the series it is like this and you have to arrange yourselves, said in an arrogant and rude tone in the same way by all the OBB employees. I am sorry to say this but in 2024 this is no way to communicate and treat people in a civilised world. One star is too many, the right ones would be -10 Bring yourself up to date inside Austria and open your mind because the civilised world is also (and especially) outside and you are not the only ones in the world. WORST

PESSIMO Il treno è stato cancellato lo stesso giorno e senza alcun preavviso da Innsbruck a Rovereto con una scarna comunicazione sul treno e solo in lingua austriaca. Siamo stati buttati fuori dal treno al freddo a Innsbruck (e siamo in Dicembre) senza capire dove andare e solo dopo un'ora ci hanno offerto un bus sostitutivo verso Trento che non era la nostra stazione di arrivo, quindi abbiamo dovuto arrangiarci con un altro treno a nostre spese per tutte le destinazioni successive che erano non solo la mia a Rovereto, ma anche Verona e Bologna, con i ritardi che ne derivano. Per chi doveva prendere altri treni successivi è stato davvero drammatico ed un pessimo servizio, c'erano persona anziane in difficoltà, della serie è così e dovete arrangiarvi, detto con tono arrogante e maleducato allo stesso modo da tutti i dipendenti OBB. Mi dispiace dirlo ma nel 2024 non è il modo di comunicare e di trattare le persone in un mondo civile. Una stella è troppo, quelle giuste sarebbero -10 Aggiornatevi dentro l'Austria ed aprite la vostra mente perchè il mondo civile è anche (e soprattutto) fuori e non esistete solo voi. PESSIMO

I took the OBB train from Vienna to Salzburg and sat in first class. I might as well been in second class, third class or no class. It literally took the server 75 minutes to bring me a Coke Zero and this was after reminding him 2 or 3 times. It was busy to be honest, but 75 minutes to grab a soda and ice for a customer by any standards is crazy. The worst part was, the server tried to justify it because it was busy, he copped an attitude and later apologized profusely. I gave them 2 stars which is generous compared to their 1.5 star average. Is this how you treat your first class passengers? You need to do better!

100% trains delayed by at least one hour.
That's out of three trains I took in the past months.
That pretty much says it all. The prices are very high, much higher than in Italy or Germany, and the performance is abysmal.

I really don't understand what kind of service it is selling much more tickets than the seats they have on board, leaving passengers standing for hours. Very bad, never again.

I would love if these Night Trains become good. However, with ÖBB specifically, I had a nightmare experience on this very route, where they spammed me with SMSes and emails starting 10 days before every day that the platform changed (again). Somehow, they couldnt tell me that my sleeper carriage couldnt ride though because I found out on the platform. Not by anyone telling me or any other passenger, btw, but by the fact that my carriage was simply... missing.

Instead, there was a sitting carriage. Later, when the train staff was finally available to speak to, they were extraordinarily rude, they couldnt tell us whether we'd be able to just get our money back and not go, and flat out forbade us from sleeping in any of the bed spaces that were still available and remained empty for the entire ride. There was one older lady and one mother with a small child, not even they were given a space, despite asking for one.
In the sitting carriage, the flickering blueish lights were on for the whole ride (the light switch worked, they said, they just "couldnt" turn it off. No explanation, not even "we cant legally do that", just said that they couldnt and left). Another passenger asked to their turned backs: "You do know that this is what they do in Guantanamo, right?", and all of the passengers laughed.
Needless to say, I slept on the train floor with my jacket covering my face.

We all tried to be very polite to the clearly overworked staff, but it was extremely clear that this kind of thing was a very common occurrence and that they simply didnt give a sh*t. There were so many things that were awful about the ride, this comment would stretch out for far too long. I got a 30% (!) refund three weeks later. F*** them.

In summary, I travel by train a LOT and in a lot of European countries. My experience with the ÖBB was by far the worst out of any of them, not even close (and I used to take the DB weekly a few years ago). The Swedish night "Snälltåget" was waaaaaay more "snäll". I would try ÖBB again, but that night genuinely scarred me. Even for someone that loves trains this much, I dont think I will dare to take the ÖBB Nightjet for the next five years atleast. On the routes where only ÖBB is available, I will have to resort to flying (shudder).

Worst train system. They overbook their train so you get told off by their ppl to sacrifice your seat to those who booked in advance. Don't travel with them if your trip is long. Bullshit and not responsible ppl

Unbelievable, 1 hour delay, dirty places, no restaurant or place to have a drink. Also more expensive than the plane!

Today 19-10-2024- It was an unpleasant night. That woman is very unpolaize. He didn't give us breakfast 😫.Very bad service. People are treated as if they were traveling for free. This staff should be trained to serve the customer. They eat for us. Bad, very bad.

How does this CEO and upper mgmt still have jobs operating a train service like this ? Overbooking train with no available seats and having people sitting on floors between cold cars ?
I have seen handicapped people and elderly people sitting on floors or standing for 4 -5 hours on a trip between cars in cold because they didnt realize they had to reserve a seat on economy and not just buy a train ticket as it is not clear at reservation booking. Most people would assume buying a non first class ticket would provide ppen seating in economy and if not then just charge for the reserved seat at booking so people have a seat. Who in the world would try to save $3 dollars on a 4 hour train ride to stand the whole time , especially elderly etc ? They just don't know they had to additionally and separately order and by a seat in addition to their reservation .
Some of the central european customer service, attitude and customer treatment lives up to , and beyond their reputation as they literally belittle you, talk down to you and holler at you if you have a question . There is no gov't interference or control here as they would not be allowed to operate like this in the USA and steal people's money overbooking while elderly and handicapped and small children lay on floors between train cars in cold or damp weather like wild animals in the woods . They should be ashamed of themselves as owners, board of directors and management to operate like this . They need called out by a govt entity and shut down and stop the overbooking process and treating people like wild animals for the sake of profitability gain by overbooking with no seating , especially on long distance train rides . Perhaps a class action suit among people affected would get their attention, if even possible in that country .

Our 22:02 Salzburg HBF service from Vienna airport was cancelled at late notice due to track works. I understand the need to do emergency maintenance but the apathetic reaction of staff to this situation was disappointing. ÖBB staff were utterly unhelpful in securing alternate travel arrangements or emergency accommodation. We managed to cobble together a journey to Salzburg the following day; ÖBB had not sufficiently increased the capacity on the Salzburg services they were running after a number of cancelled services. This resulted in significant overcrowding. Additionally, despite reserving seats, the carriage we had booked on was not coupled to the train. The end result was a uncomfortably hot, cramped, standing journey to Salzburg over three hours. ÖBB needs to significantly improve its communication and commitment to serving its paying customers.

Just terrible

We traveled from Budapest to Vienna to Salzburg and back on ÖBB Railjet for the day, only to experience 45+ minute delays when the train had left the station on time, making us miss our connection twice: once in the morning and once in the evening. Compensation is not good in any sense and hotels for the night are not super kind to potential patrons for a night. I understand that next week is Congress but I feel we should be treated like deserving human beings and should receive help when we ask for it.
Until flood repairs are completed, I do not suggest you use Railjet or trust the timing of anything.

if you want to hate your life and die under sun in 35C weather waiting your train 40 min this is the company you’re looking for. And it gets worse, hot and dirty trains. Very bad smell. Ac doesn’t work. Wifi doesn’t work. Toilets are super dirty. Plus, we got a notification that the train will leave 1 hour early, and of course it didn’t happen 😂 it left 40 min late without explanation. Everyone had to wait under the sun for 40 min. Many issues with this company. So many issues.

I planned to travel from Venice to Stuttgart on a night train, and researched how to do this weeks in advance. I decided to spend 470 euros, well over and above the regular fare, for a private 2 bed compartment on the ÖBB Nightjet.

On the train:

All through the night as the train stopped at stations on the way to Germany, the staff attendant for the carriage used a roof storage space outside my compartment door. When he closed this storage locker he slammed it shut. This had a hammer effect on the compartments. It woke up both occupants every single time. No sleep was possible with this hammer against out heads, despite paying hugely for a private room.

When I complained to this very unpleasant attendant, he refused to give me his name, and said and I quote, "It's a train, what do you expect bro". This attendant proceeded to call me bro 5 or 6 times, and he also forgot to collect our breakfast cards.

I have travelled on 5 night trains, including the Trans Siberian, and this is not what it is like on a good night train service.

The holiday was really ruined by this experience and we had to spend the next day in Germany exhausted. It was a case of missing 3 days of the trip through total sleep exhaustion, like having very bad jetlag.

Additionally, there was garbage bins tipped over on the train floor in two of the adjacent carriages, and they were left there all night and as we arrived at Stuttgart.

Back Home:

When I got back to the UK, I had 7 emails with ÖBB customer service to claim a refund. I was allocated a woman named "Sabrina Seiler" from customer service. You think it cannot get any worse.

The unkind Sabrina needs over a week to respond to any message.

Sabrina states every time that she has "too many enquiries" or complaints to respond within a reasonable time.

After I complained 4 or 5 times and threaten to consult a lawyer, Sabrina offered a 117 euro ÖBB voucher (25% of the cost) for another trip on OBB railway.

This is in no way compensation, and I will not be stepping foot on an OBB service again. This is their federal railway, and it is absolutely appalling.

Rarely do I think privatisation is a good idea, but if it helps people like Sabrina and this dreadful attendant receive some training in competence, respect and courtesy, so be it.

To any reader, avoid the Austrian Federal Railway, or ÖBB-Personenverkehr AG, at all costs.

1.3/5 at Trustpilot. 2/5 TripAdvisor.

ÖBB - are the worst and most disrespectful rail company I have ever had the misfortunate to travel in. Perhaps the worst in the world.

Avoid.

I lost an item in the train, never found.

ÖBB sells more tickets than actual available seats. It doesn't make sense that not each ticket reservation has a seat number.
It's always very chaotic here.