Completing DB Passenger Delay Form

Question

I booked a through ticket for two passengers from Bruges to Wien Hbf transferring at Bruxelles Midi & Frankfurt (Main) Hbf. Prior to the journey the published times changed and the Frankfurt Hbf transfer changed to Frankfurt Airport. The ICE13 from Bruxelles was due arrive at Frankfurt Airport at 11:17 but was over an hour late arriving and we missed the connection. We lined up to get tickets for the next train ICE29 to Wien Hbf departing at 14:01 with scheduled arrival Wien 20:47. However it, too, was delayed and departed at 15:15. Working on the same travel time of 6hr 07min the train should have arrived in Wien Hbf at 21:22. We eventually arrived at around 22:15. Unfortunately we couldn't re-reserve seats as reservations had closed, so had to stand until the last couple of hours of the ride when passengers vacated seats at Passau.

My questions regard how to apply for compensation using the DB form:

1. To give a complete picture I assume I fill in a form for Bruges/Wien?
2. However the form doesn't have space for three rides and two transfers.
3. Should I fill in two extra forms ie a)Bruxelles/Frankfurt and b)Frankfurt/Wien?

If anybody can help....thank you.

Answer 1

You need to fill out one form, for the whole trip as booked originally, as this is the trip that is covered by the delay compensation. You can't file a request for a part of the trip because you didn't buy a ticket for that.

It doesn't matter in which way you changed your itinerary or how delayed some intermediate trains were. You need to specify the original planned trip (start and end), as well as the first train that caused changes to your plans (ICE13) and how and when you finally arrived.

You arrived 190 minutes late and weren't able to use one of your reservations. The delay will entitle you for a 50% compensation. About the price of the reservation - this depends on how it was made. If you payed an extra amount for the seat on the Frankfurt - Vienna leg, then you will get a reimbursement for this as well. If it was one reservation from Bruxelles to Vienna, then there will be no compensation, because you were able to use part of the reservation (which would have been the same price).

It's not clear what you did in Frankfurt - "We lined up to get tickets for the next train ICE29". Did you pay for a new ticket? If so, check the appropriate box in the form about additional expenses and add a copy of this ticket. You should get a full reimbursement for this additional ticket. In general, you don't need to buy any additional ticket as long as your onward journey used a train by DB and not e.g. a bus or another private train like Flixtrain.

Answer 2

You need to include your ticket along with the passenger rights form. Since the ticket shows your planned route and booked trains, DB should have all the information they need. If not, they will get back to you.

The following information should be sufficient (along with the date, of course):

Alternatively, if you have a bahn.de user account and made your booking online, you can look up your booking and submit a (paperless) refund request from there. In my recent experience, the request will be processed much faster than a paper form.