Families travel more expensive: Deutsche Bahn cancel reservation!

Families travel more expensive: Deutsche Bahn cancel reservation!

Deutsche Bahn is the focus of criticism after giving up the family reservation from June 15, 2025. This has a significant impact on family trips, especially for parents with young children. A family who thinks of a trip to Düsseldorf to relatives or to Mainz to friends is now facing new challenges. The message from Nordkurier addresses this problem.

Currently, all travelers, even children, have to pay for the seat reservation. The price for a reservation increases by 30 cents to 5.50 euros in second class. For the first class, the price climbs to 6.90 euros. This means a significant increase in price for families. For example, the price for a family with two children increases from 20.80 euros to 44 euros for the return trip, such as the Merkur reported.

popular services fall away

The decision to abolish the family reservations is not only incomprehensible for users. Associations and political parties express their concerns. The Traffic Club Germany (VCD) calls for maintaining this reservation because many families rely on fixed seats. The organization Pro Bahn and Greenpeace are also outraged by the increased reservation costs.

politicians such as the Green member of the Bundestag Victoria Broßart and Christoph Ploß from the CDU described pricing policy as scandalous and called for a rethink by the train.

criticism of pricing policy

The railway defends its measures with the argument that children up to 14 years accompanied an adult can travel free of charge. Nevertheless, social associations warn that the new price structures in particular will burden households with low incomes. The creation of incentives for environmentally friendly travel fails due to the rising prices for family reservations and the inconvenience of traveling with children.

A frequent scenario that deals with many families are long waiting times and problems with luggage on the track. Positive experiences, such as the family areas and on -board bistro, could be pushed into the background by the new regulations. The knowledge clearly shows that plans for a cozy journey could turn into a challenge that makes families consider the car as a means of transport.

Deutsche Bahn has also restored the old cancellation conditions for Flex tickets, but the question remains whether this is sufficient to regain the trust of the families and to invalidate the steadily growing criticism of their pricing policy.