Trainline: Train & Bus Tickets

Absolute garbage

Train canceled, but app still showed it active. No refund on booking fees and no adjustment when rebooking cheaper tickets. Expensive lesson—better to book directly with the train operator. Used this app recently to book train tickets in Spain and had a very frustrating experience. 1. Non-refundable booking fees The app charges booking fees that are not refunded, even when the train operator cancels the train. In my case, I received a cancellation email from Renfe, but the app continued to show the train as running. This created confusion and made rebooking more difficult. 2. Refund and price difference issues When I had to rebook due to the cancellation, I found cheaper tickets directly on the train operator’s website. However, the app would not refund the difference or the booking fees. This resulted in higher overall costs. 3. Support experience I visited a local Renfe help desk in Spain, where staff were very helpful and confirmed that the cancellation had already been communicated. They advised raising a complaint, and within a few days, I received confirmation that the cancellation notification had been sent to the booking platform on the same day. Overall Based on this experience, I would recommend booking directly with the train operator rather than through third-party apps. When disruptions happen, dealing directly with the provider appears to be more straightforward. I booked over $700 worth of tickets during this trip, and unfortunately the Trainline customer service experience did not meet expectations.

People still use the mini and this app is practically unusable. Times and stations are truncated making it hard to use. It suggested a different route and I couldn’t see it causing massive travel headaches

I had a very frustrating experience with the Trainline app and their customer service. The app is extremely glitchy and upon purchasing the tickets, it changed the date that I had selected to a different date. I attempted to fix it immediately, but the app would not process it. I had to end up purchasing another set of tickets. I reached out to customer service and they took several weeks to get back with me about a refund for the erroneous tickets. Despite it being an issue with their application and system, they denied a full refund and it has cost us so much extra money. Do not use this company - they are unreliable and their customer service is unhelpful.

Sold me same day train ticket and after charging noted it was for printing at home (not picture, pdf or email) so I was denied access to train and could not claim refund and missed the trip

I “purchased” tickets they insisted I simply needed to pick up. I went to the rail carrier’s office and they said this was a common problem Trainline does not actually purchase the tickets. By then it was too late to cancel for a refund. I had to purchase the tickets again and Trainline refused to refund me. I’ll never use Trainline again. Customer service was unhelpful and clearly obfuscating the fact the tickets they claimed they purchased on my behalf were ever purchased. Do not use Trainline. Ever.

I bought a train ticket from Rome to Milan for 2 times of the cost than on Italo app. I do not get it. It should have been €40 or so, but I paid €90. Do not use this app for traveling in Italy .

Absolutely zero customer service. So if you’re not using this in the UK, you have no way to contact this company. When your tickets don’t appear in the app, you better hope the emails work as QR codes. Use this site at your own risk…

The app works pretty well, unless you make a mistake. It’s quite easy to select the wrong station/ticket by user error through unintuitive UX, and then if you make a mistake it’s impossible to actually speak with someone to help you. And when you finally chat with someone the refund policies are quite strict. Customer Support person was nice over whatsapp, but they cannot do anything about the situation and escalating takes 48-72 hours! Looking at other reviews, it’s clear I’m not the only person this has happened to. Trainline is acting like buying train tickets is like writing bitcoin transactions on the blockchain. Get over yourself. It’s 2025 and you haven’t figured out how to allow refunds on mistakes within 1 hour of purchase?

As a tourist visiting Europe, I was able to travel from Italy to Switzerland, by myself. The travel description; train changes, and stations was so easy to understand. Note: For those who come across train changes, make sure you have ample time to exchange trains without the rush. I’d suggest a switch of 10 minutes minimum, even though my switches were from 3-7 minutes… but again, I was alone—no kids, no suitcases. I’m so happy that I came across this app on my stressful search for train lines.