ÖBB Reviews 

I'm travelling through Europe with my partner and we had the misfortune of booking a train to Vienna with OBB.

We did not select the add-on option to reserve specific seats when we bought tickets (for an extra fee, of course). This lead to a horrible experience I do not wish on anyone.

As other reviews mention here, they appear to sell more tickets than they have seats available on the train. Most passengers must know the deal, because practically every seat on the train was reserved by someone. When you board, you can't actually tell which seats are reserved. They are not labelled or indicated in any way.

For someone in our position, you simply sit and wait for someone else to show up with a printed ticket showing that they have, in fact, reserved the seat you are sitting in.

OBB claim that there are two classes of tickets available. That is misleading. If you buy a ticket but fail to reserve a seat, you are in fact a 3rd class customer.

Eventually, we managed to find a corner in a small car where bicycles can be stored. That is where we spent our 2.5 hour trip. Other customers sat on the floor.

There were no staff available on board to help us. The few we encountered completely ignored us... Until it was time to check tickets.

This is obviously unacceptable.

If you have any other options, avoid this rail line.

When we did reach our destination, members of staff at the ticket office were helpful and kind. The problems we encountered were due to poor service management and planning.

A few hours before our scheduled Night Jet departure from Hamburg to Basel, ÖBB texted us, saying our compartment had a "technical problem". Calling customer service proved futile, as they were unable to provide us another sleeping compartment. This ruined the first day of our honeymoon in Switzerland, causing us to find a hotel in Hamburg and find another train the following day. This company sucks. Never traveling with them again.

Family Zone in name only

I travelled on RJX67 (Vienna to Budapest, 29 March 2026) with my infant and 7-year-old daughter, with reserved seats in the Family Zone.

For most of the journey our reserved area was occupied by a group with no valid tickets. No ticket check occurred between Vienna and Győr. The Hungarian conductor who arrived later did not remove them. This group was begging from passengers, lying on the floor, playing loud music, and one visibly intoxicated person leaned directly over my daughter.

When I complained to the conductor, they disclosed my complaint to the group in front of us. The train later broke down 40km from Budapest. We stood for 40 minutes with an infant and a distressed child, no seating, no staff support, and no proper storage for the pram.

ÖBB offered a 30% voucher. I escalated to the Austrian passenger rights body (apf), who have now closed the case — pointing me toward the Hungarian railway (MÁV-Start) and the Hungarian conciliation board instead.

I'm not disputing the complexity of cross-border jurisdiction. What I'm saying is: ÖBB markets this as a family-friendly service. When that promise completely fails, passengers are left to navigate two railway companies, two countries, and two arbitration bodies on their own.

If you're travelling this route with young children, the Family Zone reservation offers no practical guarantee of a safe or managed environment.

If I could give 0 stars I would.
It was my ignorance not to know that if you don't book a certain seat they don't give you any, but since I paid 100 euros for a ride of 5+ hours I thought it would have been obvious that the company would give you one!
The only way to know if a seat is booked is to check a little monitor above the seat, and most of the time they don't even work!
Terrible experience, terrifying to be honest, the worse train ride of my life, never again.
If this review could help someone to go from Italy to Vienna or viceversa take the bus or the plane, trust me.
Italian trains are way better than this crap.

I booked a €260 a night single berth from Amsterdam to Zurich as an experience. It was a nightmare.

I had a group around me playing loud middle eastern music all night, singing along sometime.

No one on board does anything. None of sleep

That this is allowed to happen on this service is shocking.

Instead of the special night I thought my premium ticket would provide, I found a poorly managed, sleep depriving overnight train ride that became more of an endurance test than enjoyable experience.

First (and last) Nightjet experience. Booked one of the new 'pods' for a journey from Munich to Münster. Arrived an hour late after a pretty uncomfortable journey. Staff do not make an effort to be quiet late at night and were rude when I embarked. During the initial ticket inspection the guard didn't read my ticket properly and got very snippy when I tried to explain that I couldn't have breakfast (which turned out to be measly) served to me at a time when I'd already have disembarked at my destination. She even accused me of being lazy and wanting a lie-in! The ladies' toilet was broken and by the time I boarded there was already no soap in the remaining toilet. This wasn't topped up at any point. Avoid this chaos at all costs - it's not worth it!

this company is good to......

I am in Murssuschlag station with my 70 year old mother.
There is a police issue and we are trying to get information on the best way home.
My attention was drawn to the information office where your staff member was shouting at my mother!!!! That is unacceptable!!!! Yes there is an issue. We know. We have different questions due to not understanding the board.

Your house rules are very clear about us passengers behaving properly and treating people with respect, yet an old lady must be shouted at like this for asking INFORMATION for Information!!! I am extremely disappointed and angry about this situation and it needs to be fully investigated with consequences!!!!!

Ilness of this country! They raised prices incredibly for daily 4 trains in row canceled and 5 th one with 1 hour delay for a 20 min route! Disgusting, 10 th world! Horrible , no customer service , no service at all. They do bella vita on our money and destroy our lives. Lost Interviews, missing work, hours in the city. The few positive reviews are so obviously paid and fake! DISGUSTING! We freeze, our kids wait us in kindergarten hrs because these incompetent! Datum of experience? Every day!!!!!

Unacceptable Nightjet experience involving a minor

Despite having valid tickets, my minor daughter and I were forced off an ÖBB Nightjet train during the night in a foreign country, without proper ticket verification. We were left in freezing temperatures with no assistance or alternative transport. This caused serious distress and shows a lack of care for passenger safety, especially when minors are involved.

Very bad experience. I paid the full amount of €429.00 for train tickets, but I never received the tickets — neither on the website nor by email.

I tried contacting customer service, but the phone number does not ring and emails do not go through.

The money was deducted from my card with no booking confirmation. This is extremely frustrating and unacceptable.

OBB doesn’t let you reserve seats when you book tickets online, and once you get on the train, there’s no way to distinguish reserved seats from unreserved ones. So it’s basically a blind guess as to whether you’re sitting in someone else’s reserved seat or not. There are no names above the seats to indicate reservations—every seat just displays the departure and destination stations.

You arrive at the train nice and early, find three seats around a table, put away all your luggage, get your snacks, drinks, phones, power banks, and everything else ready for the long journey—only for people to come over and tell you they’ve reserved those seats. So you pack everything up, grab your luggage, and find another table with three empty seats… only for more people to approach and tell you they’ve reserved those too.

By this point, the train is packed, the WiFi doesn’t work, and the only place left where you can travel in peace is on the floor next to the toilets.

Still on the bloody train while writing this review.

I believe you have found the perfect way to simply collect money without showing even the slightest respect for your customers. After just two journeys, it became clear to me how foolish you take us for and that your only goal is to take our money.

When I book a ticket — and especially a Business Class ticket — I EXPECT the corresponding level of service. If you are completely incapable of properly operating your routes, of adding sufficient staff so that a single person does not have to run through the ENTIRE train, and of ensuring that supplies are handled correctly and on time, then simply discontinue the line or resign. Over the past years, you have destroyed a route that people once enjoyed traveling on.

When, halfway through the journey, I decide to order something together with my fellow passenger and, despite having paid for Business Class, am told that half of the menu is unavailable, this is a clear indication of how much professionalism is lacking within your company. Even more so when one learns that your practices and company management lead to staff resignations and sick leave because employees can no longer endure your working conditions. In that case, it is obvious that you do not belong in this industry.

Stop taking money while being utterly incapable of providing the services for which we, the fools, are paying.

72 euros for a 300 km distance
Dirty trains , dirty toilette, Broken doors and 2 hours delay in 3 hours travel . Really bad

Very disappointing experience. We bought first-class tickets online from Venice to Vienna at full price. Once on board, we were told that because we did not have a seat reservation, we could only sit in seats marked “last minute reserved until.” As the train got closer to Vienna, those seats became reserved, and we had to keep getting up and moving.
In the end, our family was split up (my husband, my daughter, and I), which is unacceptable for a first-class ticket. This is not what you expect when paying for first class.
The system really needs to be improved. First-class tickets should automatically include an assigned seat, or at least this should be explained very clearly in English at the time of purchase. I would not recommend this experience to other travelers.

Flex ticket that isn’t flexible.
I paid more than €100 extra for a Flex Nightjet ticket. After payment, ÖBB strongly pushes you to download your tickets via emails and big red buttons. Once you do, cancellation is no longer possible.

No clear warning. No heads-up. Just flexibility gone.

So what you actually buy is “flexibility unless you follow our own instructions”.

This feels like a dark pattern, not customer-friendly design. I can’t imagine how many people fall into this trap.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars
Absolutely horrible service. DO NOT RECOMMEND!!!!
Absolutely horrible service. Trains were overcrowded (from Prague to Vienna). They did not give us an option to book our seats (which I assumed as they were fully booked but proceeded with our booking anyway). Rude and unhelpful staff, furthermore we paid extra for 1st class seats for extra comfort as the journey will be about 4 hours. Train conductor was absolutely rude and unhelpful saying we should just stand in 1st class for 4 hours!!

We traveled today on an ÖBB train from Vienna to Venice in First Class, and the experience was deeply disappointing.
From the moment we arrived, multiple ÖBB employees treated passengers with visible irritation, as if they were angry to be dealing with travelers at all. As tourists, we were given no clear explanation on how to locate our assigned seats, and staff showed little interest in helping or clarifying basic information.
Most concerning was the complete lack of consideration for my wife, who is disabled and uses canes to walk. Unlike the accommodations clearly provided to other passengers, she was entirely disregarded, and no assistance or consideration was offered. This is unacceptable for a major European rail operator, especially in First Class.
The onboard service was equally poor. When I attempted to purchase a simple bottle of water, the attendant was openly rude and hostile. The behavior strongly suggested a general dislike toward tourists, which made the experience uncomfortable and unwelcoming.
Overall, the service quality was far below expectations, particularly given that this was a First Class ticket. Poor attitude, lack of assistance for disabled passengers, and unprofessional staff behavior made this journey unpleasant and frustrating.
This experience was unbelievable and not what one expects from ÖBB.

ÖBB offers a very bad service, particularly on the Vienna–Budapest route. The trains are massively overcrowded, with passengers standing in the aisles and blocking the carriages. ÖBB clearly does not have enough capacity for the number of travelers it carries.

This points to poor administration and management, and even Austrian passengers complain about the declining quality of the service. I would not recommend this train route.*

Hideous greedy company, trains extremely overpriced, always late, full and dirty