From March 1st, Deutsche Bahn will change the access conditions for the Bahn Lounge. It is popular with frequent travelers as a stopover when changing trains or to wait for the train. A stopover in the lounge is also possible on arrival at the destination station. But now Deutsche Bahn is restricting access to the Bahn Lounge, in some cases considerably.
No train lounge access without a ticket
So far, one was enough Bahncard with BahnComfort status or the BahnBonus Show Gold status to enter the lounge. But from March 1, you must also have a valid long-distance ticket from Deutsche Bahn with you and show it. In the future, it will no longer be possible to make a stopover in the lounge during a trip through the city. However, the lounge was never intended for this. The train now leads access to the lounge back to the actual meaning of the comfort waiting area. There is an exception for Bahncard 100 customers, who always have a valid long-distance ticket with them thanks to their Bahn flat rate.
The Bahn Lounge is available in Berlin, Bremen, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Essen (closed until March due to construction work), Frankfurt, at Frankfurt Airport, Hamburg, Hanover, Cologne, Leipzig, Mannheim, Munich, Nuremberg and Stuttgart. If you have access, you get free there WLAN and read newspapers and magazines. You also get free non-alcoholic soft drinks and coffee as well as tea and clean toilets.
In addition, there is also a premium area at some locations. This is now also restricted in access. This will also affect ordinary travelers who do not use the train lounge as an alternative to the café when traveling within the city. Because while you can continue to take an accompanying person with you into the “normal” lounge area, this will no longer be possible in the premium lounge. This also applies when you travel together. Even today, only travelers with platinum status are allowed to take an accompanying person with them; according to the terms of use, a Bahncard 100 1st class is not sufficient. However: If it is a normal BahnCard 100 First, you automatically have platinum status if you take part in the Bahn Bonus program.
The only exception are children – albeit within a very narrow framework. Children under the age of 5 are always allowed to travel, children between the ages of 6 and 14 are only allowed if they are entered on a ticket. In the premium area, there are free alcoholic drinks such as wine and beer as well as small snacks – also free of charge. You can find the exact new conditions in the DB Lounge Terms of Use read.
Germany ticket as a reason for restrictions?
Why these restrictions come about can only be speculated on. Maybe it’s up to Germany ticket, which is to be introduced on May 1st. It would be expected that at least those who have the right to use the lounge would also be able to travel with the Germany ticket refresh in the lounge.
Recently it has been observed that the premium area of the railways in particular was increasingly used not only by real travelers due to its free offer. Rather, rail customers with the appropriate status like to use it as a substitute for a café. The free hospitality is likely to have exceeded the calculated budget. However, the fact that the accompanying person is now also excluded from the premium area for “honest” travelers is unlikely to meet with much approval from passengers.
In order to get into the premium area, you need a turnover of 6,000 euros per year, a Bahncard 100 First or a 1st class long-distance ticket in a flexible price that is not part of a transport association. Restricting access to passengers who actually have a ticket is welcomed by many rail passengers in their initial reactions. They recently complained increasingly about overcrowded train lounges.
Access to the Bahn Lounge will be newly regulated in June 2022
Deutsche Bahn only abolished its Bahn Comfort program in June last year and Rail Bonus Status introduced. The three statuses silver, gold and platinum also regulate access to the lounge. At that time it was said that from 2,500 points there was gold status and “unlimited access” to the Bahn Lounge. Less than nine months later, Deutsche Bahn is now restricting this, strictly speaking, since access is linked to a ticket. The accompanying person for the premium area from 6,000 points was only newly regulated nine months ago.
