Deutsche Bahn ticket cancellation on the day of travel

To cancel a German train ticket on the day of travel you must contact Deutsche Bahn - either at the station or by following the process below. This is the same process for cancelling German tickets after departure. Please note that your cancellation policy will vary depending on your specific fare conditions.

For refunds and changes before the day of departure, the normal process applies. See our articles on Refunding your ticket and Exchanging your ticket for more info.

Cancelling tickets directly with Deutsche Bahn

1: Have the surname of the lead passenger used when you made the booking to hand
2: Find your Deutsche Bahn booking number on your ticket/s (note that it is different from your Rail Europe booking number, which starts "LO-"). Deutsche Bahn order numbers (Auftragsnummer in German) are typically 6 letters e.g. VTRBTM.
3: Follow this link to the Deutsche Bahn online refund form. Click "request a refund".
4: Enter your details in the space provided, then click Search.
5: Once you have reviewed the details of your order, you can proceed to cancellation by pressing the cancel/exchange button in the bottom right-hand corner of the page.
6: If your order incurs a cancellation fee (depending on its specific fare conditions), this will be displayed in the cancellation summary.
7: If you are happy with the information shown on the cancellation summary page, you can confirm the refund by selecting “Execute cancellation".
8: Once successful, you will see a screen confirming your cancellation, and Rail Europe will be alerted so we can refund your payment card. The copy of this information will be emailed to you directly from Deutsche Bahn. Check your junk mail for an email from fahrkartenservice@bahn.de.