northfielder

we will be dropping our luggage off at the station in naples and heading off to pompeii on the 8.49 am campania express. we will be returning to naples at 2.22 pm (departing pompeii at 1.48). we will have to pick up our luggage before heading to the train for rome. how much time should i be leaving as a safe cushion? i'm assuming the 2.40 pm departure is too ambitious. would the 3 pm departure be safe or should i leave an hour? more?

Seamus

IIRC correctly the Naples-Rome tickets are not restricted to the time originally purchased, so if you get held up you just jump on the next train.

northfielder

i'm not sure that's true (anymore), at least for the frecciarossa trains. on the trenitalia and italiarail sites, tickets have seat assignments and changes don't seem to be allowed unless you buy a far more expensive flexible ticket.

at any rate, i've booked the naples-rome train that is scheduled to leave 1.5 hours after the pompeii-naples is scheduled to arrive. hopefully that will cover all eventualities.

gentle

I was in Sorrento last October waiting to catch the local train to Naples to pick up a fast train to Florence ( different train companies) & the Sorrento train was cancelled no reason & we missed our fast train & you only get 40/50% back if you have European bank accounts and we didn’t coming from Australia,so we lost a lot of money so take a later train from Sorrento and wait at Naples station ,I would 🌻

bvlenci

Gentle, you have mentioned this loss on another thread. I asked then where you had bought your tickets, but I didn't see your answer. The reason I asked is that this type of reimbursement is not standard at all on either of the fast train lines operating on this route.

Trenitalia has three fare levels. Base fare allows you to change to a different train free of charge as long as you make the change before the departure of the train. You can change to a later train free of charge if you make the change within an hour of the departure of the train you missed. You can get reimbursed for 80% of the price of a ticket you can't use, provided you request the reimbursement before the departure of the train. Economy fare allows you to change to a later train free of charge if you request this before the departure of the train. You cannot be reimbursed for a ticket you don't plan to use. Super Economy tickets can't be changed or reimbursed.

Italo is the other operator of fast trains on this route. They have two fare levels. With a Flex ticket, you can change the time of the ticket, before the departure of the train, free of charge. If you can't use the ticket, you can be reimbursed 80% of the cost, again up until the scheduled departure time of the train. With an Economy ticket, you can change the time with a 20% penalty, and you can be reimbursed 60% if you can't use the ticket.

As you see, neither of these companies has the policy you mention, and where your bank account is domiciled has nothing to do with it. I suspect you bought the tickets from a reseller agent who has their own more restrictive policies about changes of itinerary. (Even so, I don't see what the nationality of your bank has to do with it.)

I recommend buying your tickets from the official website of Trenitalia or Italo, or using their mobile phone apps. Or you could use the Trainline.com ( or their app), which sells tickets for both Trenitalia and Italo at very similar prices. If you realise you're going to miss a train before you get to the connecting station, you can use your phone to make the change in time to get your ticket changed before the scheduled departure of the train you were planning to take.

Both Trenitalia and Italo will book you on a later train free of charge, no matter what type of ticket you have, if you missed a train through their own fault, for example if their own connecting train arrived late or was cancelled. This doesn't apply to your case, of course, because the trains from Sorrento to Naples are operated by a local company.