Take a seat, everyone.

For this is today's thread about 🇪🇺🛤 absurdity.

Today's little trip is Bonn Hbf 🇩🇪 to Paris 🇫🇷.

For this example trip I want to leave Bonn between 08:00 and 12:00 on Wednesday 26 August.
First of all, what is the best route from Bonn to Paris?

There are no direct trains on this route. So you would either do Bonn-Köln-Paris, or (longer geographically) Bonn-Mannheim-Paris.

There are some routes with changes in Koblenz, Saarbrücken or Luxembourg as well.
So I start with Deutsche Bahn's Reiseauskunft. This gives me 4 options for my trip:

ROUTE 1️⃣ 08:04 Bonn - 12:05 Paris, RegionalExpress + Thalys, 1 🔀 Köln, ⏰ 4:01

ROUTE 2️⃣ 09:04 Bonn - 14:35 Paris, RegionalExpress + ICE + Thalys, 2 🔀 Köln + Brussels, ⏰ 5:31
ROUTE 3️⃣ 10:14 Bonn - 16:31 Paris, ICE + RegionalExpress + TGV, 2 🔀 Koblenz + Luxembourg, ⏰ 6:17

ROUTE 4️⃣ 11:14 Bonn - 16:53 Paris, EC + TGV, 1 🔀 Mannheim, ⏰ 5:39
But how do I actually get a 🎟 for any of these?

DB @db_bahn

ROUTE 1️⃣ - no price offered
ROUTE 2️⃣ - no price offered
ROUTE 3️⃣ - no price offered
ROUTE 4️⃣ - €54,90 + €4 💺

How do other portals fare?
Trainline @thetrainline

ROUTE 1️⃣ - route not shown
ROUTE 2️⃣ - €48,90 + €4 💺 + €0,75 fee
ROUTE 3️⃣ - €57,90 + €4 💺 + €0,75
ROUTE 4️⃣ - €54,90 + €4 💺+ €0,75

It also offers ROUTE 4️⃣B - 🔀 Koblenz + Kaiserslautern, otherwise as ROUTE 4️⃣ - €54,90 + €4 💺+ €0,75 fee
RailEurope @raileurope

ROUTE 1️⃣ - route not shown
ROUTE 2️⃣ - route not shown
ROUTE 3️⃣ - €57,90 + €4 💺 + €5,95 fee *
ROUTE 4️⃣ - route not shown

* - RailEurope has dropped its fees temporarily to zero due to COVID
Omio @OmioGlobal

ROUTE 1️⃣ - route not shown
ROUTE 2️⃣ - route not shown
ROUTE 3️⃣ - route not shown
ROUTE 4️⃣ - €54,90 + €4 💺

Like Trainline also offers a ROUTE 4️⃣B - 🔀 Koblenz + Kaiserslautern, otherwise as ROUTE 4️⃣ - €54,90 + €4 💺
NS @NSInt_info *and* CFL Intl @CFLinfos (results identical)

ROUTE 1️⃣ - no price offered
ROUTE 2️⃣ - €48,90 + €4 💺
ROUTE 3️⃣ - €57,90 + €4 💺
ROUTE 4️⃣ - €76,50 + €4 💺
SNCB @SNCB_Int

ROUTE 1️⃣ - no price offered
ROUTE 2️⃣ - €48,90 + €6 💺
ROUTE 3️⃣ - €57,90 + €6 💺
ROUTE 4️⃣ - €76,50 + €6 💺
And then 🎉

SNCF @ouisncf

ROUTE 1️⃣ - route not shown
ROUTE 2️⃣ - route not shown
ROUTE 3️⃣ - route not shown
ROUTE 4️⃣ - €162,20 (inc.💺)
But SNCF does show *two other routes*

An adapted ROUTE 1️⃣B that leaves 10 mins earlier from Bonn - at 07:54 - but using an ÖBB NightJet for the Bonn-Köln component... although that train is diverted via Beuel and not Bonn Hbf that day 🚨 - no price for that route given
An adapted ROUTE 4️⃣C - 🔀 Köln + Mannheim, otherwise same as ROUTE 4️⃣, but starting on an Intercity train that according to DB *never* serves Bonn Hbf 🚨 - and the price for that one - a hefty 164,20 (inc.💺)
But hang on, I hear you thinking, what about that ROUTE 1️⃣...

08:04 Bonn - 12:05 Paris, RegionalExpress + Thalys, 1 🔀 Köln, ⏰ 4:01

A full 90 mins quicker than any other route...

AND NO-ONE CAN BOOK IT 🤦‍♂️
The only way to get that one - split the booking into two parts

Bonn-Köln part is local transport authority ticket for a RegionalExpress- DB can sell it for €7,38. Second part is a Thalys that you can book from Thalys website (or via SNCB, NS Int or SNCF) for €48,00.
Or - in other words - DB can sell a 🎟 for German local trains, but refuses to sell 🎟 for Thalys to Paris.

Thalys does not sell tickets for any German trains except its own services, but can sell Köln-Paris.

So that renders the best connection... un-bookable in 1 transaction.
This demonstrates why relying on DB or SNCF (that is majority owner of Thalys) to solve this sort of issue is *never* going to work - DB wants you to take its ICE, cross border, to Brussels, and not take a Thalys. Thalys doesn't want you to take DB services.
Also in this one, Thalys at least will give its data to third parties - NS International or Trainline can sell you a Thalys ticket.

But *no one* other than DB and the local transport authority can sell you a RegionalExpress ticket for Bonn-Köln.
The likes of @thetrainline or @OmioGlobal could partially solve this by offering an earlier InterCity connection for Bonn-Köln, rather than the RegionalExpress, but neither site is clever enough to do this - although both have the data to do so.
The conclusion?

Want the ⏲ FASTEST ⏲ connection - you have to do a manual ticket split

Want the 💶 CHEAPEST 💶 - @NSInt_info is your best bet, for ROUTE 2️⃣
So @AdinaValean @transport_eu what are you doing about this? 🤔

/ends
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