At Christmas, many Germans should not be deterred from going to their family, relatives or partner. But for those who don’t own a car, “Driving Home for Christmas” is a special challenge this year.
Because when choosing a transport, not only price, availability and cancellation conditions are currently decisive – but also the question of where the risk of infection with the corona virus is lowest.
FOCUS Online has made the big traffic check. What is the current status of trains, rental cars, long-distance buses, carpooling or planes?
In the big traffic check: travel with Deutsche Bahn over Christmas
Availability: the Deutsche Bahn will be running a total of 80 special trains over Christmas in addition to its existing offering. For example, 40,000 extra seats are available over Christmas, and the service team will also be increased by around 800 new employees by the holidays.
Between four and 16 additional trains with 2000 to 8000 additional seats are used per day.
The renewed train timetable has been in effect since December 11, and has already created 13,000 additional seats per day.
Costs and cancellation: With the winter timetable, prices will also rise, by an average of 5 percent.
At Deutsche Bahn there are no “special Christmas prices” over the holidays. This means that tickets are not generally more expensive compared to the rest of the year. Nevertheless, if you want to take the train at Christmas, you shouldn’t wait too long. In principle, train tickets never get cheaper the closer the day of travel gets, but rather more expensive. In addition, the number of saver fare tickets is becoming fewer every day. Shortly before Christmas Eve, rail connections can often only be booked at a flexible price.
However, the more expensive Flex tickets have one decisive advantage: They can be exchanged or canceled free of charge up to one day before the trip. Saver price tickets can also be canceled before the first day of validity – but only for a fee of 10 euros. Customers will then receive a cancellation voucher valid for three years. You can use this for later trips. Super saver fare tickets, on the other hand, cannot be exchanged or canceled at all.
Sixt & Co.: Is it worth renting a car – and are there any?
Availability: Rental vehicles generally become scarce every year over the festive period. Numerous companies reduced their fleets during the corona pandemic. At the beginning of the year, according to the ADAC, there were still more than 250,000 rental cars missing in Europe alone, but the situation is now more relaxed.
“It doesn’t matter whether in Germany, Europe or worldwide – there are enough rental cars for spontaneous people during the Christmas holidays,” explains Tobias Ruoff, Managing Director of ADAC car rental. “If there are train and flight cancellations before the public holidays, for example due to the weather, you have to be very quick with the booking. In such situations, the vehicles are fully booked very quickly, especially at train stations and airports.”
Costs and cancellation: According to the booking platform “billiger-Metwagen.de”, vehicles are 63 percent more expensive this year than they were three years ago. Rent is the most expensive this year in Berlin, Potsdam and Freiburg. The average prices there are between 65 and 66 euros per day. The cheapest rental cars are in Kiel, where a daily price of around 47 euros is currently being charged for the Christmas season.
Travel by plane
Availability: Aviation offers few restrictions this year. However, there may be longer waiting times at the security checkpoints due to sick leave.
After the corona-related restrictions in the two previous years, Munich Airport is expecting a strong rush for flights abroad over Christmas and New Year this year. According to the airport, around 11,000 flights to 150 destinations are planned during the Christmas holidays. Up to 1.3 million passengers are expected between December 23 and January 8.
117,000 passengers are expected at Nuremberg Airport in the same period.
According to a spokeswoman, the airport in Memmingen im Allgäu is planning 572 flights during the Bavarian Christmas holidays, 86 of them on Christmas Eve and the Christmas holidays. In addition to classic holiday destinations, airports in Eastern Europe also play a major role in the flight schedule there – especially because of visits to relatives and friends, said the spokeswoman.
Costs and cancellation: Flights to other European countries in particular have meanwhile become more expensive due to inflation. Air travel costs an average of 33 percent more this year than before the outbreak of the corona virus in 2019. Compared to the previous year, travelers have to pay 14 percent more for flights to popular holiday countries this year.
Travel by long-distance bus over Christmas
Availability: The provider Flixbus also has travel options on offer for last-minute travellers. Travelers have to be prepared for changes or higher fares for some connections. Fares are also more expensive this year due to inflation and higher fuel prices.
More about Christmas:
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