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Passenger rights: Requesting compensation

If you wish to claim compensation, please use our passenger rights claim form.

To ensure that you receive your compensation and/or refund as easily as possible, Deutsche Bahn offers an accessible passenger rights claim form. You can download the form, fill it in and then and print it out.

To ensure that you receive your compensation and/or refund as easily as possible, Deutsche Bahn offers an accessible passengers' rights claim form. You can download and complete the form and then print it out.

Please keep in mind that when claiming your passenger rights your personal information is only protected if you use the passengers' rights claim form provided on this website.

Receive your compensation in four steps: Here's how it works

Ask the service staff on the train, at DB Information or a DB Travel Centre to hand you the passenger rights claim form. Alternatively, you can download it here.

If possible, have your delay confirmed on the passenger rights claim form. This can be done by the service staff on the train or by an employee at DB Information or a DB Travel Centre. Please note that the service staff on a train can only confirm delays of 60 minutes or more of their own train on the passenger rights claim form.

After your delay has been confirmed on the form, enter the required details of your train journey in the passenger rights claim form and confirm them with your signature.

Please return the completed and signed passenger rights claim form to a DB Travel Centre or send it by post to DB Dialog, Servicecenter Fahrgastrechte, 60647 Frankfurt am Main, Germany (please also note the information below).

Please bring the following documents with you:

  • for compensations the original ticket or a copy of your ticket/ travel card
  • for refunds the original receipts (e.g. in case of abandonment or cancellation of journey; reservations and bicycle tickets which could not be used due to a delay, or if you incurred costs for the use of another train, another means of transport or overnight stays)
  • Confirmation of your delay

If your claim is handled by Servicecenter Fahrgastrechte, do not forget to state your address and your bank account if you wish to have the compensation paid into your bank. It also facilitates processing if you give us a telephone number and e-mail address where we can clarify any queries.

If you hand in the completed passenger rights claim form with confirmation of the delay and your original ticket to a DB Travel Centre, you will receive your compensation immediately as a voucher or cash payment (no immediate compensation in the case of travel cards).

All complete? Then hand in the completed and signed passenger rights claim form together with the necessary documents to a DB Travel Centre or send it by post to DB Dialog GmbH, Servicecenter Fahrgastrechte, 60647 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Your claim will be processed within a month.

Please note that in the following cases you can only claim compensation from Servicecenter Fahrgastrechte:

  • The delay was not confirmed on your passenger rights claim form
  • You only want to submit a copy of your ticket
  • You are the holder of a travel card (e.g. commuter ticket, BahnCard 100, day ticket for Germany, regional day ticket)
  • You have tickets for international journeys or for foreign routes purchased from DB (the railway that issued the tickets is always responsible for processing compensation claims for tickets not issued by DB)
  • You want to request reimbursement of necessary expenses due to a delay

Notes on mobile phone tickets

If you are claiming compensation or a refund for a mobile phone ticket, please include the booking reference sent to you by e-mail with the passenger rights claim form. Alternatively, you can include the online ticket sent to you be e-mail with the passenger rights claim form. In this case, please indicate that the ticket is a mobile phone ticket.

If you no longer have the online ticket, you can still retrieve it from the booking history for up to six months after booking.

The voucher can be redeemed online or at a DB ticket machine.

Vouchers with seven alphanumeric characters can be redeemed online during the booking process. You can, of course, also redeem vouchers when purchasing a DB ticket at a DB ticket machine with a touch screen.