Rail Ninja

Seemed quite easy but can't let you…

Seemed quite easy but can't let you know for until travel is on its way

Save yourself the money and stress: do not book through Rail Ninja.

I booked two First Class KTX tickets from Seoul to Jeonju, paying over $60 above official train prices. After paying, I found out our seats weren't even assigned together. There was no warning or seat selection option during checkout. When I reached out to customer support, their only solution was to downgrade us to Standard Class—while refusing to refund the price difference. Charging massive markups while offering zero flexibility or support when their system separates traveling companions is unacceptable. Do your research and book directly through official sites like Korail. Lesson learned!

Feedback and Experience with Rail Ninja - Part 2

This is part 2 of my pretty bad experiences with Rail Ninja. Experience #2: My second experience with Rail Ninja was also frustrating but distinctly different. In this case I was trying to book train tickets for 6 from Budapest to Ljubljana. Again, these were booked more than 2 months in advance. I was looking for a train option that was direct between the two cities since I didn’t want us to have to switch trains on a tight connection with all of our luggage. Nor did I want us to have to sit around a bunch at one or more intermediate stops. To my delight, I discovered a singular train option that left at the right time and was non stop between the two cities. Hurray! My other research had told me that this was a very popular train, so I booked it right away to make sure I didn’t lose out on the availability. This was in February 2026 for a train trip that was happening in May 2026. This time I attempted to work through Rail Ninja to get my seat assignments as I wanted them. I told them through their customer service chat that I wanted seats together, preferably facing each other and they graciously noted that my requests had been captured in the record. So, now I waited, and waited, and waited. All the way to April 14th (for a trip happening on May 1st) with still no seats assigned. I reached out (more than once) via their chat service to inquire and was assured that my seats would be issued in a “couple of days only”. I was getting more and more nervous but, okay, I waited some more. On April 18th I received a terrifying email saying “We regret to inform you that for operational reasons we were not able to issue tickets for your selected departure.” See more on this under What Happened below. UHHHG!!! With less than two weeks to go before that trip was supposed to happen, what real options was I going to be able to find for 6 people and all of our luggage. Fortunately, the Rail Ninja email did offer two alternate options though there were going to be cost increases that I’d have to pay. With so little time left and us all jumping on planes within days, I just bit the bullet and selected one of the two options. As with the previous booking, I received Flix bus tickets from Rail Ninja within a few minutes. BUT… the seats were again spread around. Fortunately, I was able to scrounge the booking reference from the document I was sent and then able to go straight to the Flix bus site to make updates to my seats. I had to pay a few extra euros (adding insult to injury) to get exactly what I wanted but after that was able to directly download my boarding passes so I could feel comfortable that I had locked in our selections. Needless to say, this was one of the most stressful, “last minute” updates I’ve ever had to deal with. So… What Happened? After booking the second trip, when I had waited many days without receiving seat assignments, I started to worry that something was wrong. So, I started digging and discovered that the popular train I had booked had been out of service for quite a while but was expected to be back available prior to our trip. Apparently, they were doing construction along the route and there was some potential we would have to switch modes of transportation (from train to bus) part way through the trip if that construction was not yet resolved. I reached directly out to the train service provider to check about the situation and they confirmed that their PLAN was for construction to be done prior to our travel date. So, I held out hope that that would be the case but, alas, did not win that particular bet. In any event, at no time along the way did Rail Ninja contact me to warn me of the situation. In all cases, I contacted them and, each time they reassured me that all was fine with my travel arrangements and I should be receiving my seat assignments shortly. Boy was that misleading and certainly left me with no option to try and pivot. The combination of their draconian cancellation policies and their continual reassurance meant I had to just “trust them”. Moral to the story: If at all possible, don’t use Rail Ninja to book your train tickets but rather try to work directly with the service providers, whoever they may be. Rail Ninja may be convenient but they certainly aren’t cheaper OR accommodating with their customer service. Given the above, arguably horrible, experiences I have had with Rail Ninja, I CERTAINLY WILL NEVER EVER use them again.

Avoid Rail Ninja, Sneaky and untrustworthy

Avoid Rail Ninja. Sneaky, untrustworthy. Book directly with the train operator instead. Our experience with Rail Ninja was extremely disappointing, expensive and frustrating. We booked two train tickets through Rail Ninja believing we were purchasing legitimate rail tickets at a reasonable price. We paid A$598 (€367) for our booking. When the tickets were eventually issued, the official carrier tickets showed a value of only €39 per passenger (€78 total). This left an unexplained difference of approximately €289 (A$471) between the value of the carrier tickets and what we paid. We contacted Rail Ninja multiple times requesting an itemised breakdown explaining exactly how the total price was calculated. We were repeatedly told that the pricing breakdown had been displayed during the booking process and that it explained the difference. However, our booking confirmation and invoice show only a single total amount of A$598. They do not itemise the underlying ticket fare, service fees, processing fees, taxes or any other charges. During our correspondence, Rail Ninja provided a generic example from a completely different booking showing a service fee of only around 11% above the underlying ticket price. However, applying that same logic does not explain the enormous difference between the €78 value of our carrier tickets and the €367 we paid. Despite repeated requests, Rail Ninja has refused to provide the equivalent itemised breakdown for our booking, leaving approximately €289 (A$471) unexplained. Our concern is not simply that Rail Ninja charges more than the train operator. Our concern is the lack of transparency. If there is a substantial premium, customers should be able to clearly see the underlying ticket price and every fee before deciding whether to proceed. That was not our experience. If you are travelling in Europe, save yourself the money and the frustration. Book directly with the train operator (such as SNCF, Trenitalia, Deutsche Bahn or the relevant national rail operator) or through an official retailer. You’ll know exactly what you’re paying for and avoid paying a substantial premium without a clear explanation. Based on our experience, we cannot recommend Rail Ninja. We are continuing to pursue this matter with our card issuer and the relevant consumer protection authorities, and we will update this review if Rail Ninja provides the transparency and resolution that has so far been lacking.

1st Bad Experience with Rail Ninja

For those looking to use Rail Ninja for booking train tickets in Europe I offer the following direct 1st experience with the company (I will leave a second review for a second experience): 1) Experience #1: In early February of 2026, while I was booking tickets 2+ months in advance for a group of six to go from Prague to Budapest, I happened upon the Rail Ninja site. The site was well structured, easy to use and was a convenient way to compare fares from a number of different rail service operators. It nicely compiled the information about the different options including not only the amenities but also the pricing for various different options. In my case, I was looking for an option that would allow my group of 6 to sit next to each other (ideally across from each other) so we could enjoy the multi hour trip in each other’s company. Fortunately, one of the options offered was the option to sit in a compartment for 6 passengers. Excited about this option, I quickly started the booking process. All was going well as the site asked for names and birthdays (presumably because we were crossing boarders) as I looked for a screen that would allow me to lock in the compartment seats. I proceeded through the process all the way to the booking confirmation screen. Note: I had not expected this to be the final step of the booking process as seating selection had not yet been offered. In any event, this is where things did not go as planned. Mistake #1: As I said, I had assumed, incorrectly, that once I hit the confirmation button, there would be more steps that would allow me to pick/lock in my seats. This was NOT the case. In fact, Rail Ninja locked in the transaction, charged my credit card, and within minutes sent me an email confirming the booking. When I followed the link they provided to see my booking, to my horror, I discovered that not only were we not sitting together in a compartment, the 6 seats were strewn about the cabin. And there was no obvious option to update my seating situation (I came to discover later that, since Rail Ninja is a broker, they don’t have direct connectivity with the service provider so seat selection has to be coordinated as “requests” with their customer service department). Given the clear issue with my booking, I then attempted to cancel my reservation since this was clearly NOT what I had intended. This is when I discovered… Mistake #2: Note: Rail Ninja does not prominently display their cancellation policy or make it obvious during the booking process. Don’t get me wrong, it is not intentionally hidden like some sites do, but they do not make it super clear when you are about to hit the confirmation button that canceling will still incur non-refundable booking costs. And at the time I was booking these tickets those non-refundable charges were ~30%! (Note: they have now lowered their non-refundable charges to 20%; see their cancellation policy under about/customer support on their site). Remember that I was booking these tickets 2 months in advance AND was attempting to cancel within minutes of booking. So, it was not like I was locking up seats at the last minute that Rail Ninja could not recover the costs for. So, what was the next step? I jumped on a chat with the Rail Ninja customer service folks to see if they might be able to do anything. Good news was, despite them being in Europe and me in the US, they were quick to jump on a chat with me. But this is where the good news ended and they revealed their true stripes. I carefully explained the situation and requested that they make an exception to their cancellation policy given that I had only made the booking a few minutes earlier. They explained that no exception would be made and quoted me their cancellation policy. After several rounds of back and forth it was pretty obvious that they were not going to budge and they were getting increasingly belligerent. In fact, near the end of the exchange they were accusing me of buyer’s remorse as if I just randomly changed my mind. At this point, all I could do was try and work through my credit card company to help correct the situation caused by their, arguably deceptive, business practices. Mistake #3: I decided then to look directly at the train service provider’s site to see if perhaps there was a way to get what I was looking for that way. I assumed this would end up costing me more since I had assumed, again incorrectly, that Rail Ninja had secured volume discounts with the rail service providers and was passing some of those savings on to us. Boy was that assumption wrong! Looking at the RegioJet site not only did I discover that the tickets were more than 30% cheaper than Rail Ninja but by booking directly with RegioJet I could also directly PICK MY SEATS. Given the above experience, I CERTAINLY WILL NEVER EVER use them again.

I took the time to nervously book…

I took the time to nervously book tickets two days ago, and at the end when I thought it was done the website said it timed out. I didn't know if the payment actually went through, so I had to wait two days to make sure it wasn't on my credit card, and that it hasn't already been paid. That's why I didn't give 5 stars, being the inconvenience of taking up so much of my time.

I could not choose my seat and

I could not choose my seat and, even after the ticket has been issued, I can’t see or haven’t been assigned a seat. If I was guaranteed a forward-facing window seat, I would give 5 stars.

Antonin Berthon英国 · 写过 2 条评价 · 体验于 2026-07-24 · 发表于 2026-07-24

They charged us more than DOUBLE the…

They charged us more than DOUBLE the price of the train tickets from the official vendor (Busan-Seoul in South Korea). Typing KTX on Google gives them as the top result but they are not affiliated to the local train company and make you pay EXORBITANT prices. Stay away.

Confusion about business and first class booking

Provided pertinent information needed for booking. The only drawback was not having an opportunity to select our seats. There was a bit of confusion between first class and business class, although we didn’t get a chance to book business class. Can we upgrade on the train?

Purchasing

Purchasing, email confirmation, and printing tickets was smooth and easy. Waiting on a Verification Code was a little bit of a wait and uncertainty, but all is well that ends well. Thank you.

it is a pity that I had to book my 4…

it is a pity that I had to book my 4 tickets separately. Which means 4 credit card tichets

Website unclear. Meant to book train but booked bus.

I intended to book a return train journey. The website wasn’t clear and I actually booked an outbound train journey and a return bus! Customer service was unhelpful even though I contacted them a minute after I got the confirmation.

Luxury House印度 · 写过 1 条评价 · 体验于 2025-12-01 · 发表于 2026-07-20

fraud scam too expensive

Exorbitant prices

Rail Ninja’s prices are unreasonably expensive.EXORBITANT and it offers no benefits in return for 300% increase in the price over Amtrack. Yesterday I booked a trip from DC to Philadelphia. The cost on Rail Ninja was $110. When I went on Amtrak, the cost was $29. When I canceled my real ninja ticket within minutes of having purchased it, they charged me a 10% transaction fee

It was easy and fast to make the…

It was easy and fast to make the reservation,

Michael D荷兰 · 写过 1 条评价 · 体验于 2026-06-27 · 发表于 2026-07-17

Overpriced tickets and no refund

Very disappointing experience. Rail Ninja charged me around 2–3 times more than the typical ticket price, which I only discovered afterward. When I contacted them and asked for a refund, they refused to return the money. The whole experience felt misleading and unfair. I would recommend checking the official railway website before booking through them.

Basically a scam

Essentially, rail ninja charges you double the price of a ticket, doesn't fulfil the order but keeps the money. In short, it's a well designed scam. Definitely avoid.

ballipny波兰 · 写过 1 条评价 · 体验于 2026-07-16 · 发表于 2026-07-16

They don’t guarantee rickets and only…

They don’t guarantee rickets and only tell you this after you buy them. They withhold 40% off fee when you cancel and there is no customer service. Don’t use them.

Easy to select a train and make a…

Easy to select a train and make a booking .

Easy to use but I ask for French…

Easy to use but I ask for French communication Facile d’utilisation mais les e mail sont en anglais