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Comment by medvidek

5 hours ago

For some reason, I'm softlocked from booking tickets from Deutsche Bahn. The website errors out with a cryptic "Your browser's behavior resembles that of a bot." message with no option to try again or pass a captcha or whatever. The website itself described several possible solutions but none helped (I tried using different computers, different internet connections, even a phone connected to internet using a SIM from a different country).

As for now, when I need to travel to Germany, I just book tickets through the national carrier of my home country, which for cross-border tickets often turns out to actually be cheaper than booking through DB. Thankfully I don't live in Germany proper and my need for travel there is not that high (once or twice a year at most) but I wonder what would I do if I had to move to Germany and use trains there more often.

4 comments

medvidek

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bluebarbet  5 hours ago

Same problem but with French equivalent SNCF (sncf-connect.com). I just checked and can confirm nothing has changed. You cannot use up-to-date Firefox on Linux to access the main booking site for French rail tickets.

    Access is temporarily restricted

    We detected unusual activity from your device or network.

    Reasons may include:

    -Rapid taps or clicks
    -JavaScript disabled or not working
    -Automated (bot) activity on your network (IP X.X.X.X)
    -Use of developer or inspection tools

  • duskdozer  3 hours ago

    Does it work if you spoof the user agent?

    > -Use of developer or inspection tools

    Gotta love it.

    • bluebarbet  2 hours ago

      It gets blocked in a private window, but only on the second page load. So more sophisticated than UA-blocking.

      The finger-wagging about "Use of developer or inspection tools" is just outrageous. Akin to accusing users of thought crime.

      The only solution to all this will be through elections and laws.