john183

This may be a crazy question or it may already be asked and answered somewhere that I can't find. I was able to buy and print our TGV Prem tickets (2 adults/1 child) from Paris to Rouen for late June but I have a question on how the seating works. The tickets do not have assigned seating. I know they are in second class but when we board the train, how do we know which carriages/seats are reserved and which are open seating? Sitting together would be preferable but is not required (our 11 year old granddaughter would be OK to sit by herself if necessary). I'm trying to avoid a situation where we think we have found seats but at the last minute, someone boards with reservations for the seats we are occupying and we have to move ourselves and our luggage possibly to another carriage. Hopefully there is a simple answer that I'm just not aware of. Thanks for your help.

kismetchimera

Perhaps you are not looking at the tickets the right way..keep looking because even PREMs ticket works the same way as regular tickets.You must have an assigned seat..
Keep looking again...sometimes we look but we dont see what is under our nose.

Christina

I don't think it is possible to have a PREM without an assigned seat, because I thought they only existed on trains that had reserved seating mandatory (ie, TGVs or trains that require reservations). In which case every seat on the train is reserved. The seat number is right on the ticket, along with the car number. It is right under the place that says what class you reserved (on the right side underneath the station names). It will say something like "Voiture 2, Place 31, Assise" which means car 2, seat 31.

You chose the type of seating you want when you reserve the ticket, actually, although you may have not noticed you could do that so they assigned you seats. it isn't mandatory that you tell them the type you prefer, but you can.

IN any case, in general, any train that can have reserved seats but it is not mandatory has a little ticket slipped in a track over the seat (overhead, in the area where the overhead baggaged storage is) that says it is reserved (or not).

Sarastro

PREMs are available on trains without assigned seating, i.e. Téoz, Corail, or perhaps an Intrécité train. Note: it is possible to purchase a reserved seat on a Corail train for a nominal fee (about 2€).

However, all TGVs or iDTGVs have assigned seating (PREM tickets or otherwise). If you are sure that you have completed a purchase and that the train is definitely either a TGV or a iDTGV then something is wrong. Confirm that the train is indeed a TGV and that the purchase was accepted by your credit card company.

Sarastro

I am sorry, I just noticed that you are travelling to Rouen. These trains are NOT TGVs, they are Intercités trains and there is no reserved seating.

GeoffHamer

If the journey is from Paris Saint-Lazare to Rouen, then the train will not be a TGV. There are no TGVs on this route.

StCirq

You don't have a TGV ticket. You don't have a seat assignment. As long as you board the right class of train, and as long as you don't sit down in a seat that has a punched ticket above it in the luggage rack, you can sit wherever you want.

kerouac

That's just a commuter train -- no reserved seats.

john183

Thank you all for straightening me out. I used the TGV web site to buy my tickets and the words TGV-Europe are in fairly large print on my ticket with a very tiny .com just below it. Not being familiar with the France train system, I just assumed they were some kind of TGV tickets - but now I know better. Thanks again and I hope any future questions I have about our upcoming trip won't be so silly.

waterdog

Topping this for a question. This thread was very helpful I was able to buy PREM tickets for Paris-Bayeux. Printed them out at home. My question is if I had bought a higher fare, I was offered the option of reserved seats. The PREM fare does not offer that option. Some of the above comments imply that there are no reserved seats on this route as it is Intercities. So what might I expect to find on the train, reserved seats or none? Or some reserved and some first come first served? And if that is the case, how is that indicated? Many thanks!

kerouac

These trains have both reserved and unreserved seats. It is indicated on the seats if they are reserved or not.

waterdog

Kerouac, thanks for the response. How are the reserved ones identified?

TPAYT

bookmarking

Christina

They are marked, don't worry about it. I don't think you can miss it. They have signs saying reserved (I've only seen that above them in a slot on the place where you have overhead storage).

john183

Nice surprise to see this old thread pop up. I'm not sure if there will be any difference on the Intercities train to Bayeux but on our train to Rouen, we did not see any reserved seats at all in the carriage we were on. We boarded, stowed our luggage and found seats quite easily. In fact it was one of the least stressful and uneventful (in a good way) train adventures we've had in Europe. I hope you enjoy Normandy as much as we did - it was fantastic!

waterdog

Thanks to all for your information.

john183

A quick followup about our TGV experience from St Pierre des Corps to CDG that was not as smooth. I'm not sure if we were just "lucky" to have this happen to us or if it is a common occurrence but below is a portion of my trip report for that adventure! I don't think this will apply to your Intercities train situation but it may be helpful on other train trips involving the electronic display of seat numbers.

Our earlier train trip from Paris to Rouen was very easy and incident free even though we did not have reserved seats. This time we had reserved seats (Car 7 seats 51, 52 and 54) and we easily found car 7. I made the mistake of thinking this was going to be another easy one. We climbed in to car 7 and began looking for our seat numbers on the electronic display over top of each seat. We walked all the way to the end of the car and did not see our seat numbers. The train was very crowded and we had a lot of luggage (not a good combination). Several very nice people tried to help us and they looked at our tickets and walked back to the other end of car 7 but did not see our seat numbers either. I decided to try one more time and as I was nearly to the other end of car 7 again, all of a sudden the electronic display of the seat numbers began to change. The *&%#@*&% train people had not updated the electronic display until several minutes after every one was on the train already. Unfortunately someone was in our seats and there were no others for us to go to so they had to move. We stowed our luggage and finally took our seats.