seat61.com/france good info might buy from them
if you keep having problems.I have never been able
to make my CCs work there usually just wait to book
or just hop on train like a local on regional trains.
Always way cheeaper never booked.Good luck!

I tend to book the tickets outside the country using Brit credit card never had a problem.

Which franchise is your credit card under and is it included in the sncf wabpage range offered?

Do you mean which type of card Bilboburgler? I have tried four different VISA credit cards and one VISA debit card. The IDTGV website offers Visa, MasterCard and another one that doesn't exist in Australia I don't think. No Amex option. This is not the sncf page which I did use successfully albeit some years ago.

Sorry Ozgirl, I did think it might be a mastercard/visa thing but if not I cannot help

What is IDTGV? Can't you still buy from SNCF?

Several people had this trouble a few weeks ago on SNCF. In some cases, including mine, the problem was triggered by the US credit card company.

After I called Citicard and told them about my way-in-the-future trip, they cleared the purchase. It seems to be a new hurdle. You could give it a try.

Good luck!

Unfortunately, ozgirl, I have read numerous reports within the last 6 months of those from Australia not being able to use their credit cards on the SNCF websites. iDTGV tickets are today being sold for dates in June up to the 12th (presently 6 months in advance) and if you have completed the booking process only to find that your credit card is not accepted, you might confirm with your bank that they are not placing a hold of any kind on your account. If that does help, you simply may not be able to complete an online transaction using an Australian credit card.

just hop on train like a local on regional trains.

What does this mean? Locals do not just hop on trains without purchasing tickets in advance. This is a good way of being detained and ending up paying a stiff fine. Doing this can give a whole new meaning to the concept of a ¨memorable vacation¨.

What is IDTGV? Can't you still buy from SNCF?

iDTGV trains are operating by the SNCF, sometimes but not always attached to normally scheduled TGV trains. iDTGV tickets are only sold on line, starting 4-6 months before any given travel date. Ticket prices begin at 19€ and increase as tickets are sold.

@Sarastro - so now there are two kinds of TGVs? IDTGV and SNCF? What's the difference?

The SNCF or French Rail operates a number of different types of trains: TER, Téoz, Lunéa, Corail, TGV, and iDTGV are most of the options. Each serves a specific purpose; local, high-speed, over-night, or regional are some of the targeted markets.

The basic difference between TGV and iDTGV is that the iDTGV tickets are deeply discounted and are only sold online, the routes offered are somewhat limited. You might think of the iDTGV trains as a rough equivalent to a discount airline yet the services are almost identical to the regular TGVs. iDTGV trains do have limits on carry on luggage such as do many discount airlines. There are special fees imposed on those carrying a lot of luggage or over-sized luggage.

More information is available, in English or French, on their website:

www.idtgv.com

thursdaysd, you are confusing the name of a particular type of high-speed train with the name of the entire French railway system. Both have websites from which you can purchase tickets. Sarastro has provided excellent, detailed information above.

If it is not possible to use an Australian CC to purchase tickets on the iDTGV site, the next best prices would be PREM fares on the SNCF site. When I purchased tickets last spring, the PREM fare was only slightly higher than the iDTGV fare.

SNCF opens reservations for TGV trains three months prior to the date of travel. You can sign up for an email alert from SNCF at this site:

http://www.voyages-sncf.com/weblogic/AlerteResa/notifier?rfrr=Homepage_footer_Alerte%2520R%25C3%25A9sa

I've read that, once a credit card is denied ,it cannot be put through the system again for 24 hours. Why not wit a day, call you CC company telling them to expect (and accept) the charge and try again.

Goodness, I should preview!

It's the Australian card thing, someone documented that on here, as I recall. They even got an email from SNCF telling them they would not allow Austrialian CC purchases online.

It has nothign to do with SNCF vs. idTGV as that IS SNCF, it's just the brand name of a kind of train, just like TGV. SNCF runs all those websites.

excerpt from post by Ronael (oct 2009) <<Thank you all for your help and advice - my story is a very long one. In the end solved only by one very lengthy phonecall to TGV in the UK. Don't get me started on how I got their number.........
The lovely English TGV lady told me that Australian credit cards are not accepted on any of the TGV/sncf train websites in Europe at the moment. This is a recent thing because of several breaches of security & fraud attempts.>>

that was 2 years ago, however, so who knows

Hi everyone, thanks for all your comments. Overnight I have received a reply from IDTGV stating
"The cards which are accepted on our website are :

Visa and Mastercard from : European Union, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, USA and Switzerland. "
Bummer!
From comments above I am worried now that I won't have any luck with Prems on the voyages website either!

I wonder if anyone has tried a Uk or USA visa gift card? I had to go down this path to activate a sim for my iPad in the US....

I might have to find a British friend who still has their home country cc?

Ozgirl - that's disappointing and the reason given in the post dug up by Christina sounds pretty lame. Remarkable isn't it that we can use our Australian issued MasterCard or Visa credit cards to make 2K's worth of European hotel bookings on say, hotels or booking dot com (as I did earlier this year), but run up against all these problems trying to book mainline transport between them. It'd be good knowing what the score is for the use of Australian issued cards on all the main train booking sites so that when the heat is on to secure reasonable fares we don't fall at the final hurdle as you have. FWIW I've just fired off an enquiry to the related tgv-europe mob and if the answer is as expected I'll be asking why (they'll be worried I'm sure). My credit card experiences with Rail Europe Australia (which btw I thought fairly competitive on fares and timetable choices - have you run a check of your sectors?) are set out elsewhere here. Of course the suspicion is that our inability to book on certain European sites just might have something to do with their RE Aust set-up and their relationship with other local agents such as Rail Plus.

Hi farrermog, yes, I feel rightly discriminated against!! Lol
I can't compare exactly on Rail Europe Australia as they are only 90 days in advance purchases. If I look at same fare for three months from now, last time I looked it was in the vicinity of $AUD 200+ but I just looked again in response to your post and there is a "promotion" fare of $AUD 71. (First class) On the IDTGV it was 36 euro first class.

I wonder if the gift card would work?

EXCITING NEWS!!!
I replied to the email listing the countries that could order via website, confirming that I was from Australia and asking if there was a way around this dilemma.
I have just received an email from a lovely lady, Florence, who essentially has said that she can see the repeated attempts that I have made and she has authorised the card number ending xxxx and that I should go ahead and make the booking!
Have just done so and hold the tickets in my hot little hand as I type. Customer service par excellence!
Maybe this is the Christmas spirit????

Great news - well done! I was just about to report that tgv-europe had responded by email that its site accepts certain overseas issued cards -

"Payment cards that can be used on http://www.tgv-europe.com/ to make an on-line payment are:

Payment cards issued abroad by the Eurocard, Mastercard and Visa networks

If you pay on line using American Express or a foreign card that does not have an electronic chip (maximum amount of 1500 €), you will only be able to retrieve your tickets from a ticket desk or boutique. You cannot use a Self-Service Terminal."

- so in theory we shouldn't have a problem there.

Avoiding being diverted to Rail Europe (some RE sites are better than others) is another matter and that's where the advice of the Man in Seat61 is useful -

http://www.seat61.com/Pop-up-tgv-europe.htm

Note that if France is selected for ticket pick-up (even if printing the ticket at home) you'll be diverted to the SNCF site and if English is preferred he suggests the Afghanistan (!) solution.

I still can't believe a simple email solved the problem when so many people have reported emails going unanswered etc.
Maybe they have finally realised the value of the Aussie dollar

You probably found a worker who was not on lunch, smoke break, afternoon off for shopping etc. All the other emails must have missed this narrow gap.

lol bilboburgler!

I had the same problem trying to buy idTGV tickets on the idTGV website with my U.S. CapitalOne MasterCard. Even though I had a travel notification on my card, and had just used my card to make a large deposit on a rental boat, CapOne denied the first purchase attempt. After I talked to CapOne, they approved the purchases but idTGV still wouldn't accept my card. (Frustratingly, they don't actually tell you that at the time -- the purchase just gets stuck on " processing."). I too received a very prompt response from my e-mail to idTGV.

Eventually I tried my brand new Chase Visa card and the purchases went right through.

IdTGV tickets are only sold online; picking them up at the station isnt an option. You can buy idTGV tickets at voyages-sncf or idTGV.com (don't know about TGV Europe). There are some features that are unique to idTGV.com:
It does not ask where you are collecting your ticket. There is an English language option (which does not send you to a different site.) You can select specific seats from a seating map, which is a nice feature. The idTGV site does not accept American Express cards.

Ardith's gives some great extra info about the IDTGV website specifically - it is actually very user friendly. When my credit card got stuck on processing ( which the website says may take up to 60 secs) - I gave it 60 secs and then clicked back arrow and it clearly shows "refused" in red so at least you know you haven't been charged.

ozgirl - happy to hear that you have your tickets!

It seems that experiences vary considerably. Even though ardithl had difficulty with her Capital One MC, I successfully used mine to purchase both iDTGV and TGV tickets earlier this year, BUT not without multiple tries each time. In both instances, Capital One told me that they had approved the charges. The message I got when the attempts were unsuccessful was "votre paiement a été refusé," which I understood to mean that SNCF was refusing my payment. I immediately emailed them, but before they answered the email, I had been successful using the same card they refused the first time. Go figure!

I agree with ozgirl that the iDTGV site is very user friendly. We enjoyed our iDTGV ride from Paris to Lyon and will certainly check their offerings first for any future trips.

By the way, at www.seat61.com/France-trains.htm , the following statement is made: "iDTGV: Tickets for these 'special' iDTGV services cannot be booked using a foreign credit card, except Amex." This is clearly no longer the case since I and others have used US credit cards other than Amex to purchase tickets. Now ozgirl is reporting that Amex cards are not accepted on the iDTGV site.

A few follow- up comments to my post:

I had no trouble buying tickets from voyages-sncf 6 months ago with my CapOne card; all my purchases went through, but CapOne did block my card after the first one, until I called to verify the purchase.. So I expected no trouble with my idTGV.com purchases with the same card, but I was wrong.

The odd thing was that my second and third transactions did go through to CapOne, and were deducted from my credit limit -- even though idTGV apparently chose not to accept the card.

I didn't think about clicking the back button. I never got a message saying that my purchase was refused, until I e-mailed idTGV. That would have been helpful! After three unsuccessful attempts, I tried my Chase Visa card (which I'd never used before) and my purchases went right through.

Good luck -- and persevere!

Just to add a fine point to the discussion; iDTGV tickets can be picked up at an SNCF service window (not purchased though) but there is a 7 euro additional charge per ticket for this service.

A final observation about the SNCF - their policies are consistently inconsistent.

ozgirl - you haven't told us whether you'll be travelling Zen or Zap.

Zap, I'm not the quiet type!!

Some people may be blaming SNCF and it is their card's fault, not SNCF. I have a Cap One card, also, and they have changed their policies on fraud issues and block things more automatically than they used to. I have one and they blocked a SNCF purchase on it even though I'd never had a problem before.

I think it's pretty obvious when a purchase doesn't go through, you don't get special emails every time they don't process a purchase for some reason.

It appears not to be always obvious when a purchase doesn't go through - Ardithl's account was actually deducted.
My bank was aware of the purchase attempt and there was no problem this end so I have to deduce that is an SNCF issue. What the issue is remains a mystery.

In my case, it was clearly SNCF who had "refused the payment." According to Capital One, they had approved all attempts. In ardithl's case, it was iDTGV/SNCF who blocked the transaction, not her card. Some people may blame SNCF when it was their CC issuer that blocked the transaction, but in my case and ardithl's, that was not the case.

As Sarastro says, they are consistently inconsistent.