midatlmom

I have a eurailpass and I was wondering if there was any way to make train reservations in france from the united states. I have gone on the french railways site, but it only seems to allow me to purchase tickets at full price, not to make reservations.

I would prefer not to use a travel agent, as they will charge me a fee.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

victoria_reynolds

I don't have any experience with train reservations in France, but I think you should be sure of the relative cost if you do make them from the US. Some time ago, we would have been charged $10/per person/per leg of a journey(switch of train) for "reservations" had we reserved in the US. It would have amounted to $200 or more. Instead, we did them at the first German train station and got charged the equivalent of about $3 --for all the reservations for the entire trip. Mind you, we didn't actually need some of them, but we were nervous so we got them anyway. I was happy not to have made the wrong decision for once...

midatlmom

I don't want to make them through an agent, because it would cost $11 per ticket (plus a $15 fee for the booking). While normally i would wait until we got to Europe, I got nervous because we're trying to leave Paris on Bastille Day and according to the French railways site, two of the trains we're interested in are already sold out in second class on that day.

So I was wondering if there was any way to make reservations directly while I'm still in the United States.

Once again, thanks for any help you can give me.

ira

Hi mid,

Did you go to www.railsver.com to see if you actually need a railpass? Quite often, they do not save money.

You can return them for refunds.

If it turns out that you should have a railpass, you will have to make your seat reservations in France or through a TA.

Intrepid1

Since you already know that the charge is about $11.00 per seat per train for the reservations that you have already purchased a railpass (whether it saves you money and time and hassle or not). I also assume you have bought one for Second Class.

I think you may have to either wait until you get to France (no there does not seem to be any way to simply reserve seats on the SNCF site, unfortunately) or bite the bullet.

So, my question is this: how important is it for you to "save" that money for some seat reservations? Worth worrying to death about having a place to sit on the train otherwise?

I agree the costs are ridiculous (thank you, RailEurope AND your parent comapany, SNCF for this wonderful customer "convenience&quot but what else can you do?

Patrick

Who did you buy your railpass from? I would suggest you call them (or email) and ask them. If it was through RailEurope, they will make the reservations for you. I'm not sure what the additional charge will be, but they can certainly tell you, and if you are concerned about making them in advance, then you really don't have a choice, do you?

StCirq

You can call the SNCF number in France. Perhaps they can reserve seats for you over the phone at the same price they would if you were to go to a train station in France. The number (direct from the USA) is 011-33-8-92-35-35-39. There is an option to speak to an English-speaking person, and they are generally very helpful.

midatlmom

Thanks a lot for all your replies. I had already checked the railsaver website and it told me that I would save money if I got a rail pass. I had ordered it through Rail Europe people, but fortunately they hadn't mailed it out yet, so I just got them to add my tickets for Avignon to the order (I still have to pay $11 each, but not the additional $15). Interestingly enough, on my first choice of train, second class tickets were already sold out, so I'm glad I went ahead and did this (Intrepid and Patrick, you're right, I'd rather pay the $22 and not worry).