lilaki

hi fodorites,

me again.

okay, i have scanned a bunch of threads about booking a TGV ticket from paris to avignon using the SNCF website... (my god, this is confusing!!!)

a few more questions for the experts out there:

1. will i receive an e-mail that i can print out? OR will i need to print the tickets out right away after purchasing online?

the reason i ask this is b/c i am planning to make the purchase from my laptop and i'm not normally hooked up to a printer. however, if required, i can make the purchase from a desktop with printer hookup.

2. what seats do i want?? i did a 'mock' purchase and notice that i have several seat options - upper deck, lower deck, square, upper square, lower square. what the heck do all these mean?? i'm guess that 'square' = four seats facing each other?

if i want to be near my luggage, where should i sit? can i change seats after i get onto the train? are there specific seats i can request in order to be close to my luggage? yeah - can you tell i don't really want to be separated from my luggage???

THANK YOU!!!

jamikins

I just bought 4 tickets for Sept (I live in London) and I set the pick up place to France. At the end of the transaction you are given the option to print them. They are pdf files, so you can open them and save them to your desktop and print them later. I also got an email which included a link to the pdf files so I can also print them from that.

cant help you with seats, I always just take what they assign. The trains I've been on usually have a luggage rack in each carriage where you put your big luggage, and an overhead rack to put smaller, carry on type bags.

Hope this helps!
J

kappa

Above poster is right about printing the ticket.

RE : Seats. The choice you got is on a double decker TGV (duplex). Not all TGV are dbl decked but Generally the lower deck is quieter, the higher deck with a better view. "'square' = four seats facing each other? " That's right. If you are alone, you might want a seat "côte à côte". Don't know what term they use on English page. Like on airplane. With double decker TGV, overhead rack is really narrow. Good for small bags but usually not for carry-on size wheelers. Single deck TGV has larger overhead racks. Double decker TGV also has luggage racks in the middle (near seats 70's or 80's) but since you cannot choose seat numbers it's a bit of luck. If you are worried, it might be worth getting a bicyle chain, as mentioned on this forum sometimes, to attach your suitecase to the rack. I have never done it myself though.

lilaki

jammikins + kappa - THANK YOU for the info! this is great!

as much as i want to look out the window during the trip, i want my luggage even more (yes, paranoid) so i'll take seats on the lower level ...

there are two of us. if we take a 'square', will they automatically put someone with us? a square might be ideal - coule we even put our luggage in the square??? we'll have two large suitcases and two backpacks....

thanks again!!!

crazyfortravel

Hi lilaki,

The system didn't give me an option to choose an exact seat. Since there were two of us, the system assigned two seats together window and aisle alone on the lower deck. I don't recall there being a place to say whether you wanted upper or lower deck but perhaps I missed something in the process.

I did see the seats that you spoke of and they face each other with a table in between. The individual seats have a large tray that opens much like a plane only larger and sturdier. I thought I recalled a power plug beside our seat as well.

The booking system sent me an email which I kept and you can print your tickets out when you choose. You click on the link and it will bring you to your dosier.

kappa

> will they automatically put someone with us? a square might be ideal - coule we even put our luggage in the square???

You cannot tell. It's like airplane. Assume the other 2 seats are for 2 other passgegers. In any case, the seats are not large enough for your luggage. Your suitcases will have to go to luggage rack. Backpacks? How big are they ? If they are big sort, they might have to go to luggage rack too unless you want to keep them under your feet (wouldn't be comfortable, there is not much space there neither).

jamikins

I've travelled on lots of trains in Europe and I have never had a problem with luggage. You will have to put it in the luggage racks and everyone does. You will likely be able to see the racks from your seats, so just keep an eye on it, especially at stops. Not much else you can do, other than get a bike lock and lock them to the luggage rack.

I have never seen anyone do this, but it may make you feel better. Just make sure you know your stop so you have time to take the lock off as you wont if you wait until the train stops to do it.

Personally I think that is overkill...this is the process for trains in Europe, so relax and enjoy the train ride!

lilaki

hi all,

thanks for the info!

i will book for the lower deck and i'll get side by side seats (provided i get a choice). i think i'll forego the bike lock though.

what is the stop before avignon?? and from this stop, how long before the train pulls into avignon?

from other threads, i understand that i need to be ready to go as soon as the train pulls into avignon.

thanks again!!!

yk

Like others say, you cannot pick the actual seats. When you choose your "choice" of seat, it'll automatically assign you with seat number (which you can see on the next page before the actual purchase). Sometimes they assign 2 of you sitting facing one another. If you'd rather sitting side-by-side, you can choose the "no preference" option.

I think you can only print out tickets that are PREMs. If you buy regular tickets, my understanding is there's no print-at-home option and you have to pick your tickets up at an SNCF station.

Also, for PREMs, you can only print them out if you decline the insurance option.

Christina

That's true and a very important point. YOu cannot print most of the tickets you buy online from SNCF. NO mention was made of what type of tickets was going to be bought, so if it's a regular one, you will never be able to print it.

The only ones you can print are fares that are very restricted and nonrefundable, that's the whole reason they allow you to print them -- you can never turn them in for a refund, etc., and they have the money already.

lilaki

hi yk/christina ... i'm planning to buy PREMs with no insurance.

i'll post back after i buy my tickets on sunday (if all goes well)...


thanks!

crazyfortravel

Avignon was the first stop when we took the train at 8:04am.

The luggage racks above are not very big at all...we couldn't fit our tote bag up there. We had to put it under the seat in front of us.

lilaki

hi crazyfortravel,

was there any notice that you'd be pulling into the station? how much time did you have to get your luggage and get off the train?

i'm pretty sure we will have to stow our luggage in the main baggage areas so i want to make sure i have enough time to get up, get my bags and get to the door.

i speak enough french to get by but am not sure the loudspeakers are clear and/or slow enough for me to understand!

do we pass any landmarks? i.e. XYZ landmark means that we're pulling into avignon shortly?

thanks!

crazyfortravel

Hi lilaki,

They gave a few minutes notice. We slowed down a couple of times prior to Avignon and I thought there would be another stop but there wasn't. They were very clear on the loud speaker and then they annouced it again just prior to arrival. I don't remember seeing any landmarks that would help to identify approach to Avignon.

You may notice that some people will get up from their seats prior to arrival and you could just follow suit if you see movement in numbers.

Good luck with your train purchase

Kelly

aarathi23

This is fantastic thread, as am going through the exact same process now for my trip in Sep!! Excellent points on how much time we have before pulling into Avignon, I hadn't even thought of that...

A question - what is the difference between booking on SNCF and on TGV-Europe? I can have the tickets mailed to a girlfriends place in London where we will be staying prior to Paris, but just wondering if the (a) the processes are the same and (b) if the prices are the same as well? From what I can tell when I've done 'mock' runs, it looks the same

Also re PREM tickets - I've been keeping an eye on the price, and it looks that in total for 2 of us, it will cost us about 170 Euro for a return from Paris to Avignon (85 Euro each). Does this sound reasonable or does it get cheaper the closer we get to our travel datees?


Thanks

TimS

aarathi23,

Booked far enough in advance (up to three months allowed) Prem's fares for Paris-Avignon can be as low as €17 each way. If you wait to book until a date close to departure, all the discount fares will be gone and you'll have to pay full fare (80-100 euros, depending if your departure time is at peak or off-peak hours).

lilaki

hi aarathi23,

i'm planning/hoping to pay 34 euros for two of us from paris to avignon on sept. 30. i'm planning to buy my ticket on sunday night (EST) ... three months before my travel date.

there are a ton of other threads on this forum about buying tickets on sncf (you can muddle your way through if you read/understand basic french). you can also print out tickets if you're buying PREMs but not buying insurance. there is also a thread here about changing the web address from FR to UK or something like that and part of the sncf site will come up in english. i did searches for "sncf", "tgv avignon" etc. etc.

there is also a very popular morganb thread that explains how it's all done -- just type in morganb into the search box.

and yes, it's VERY confusing! i've been researching this topic for at least two months in anticipation of my purchase on sunday!!!

from what i understand, there is also a phone number for sncf customer service that you can call and they speak english. i believe you can call and book tickets through that number. search for my name and you should be able to find the thread about this ... it's my back up if i can't make the purchase on sunday!

good luck!

aarathi23

Sorry for yet another question on this - but I'm looking on the sncf website now, but i can't find tix that cheap! ie 34 euro...is there a special way that i'm missing finding the cheap tickets?

i'm looking to travel on the 13th of september, so am just under the 3 month mark currently

also is there a difference from booking on the sncf website and the tgv europe website?

lilaki

hi aarathi23,

i should have been more clear - 34 euros was for two of us ONE WAY.

i'm assuming you want a return ticket??

and i'm not an expert on this whole train-booking thing in france but from everything i've read, the cheap PREMs are available only in very limited quantities (not sure what this means) ... since it's about two weeks past the 13th of june (three months before the 13th of september), perhaps they are all sold out??

unfortunately, i don't know what tgv europe is ... i've been doing all my 'mock' bookings/research on SNCF...

good luck! hopefully, someone more knowledgeable/experienced than me can respond/confirm...

lilaki

hi aarathi23,

i just tried TGV europe's site for the date you want to travel ... paris to avignon, two passengers, 2nd class, picking up tickets in france, etc. etc. and it booted me straight to the sncf website.

maybe it's just better to go directly to sncf??