Is a puzzlement. I did it quite successfully with my Capitol One card just the other month. Perhaps you chose an hour when some link in the internet chain was down for maintenance? You might try another time of day.

Would you mind posting how much in Euro was the transaction for?

210 Euro for 3 one way first class from Paris to Amsterdam.

I have tried several times on and off whole day, will try again tomorrow.

Here is a related thread with my experience:

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/credit-card-rejected-at-sncf.cfm

Here is my experience at www.voyages-sncf.com. I would hope others with post with purchase experience facts to get better idea of what is going on:

5/30 1st class PREM for €68 - Success
6/1 1st class Thalys SMOOVE for €158 - CC refused
6/2 (24hrs later) 1st class SMOOVE for €158 - CC refused
6/3 (24hrs later) 1st class SMOOVE for €158 - CC refused
6/6 (3 days later) 1st class SMOOVE for €158 - CC refused
then immediately without changing computer, nor clearing cookies or histories, or getting away from www.voyages-sncf.com I immediately retried:

6/6 (1 min later) 2st class Thalys SMOOVE for €90 - success.

It is difficult to draw a clear conclusion based on mine or your data alone. But either 1st class Thalys tickets are not available to U.S. or Canadian CC holders -- odd restriction, or there is some kind of cc threshold between €90 and €158 above which the cc transactions, at least to U.S. and Canadian CC holders, get rejected. They are not even bothering to perform a transaction.

I hope others will chime in with actual recent success/failure data.

Greg, many thanks for the info. I will try again for other routes tomorrow.

Perhaps they have changed to the same system that Renfe is using, verification by VISA and MC.

I am not quite sure, as no verification window coming up.

I got no verification window, either.

Are you trying to do the transaction in English or French? It seems to make a difference. The last tickets we purchased we did in French because the page kept directing us to Rail Europe, which I will not deal with.

Maybe if we all make a point of giving our local official French Tourist Office a return serve when we receive their next promo email someone may get around to getting to the bottom of this. Or maybe not.

Maybe not!

Alternatives for booking Paris-Amsterdam:

Try www.thalys.com (if you select France, you may end up with the same payment sytsem, or they may have their own, I can't be sure)

Try www.nshispeed.nl making sure you get the self-print/e-ticket option, as being the Dutch railways you won't be able to collect from the station at the Paris end.

Voyages-sncf has always been good for credit card acceptance, I've had no reports about non-acceptance, but ater 10 years of running seat61.com, I know that credit cards aren't as international as we all think they are, glitches often arise. Always good to own several!

"The last tickets we purchased we did in French because the page kept directing us to Rail Europe, which I will not deal with."

That because either

(a) you're from the USA, and admitted this, as the search results then open automatically on Rail Europe, anyone from the US can book in English at www.tgv-europe.com but MUST select 'Canada' or 'Great Britain' or (my favourote) 'Afghanistan' as your country.

or

(b) You're from Canada, Australia, etc., and didn't click the 'Continue to tgv-europe.com' link in the pop up box that says 'we'd like to divert you to out local website' ('local' meaning Rail Europe).

For anyone who doesn't understand the importance of booking with tgv-europe.com not raileurope.com, I've seen Paris-Nice 35 euros ($50) on tgv-europe.com (the correct official French Railways price), $110 plus $7 fees at raileurope.com.

They have made a 'commercial' decision to suppress the cheapest fare levels.

I used www.voyages-sncf.com in French. Successes/failures noted used this setting using the same credit card. www.thalys.com also refused my card. This was not surprising since the last payment page is similar the www.voyages-sncf.com with different color scheme. The merchant code at Thalys site is identical to the SNCF site.

After observing that lower priced transactions seemed to be acceptable, I did an experiment if I could buy one ticket at a time. The seat assignment process would not allow me to have a good control on seating.
1. From my failed transaction, I knew certain "cote a cote" seats were available.
2. I requested "near" option specifying that particular "cote a cote" seat I knew was available using iExplorer. It gave me a "solo" seat instead so no chance of specifying an adjacent seat.

The acceptance/refusals, at least from a U.S. card holder, has nothing to do with the card itself, the cookies setting, or the time/day of transaction. The difference between success and failure seems to the amount of transaction in question. However, we need more data points.

Many thanks for all the info.

On sncf site and Thalys site, I always stay at french pages, never had any problem (last booking in February) till now.

I didn't go into tgv-europe site, thought it would be the same as raileurope.ca

I will try again tonight after over 24 hours as sugggested by Greg.

There is no purpose to using tgv-europe.com, I think the main (or only) reason people do is that they can't read French. It isn't raileurope, though, although it may refer you to it if you say you are in Canada.

If you stay on voyages-sncf, there isn't any chance to "admit" to being in the US as it never asks you where you are from when you are searching. So I dont understand the statement about being switched to Raileuope, it must have been the tgv-europe website. I don't really understand how people get on that website as the voyages-sncf website doesn't even mention it as far as I can see. I think it used to send you somewhere if you clicked on the English flag but now it doesn't even have one.

Have you checked with your credit card company?

It's possible internet/international transactions (or any over €100) are automatically fraud protected/blocked unless you phone them first to alert them.

Christina, the information from Seat 61 is correct (no surprise when you see his stunningly thorough website). A year or two ago Canada escaped the automatic Rail Euurope bump so any American can now choose Canada and avoid it too. Why? Better choices, lower prices than Rail Europe. And why use tgv-europe rather than its sister site from SNCF? Precisely because it is in English. I've bought tickets in French too, but the rail system is complicated enough that I can work more efficiently in English.

The amount of transaction (such as over Euro100) on credit cards isn't an issue, as prior to try to book train tickets, I have prepaid thousands euro on hotel reservations in France.

As mentioned before, I have booked many times in French without any problem, never used English site yet.

Again, thanks for all the input.

I had difficulty purchasing on SNCF April 2010. I can't remember the specifics, but I was frantic about losing the prem fares. My cc was rejected three times. I waited until early the next morning when I knew it was business hours, and it worked. I got the same fare also (so it wasn't a lower fare).

I've purchased on this site many times without any problems before.

Just purchased first class tickets, Amsterdam-Brussels, on thalys.com last friday, for 3 people. And then another, Brussels - Paris, last sunday, for 3. And then again yesterday, Paris-Strasbourg, for 4 people on voyages-sncf.com (in French, if that makes a difference). I didn't have any problem with my CC (no verification asked) and all transactions went through. I just did one transaction/day. Perhaps it's just random glitches you're experiencing?

Anyway, wish you luck!

Would you mind posting how much in Euro was each successful transaction?

greg:

1st Class, Thalys, Smoove, 3 people €135 total

1st Class, Thalys, Smoove, 3 people €177 total

2nd Class, SNCF, Prem, 4 people €100 total

Well... sesms that I'm not the only having these problems. Have tried tgv-europe.com,voyages-sncf.com and idtvg.com and have been rejected on them all. Got lucky on Thalys.com I guess and was able to book yesterday.

Btw, no response from customer service yet. I sent them an email like 2 hours ago.

JoyC,
It looks like you did not retry the €210 for 3 people transaction?
So your €177 for three people was successful, but my €158 for 2 people was not. hmm.. puzzling, I wonder it has something to do with per person price. Your €210 for 3 ( €70 per person) and my €158 for 2 (€79 per person) orders got rejected while other lesser value per person transactions (€34, €45, €45, €59, €25) went through??? I hope others would post more details than just "I had/didn't have problems" to see if this is a random financial glitch or a systematic behavior.

greg:

I hope you are not confusing me with JudyC??

I don't have a transaction for €210. All my transactions went through and were successful.

FYI, I tried to book again in French today, still got rejected.

I compared the fares between voyages-sncf and Rail Europe from San Sebastian, Spain to Paris, stopping for two nights along the way, and found RE to be a better deal. I ordered the tickets Sunday and I had no problem with my Cap One card. The reservations are included and the tickets are scheduled to be delivered tomorrow, Weds. It was very easy and the tickets were in dollars. They would have cost more from voyages with the exchange rate.

I have been trying using Multiple cards (Bank of America issued) and all of them got declined from scnf-voyages..Not sure if there is a sure-shot way of getting the tickets online..

I was trying to book 6 tickets from Paris - Basel on TGV Lyria for Oct1..

Rohit_Kumar - You might be exceeding SNCF's limits for online purchases with foreign credit cards. I emailed them after I had difficulty, and in their response they said that purchases were limited to one in 24 hours, with a total of €300 per week (€150 per day).

Here's a link to another thread where I posted the excerpt from their email:

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/tgv-tickets-sncf-policy-for-online-purchase-with-foreign-credit-cards.cfm

So it is the amount of purchase with a foreign credit card dependent after all. How did JoyC succeed in purchasing €177 SMOOVE tickets? I wonder if JoyC used a credit card not deemed "foreign?" With this type of restriction, is the strategy to sit together is to split the group into less than €150 purchases and try best to find a group of seats close to each other? Sometimes this means a group of two need to be split into two different purchases?

These limits certainly do pose challenges for people traveling together. My purchase was small (€32), and it still didn't go through. SNCF offered no explanation for that. I wonder if you could split the order and use different credit cards to avoid the issue of being over the limit.

Number one thing to do is to call credit card company which may have put a temp block on card because of an odd looking transaction. This can be random, so previous success will not mean subsequent transactions go smoothly. If that is the issue a call will resolve it!

I tried booking two one-way TGV PREM tickets on voyages-scnf.com yesterday. Made the reservation in French and was also denied the reservation after putting in the credit card info. Sent an email inquiry to scnf, then later in the day received a message from my credit card company (Chase Hyatt card) that they were questioning the activity. I called Chase back today to authorize the purchase and they unblocked the transaction. I waited until it had been 24 hours since my last attempt on voyages-scnf, as I had read that suggestion here. This time, again in French, purchase went through without a snag.

By the way, I compared the prices on Rail Europe, tgv-europe and voyages-scnf. Rail Europe was $294, tgv-europe and voyages-sncf were both $160 (one way Paris to Nice).

I had same the issue, multiple rejects on different rail booking websites and with different credit cards. I make dozens of transactions often in different countries and online every month with no problems.

I called one of the credit card issuers in Scotland, and they "unblocked" the transaction - they told me to wait 5 mins before trying and then it was fine.

I suspect their is a lot of fraud in buying train tickets so the credit card companies automatic system readily reject transactions.

Also bear in mind that some sites may reject a card that's been declined by a bank once, even if it is accepted the next time. This 'times out' after a day or two.

bookmarking

Related may be of interest -

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/idtgv-latest-credit-card-foibles.cfm

I spent a very frustrating morning trying to book two overnight train tickets from Paris to Berlin for April. The prices on bahn were SO much lower than Rail Europe. I tried using different credit cards (that had blocks removed) with no success. Finally I sumbitted a message through custome service and received this response:

"Due to construction works in France, many overnight trains are currently not bookable. I am afraid we have no information currently as to when the French Railways will give us access to the respective trains again, because they have issued no statements regarding this. Please try again at a later time or, alternatively, you can try to make the booking with SNCF directly."

SNCF just leads back to Rail Europe... I feel like this is a scam.

I am going through this horror right now:

Smallish purchases (80 E, 90 E) rejected for multiple cards on both sncf-voyages and tgv-europe, despite calls to CC companies.

Then 1 purchase went through.

Waited 24 hours to avoid exceeding the daily limit with 2nd purchase.

Next attempted purchase using that previously accepted card was rejected.

Wits' end.

My theory is some people are allowed purchases because they are grandfathered on SNCF or are purchasing using s Euro issued card. New customers have strict purchase constraints. Just my theory, not fact.

I have been going through this same nightmare.

Have never had this problem before and did purchase tickets on the same credit card just this spring.

I have been trying to use my Capital One Mastercard. I am in the US, using the SNCF french site. Checked with credit card company twice and they say everything should be fine and they could not see that there had even been an attempt made to charge anything.

Waited the obligatory 24 hours each time(3)and declined each time.

So after being declined for the third time,I decided to give it a try and use my American Express even though I'd have to pay a foreign transaction fee. It worked like a charm. Tickets paid for and printed.

Any ideas--Man_in_seat_61?

Similar thing happened to us the other week. I tried booking TGV tickets from Paris to Besancon with my Cap One card. It was denied. I then tried with my AmEx card. It was declined. I then asked my wife to try it on her computer with her AmEx card. Went right through. Maybe something with cookies?

Is a puzzlement ---

Probably bears repeating that the easiest purchase after a month of frustrating CC denials was to download the SNCF app on my ipad. Very slick, worked like magic. Just need a FRENCH phone number (hotel, apartment, rental company, doesnt't really matter, just has to be 9 digits). Good luck.

NOTE from tgv-europe website:

3D Secure (also known as "Verified by Visa" or "MasterCard SecureCode") is an authenticated payment system that offers added security for your online purchases. During payment, your bank checks the card holder's identity before validating the transaction.

This service is free of charge for payments by Visacard and Mastercard.

The authentication process
Stage 1: book your e-ticket in the usual way and enter your bank details

Stage 2: confirm your identity

Connect to your bank's website and confirm your identity.
After validating your bank details you are transferred to your bank's website.
A 3D Secure window appears and you are asked to follow an authentication procedure which differs for each bank. You may be asked to:

•enter your date of birth,
•enter a code you have received by SMS,
•answer a secret question, etc.

Stage 3: complete and validate your order

After confirmation from your bank, your payment is validated and your transaction completed.
You will receive your booking confirmation by email.

Your transaction will be cancelled after 3 failed authentication attempts. Your card will be blocked after 3 cancelled transactions. If this happens, contact your bank.

Please direct any questions about 3D Secure (obtaining a code, lost code, changing your code, etc.) or the authentication process to your bank.

Heaven know what they mean about contacting your bank via website. Certainly no new window opened on my screen. And my banking institution does NOT verify CC purchases -- Mastercard does.

All a great mystery. After using all our CCs several times, I guess we are blocked forever!

I've emailed TGV Europe. We'll see what they say.

SNCF Voyages replied It's likely a problem in communicating with your bank, so call your bank OR... use Rail Europe.

Yeah, not gonna happen. I'd walk Paris-Nimes first.

BTW, I found the following elsewhere on the TGV Europe site. It implies that THEY not YOU are in contact with "your bank":

Payment refusal

As soon as you have entered your card details (16-digit number without spaces, expiry date and security code on the back) the SNCF payment site passes these details to the bank authorisation centre for payment authorisation.

As a security precaution, if you enter the incorrect details your bank card will be blocked for 24 hours.

AMEX cards: the TGV-europe site permits a maximum of 2 on-line payments per day

Cindyjo: Probably too late for us now, as we may be blocked forever under the "3 strikes" rule. But good for others to know.

Tedgale:From what I have heard from French friends most french credit cards are connected to your bank and you must have the money to cover the charge. They are more like our debit cards so maybe that is why they keep referring the customer to the bank.

Also, if the 3 strikes rule is in effect then I'm out with my Capital One card. I called again and they say there has been no attempt to charge my card from SNCF.

Cindyjo; sounds like you have a solution, but unfortunately I don't have an iPad or a smartphone.

Also, no authentication box popped up. I just think they have a definite glitch in their system.

We'll probably never know!

Tedgale: Were you ever successful in purchasing your tickets?

In the US, banks are always the ones to administer various credit cards, as far as I know. It isn't necessarily "your" bank in the sense that it is the place you have your checking account, etc., different banks just are hired to managed varous credit card products by other entities. For example, my AAA Visa is managed by Bank of America. Several banks do have their own major brands (Capitol one and Discover), and of course, you can get a Bank of American Visa directly, but they also administer the cards for others. All branded credit cards are really managed by some bank, you just may not even know which one it is (although the name usually pops up in various documents you get, or the fine print of where you are mailing payments or calling).

So I presume the SNCF website would be referring to the bank that administered the credit card used when they talk about "your" bank.

In any case, I've used an American Capitol One Mastercard to buy SNCF tickets very recently and had no problem and no box where I had to "verify" anything popped up with my bank or anything about 3D secure. I know I read something like that was going to happen, but I figured I'd just wait and see, and it never did. SO I just presumed the talk was about normal CC transaction verification, that's all, just like any store does which you barely notice.

Bloody amazing that these problems should persist with simple rail bookings when we can book our international airfares, and arrange to sleep, use the toilet, and shower at properties at either end of those rail routes on the other side of the world, without any dramas at all.

Laidback: about 5 days ago we got lucky and were able to buy tickets Nimes to Barcelona.

For the Paris to Nimes trip, we have had ZERO luck

Same problem. Tried to pay for 30€ PREM tickets for two from Paris to Dijon, booked about 90 days in advance through www.voyages-sncf.com . Tried Capital One CC (declined), United Visa (declined), American Express (which opens a browser pane asking for address information including street, city, and postal code but NOT country - declined), and finally Merrill Lynch Visa (declined). Capital One immediately generated a fraud alert which I called to explain. Customer service rep stayed on the line as I tried again with Capital One, and again was declined. Capital One said they were not declining the charge, so there was probably an issue with the SNCF processing system.

So I remembered visiting this forum several months ago, came back to it, read through all the posts, and in the process my SNCF reservation timed out (10 minute limit). So on a hunch I re-booked and again tried my Capital One card. And SUCCESS! Maybe it took a few minutes from my call to Capital One for the change they made to my account to take hold?

Stay tuned as I'll be booking our return PREM to Paris in a couple of days.

Just a few days ago I booked tickets from Lyon to Paris on the SCNF french website. Our trip is in April. Had no problem with my American Express. My time was worth the transaction fee to get it done on the first try. It looks like there is still a glitch somewhere since took Rumseydog five tries.

I've had the the same issue for the past several weeks, after purchasing tickets for years online. Today, my Mastercard would not work again, but American Express did. Mastercard told me that the error they were getting was that incorrect information was being submitted -- very strange!!

One further possible solution (haven't searched above to see if it's already been mentioned)

www.capitainetrain.com

It's a private website which links directly to the French Railways (SNCF's) ticketing system to sell SNCF tickets in competition with SNCF's own websites. They were allowed to do this after SNCF lost a court case about anti-competitive behaviour. They are the David to SNCF's Goliath.

You can use www.capitainetrain.com to buy train tickets from or within France wherever you live in the world, as long as you get a print-at-home or collect-at-station option, which you usually do for most journeys starting in France

Exactly the same trains, at exactly the same cheap prices as tgv-europe.com or voyages-sncf.com, and no extra fees to pay.

No Machiavellian redirects, no games with IP addresses, and so far no credit card problems reported...

The only drawbacks? It's in French. But simply use the Google Chrome browser with its automatic translation. It also can't sell some international sleeper trains. So far, one US user reports success!

Great info! Thank you very much for posting!

I have to purchase tickets CDG TGV to Avignon, and then Brive-la-Gaillarde to Brussels in a couple of weeks and was dreading the process,but this looks promising! I don't speak any French and am on a Mac so I don't think I can/want to use Google Chrome, but I can probably figure out the words with Google Translate.


Man in Seat 61, you mention it should work in the US:

<<as long as you get a print-at-home or collect-at-station option, which you usually do for most journeys starting in France>>

but how will I know before paying if I am getting that option - do you know when it appears?? Think you might do a step by step translation on your site (which I love by the way and have referred to many times)? hint hint

It worked for me!

Super, super easy.

I had sent an email with a few questions to Capitaine Train before the purchase and got a prompt response from Jonathan, who was very kind and helpful.

I did call my cc card bank, Chase, to let them know I was making the purchase and they also put me through to Visa so they would know as well. A verified by Visa window popped up but I didn't have to do anything with it, it just automatically authorized.

Capitaine Traine emailed my tickets straight to me. Done and done!

I tried to buy tickets last night on tgv-europe.com. I tried 3 different credit cards, and all 3 were denied. Tried capitainetrain.com this morning, and I have my tickets. Man in Seat 61--thanks very much for the information!!

I'll have to remember that if I have trouble again (although I never did after I notified my credit card -- to the person who asked, I always notify them a day ahead, I wouldn't presume you can immediately buy one a few seconds after notifying the CC company -- often computer systems refresh at night, for example, but I would just assume it would take some time).

I don't really understand how SNCF could lose a court case about "anti competitive" behavior about selling its own tickets as it's a quasi-public utility as I understand it. But in any case, if capitainetrain sells SNCF tickets for the same price as SNCF with no markup or distribution fee (is there one?), then I don't really understand their business model. How do they make money?

Good to know about this alternate source for train tickets.
I'm also curious about how Capitaine Train makes money. Perhaps SNCF and other rail systems consider them travel agents and pay commission? In any event, if US and Canadian issued credit cards are accepted without problems, it will be very successful with ticket seekers on this side of the Atlantic.

I don't know the answer to your question, Christina, but I also had good luck with Capitainetrain. I posted about my experience on this thread a few days ago.

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/tgv-tickets-sncf-policy-for-online-purchase-with-foreign-credit-cards.cfm?54

AND I want to mention that when I went back to Captaine Traine for a second purchase 10 days after the first (right at the 90 day window for prems) I checked the SNCF site for pricing immediately before going over to CT website. The price on CT was much lower - 29 euro - vs SNCF. It was like 2/3 the price. I wondered if they still had access to a fare bucket that SNCF had already sold out of?? I apparently got the last two tickets at that price because, just for grins, I modeled a new purchase on CT after my tix were purchased and it was back up to the higher price showing on the SNCF site.

I was very happy with that price, 29 euro Marseille direct to Brussels, what a fantastic deal.

Thanks again Man in Seat 61!

Another benefit of Capitaine Train is that there does not appear to be the 24 hour wait for a re-try if your credit card is declined, as there is on sncf.com. Last night I tried to purchase a ticket for my son on sncf.com, using his credit card. (He had called his credit card provider the night before to tell them to expect the charge.) The charge was declined. I then tried Capitaine, and the charge was again denied.

In the meantime, my son's provider called him to ask him about the charge, and he okayed it. I tried sncf again, and the charge was denied. Tried Capitaine, and the charge went through.

I think Capitaine Train was a fantastic suggestion by the Man in Seat 61!

As I mentioned on the thread referenced above, I emailed the SNCF group service about buying tickets for 12 people Paris to Dijon on May 25. That was around Feb. 18, a week before those tickets would become available.

This past Monday, Mar. 11, I finally got the following response.

Dear Sir, Dear Madam,

We hereby acknowledge receipt of your E-mail indicating your interest to travel with SNCF. We regret to inform you that we are unable to follow up your request and that you need to contact the departure network of your country, which is either of the following:

- reb_booking@raileurope.eu if you live in Belgium, Holland or Luxembourg;

- REI_gruppi@raileurope.eu if you live in Italy;

- groups@raileurope.co.uk if you live in United Kingdom or in Irland;

- GroupTravelTeam@raileurope.com if you live un the United States, Canada or Mexico;

- REE_reservas@raileurope.eu

- groups@raileurope.fr if you live in another country.


For any other query, feel free to contact us:

- By telephone: 00 33 810 879 479

- By fax: 00 33 810 875 475

- By e-mail: acvgroupes@sncf.fr Best regards,

Your Travel advisor


Apparently the SNCF doesn't want us foreigners buying tickets on their website, at least not more than 6 at a time. Sheesh!

Thank goodness (and Man in Seat 61!) for Capitaine Train.

Ugh - I wish I didn't have to participate in this thread, but I've just wasted more than an hour of my life (not to mention my company's time!) trying to book Figueres - Paris TGV tickets, which have FINALLY opened up for sale for our travel date in late May.

Tried several credit cards on the voyages-sncf site and all were denied (there was no indication about "three strikes, you're out," although I'm not surprised.) And yes, I called my credit card company and they didn't even see a charge attempting to come through.

I tried the chat, and he sent me a link, which sent me to a form to fill out, to which I received a response by email sending me to the rail-europe site!!

I will try the Capitaine Train site later from home since it wants me to download another browser and I just can't do that on my work PC.

I'm so bummed. I had the nice "duo vis-a-vis" two-seater facing each other on the upper deck and everything. I'm guessing those won't last long.

Sigh.