sncf website - help!
Jun 17th, 2005, 07:02 PM
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sncf website - help!
hi guys,
sorry it's me again - travel - i think noone was replying to my other post, i posted a bit late to all your replies. anyway so my question is , is it okay to book 3 mos in advance frm paris -amsterdam?
Sometimes during the day when i try to book on sncf it says can't book more than 60 days in advance, then at other times it lets me select my train timings...i'm waiting because im not getting the train timing i want. 2 nights ago i almost booked the perfect timings etc and i stopped right before confirm to read the T&C's and when i went back to book, it said timed out, so i tried to rebook and the timings were gone and my email said that i had a reservation(did not get to the part where i had to enter CC) and shld pick up my tickets on the 24th of June(my train is for September only).!!!! So obviously it will cancel itself by the 24rth if I don't pick it up - i tried to manual cancel but it didn't work. so now im worried - shld i still book it 3 mos ahead if it lets me and pick the option to pick up tickets at sncf or train station in france in sept? and it's okay im in US? the T&C's appendix of countries doesn't even seem to list USA.
Thanks!
sorry it's me again - travel - i think noone was replying to my other post, i posted a bit late to all your replies. anyway so my question is , is it okay to book 3 mos in advance frm paris -amsterdam?
Sometimes during the day when i try to book on sncf it says can't book more than 60 days in advance, then at other times it lets me select my train timings...i'm waiting because im not getting the train timing i want. 2 nights ago i almost booked the perfect timings etc and i stopped right before confirm to read the T&C's and when i went back to book, it said timed out, so i tried to rebook and the timings were gone and my email said that i had a reservation(did not get to the part where i had to enter CC) and shld pick up my tickets on the 24th of June(my train is for September only).!!!! So obviously it will cancel itself by the 24rth if I don't pick it up - i tried to manual cancel but it didn't work. so now im worried - shld i still book it 3 mos ahead if it lets me and pick the option to pick up tickets at sncf or train station in france in sept? and it's okay im in US? the T&C's appendix of countries doesn't even seem to list USA.
Thanks!
Jun 17th, 2005, 07:13 PM
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I'm not sure I can help you as it's not clear to me what happened here.
I have never been able to book a reservation on sncf.com more than 60 days in advance, so I've just never seen that. I thought that was a basic feature. I do seem to recall someone on Fodors saying they had been able to book farther ahead than that for some special fare only (iDTVs or something like that?). I'm not sure, maybe it would only show the schedule sometimes more than 60 days.
However, I do know that if you do not prepay, but only "reserve", you have a very limited time to pick up the tickets before they are cancellend. That appears to be what you did -- you reserved but didn't prepay. It sounds like you did reserve, even if you weren't aware, or you wouldn't have gotten that email.
If you can't cancel those, I would just let them expire, I think that would be okay. That is what happens, and you didn't enter in your credit card, after all.
They don't list the US (or any North American point, as far as I know) because they will not mail them to North America. I know some people say they have done that and ended up getting them by mail, anyway, but it isn't standard, so I would not do it myself. There is no problem reserving and paying online, as long as you select France as the country and select pickup rather than mail delivery. I've done that several times, without any problem, and I live in the US.
As I said, I've never seen the ability to book 3 months ahead, so I can't really say if there is some problem with that, but if it lets you, I guess not. I don't see any reason to book that far in advance though. Maybe there are different rules on that for trains to foreign countries, as you are doing; I've just never tried to book those online.
I have never been able to book a reservation on sncf.com more than 60 days in advance, so I've just never seen that. I thought that was a basic feature. I do seem to recall someone on Fodors saying they had been able to book farther ahead than that for some special fare only (iDTVs or something like that?). I'm not sure, maybe it would only show the schedule sometimes more than 60 days.
However, I do know that if you do not prepay, but only "reserve", you have a very limited time to pick up the tickets before they are cancellend. That appears to be what you did -- you reserved but didn't prepay. It sounds like you did reserve, even if you weren't aware, or you wouldn't have gotten that email.
If you can't cancel those, I would just let them expire, I think that would be okay. That is what happens, and you didn't enter in your credit card, after all.
They don't list the US (or any North American point, as far as I know) because they will not mail them to North America. I know some people say they have done that and ended up getting them by mail, anyway, but it isn't standard, so I would not do it myself. There is no problem reserving and paying online, as long as you select France as the country and select pickup rather than mail delivery. I've done that several times, without any problem, and I live in the US.
As I said, I've never seen the ability to book 3 months ahead, so I can't really say if there is some problem with that, but if it lets you, I guess not. I don't see any reason to book that far in advance though. Maybe there are different rules on that for trains to foreign countries, as you are doing; I've just never tried to book those online.
Jun 18th, 2005, 12:06 AM
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you want to book early to take advtg of the smiley fares which are generally cheaper and those tickets get snapped up fast - or that's what I gathered so far. Anyway I'll just book them now and if I can great otherwise I will wait or inquire with Euro rail..
