grandmere

We're planning a 3-generation family trip to Languedoc in June, and although we're arriving in "waves", most of us are returning from Nimes to Paris on the same day. We'd all like to sit near each other on the train but the drop down choice for SNCF allows for maximum of 6. Anyone have any ideas as to how I can book these tickets?
Perhaps Capitainetrain?

Thank you for any info/advice about this.

StCirq

It's probably easiest to call Capitainetrain, but if you want to do it on the SNCF site, you go to the top of the home page, click on trains, the scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Groupes, then select your region of origin (Nîmes would be Est, Rhône-Alpes...), then you'll arrive at a page that gives you this information:

www.tgv.com/voyages-groupes
[email protected]
0810 879

grandmere

Thanks, St. Cirq; just clicked on that link, and see that SNCF considers a group to be 10 or more. Too bad my son is returning to USA a week ahead of the rest of us, leaving us one less than a group!

I will get in touch with Capitainetrain.

PalenQ

so you can't book 10 tickets in ten names and then say someone just did not show up?

Hez

We just book 2 reservations one after the other and pick seats near each other.

Betty1

Bonjour, Grand-mère

I had a similar situation last year but I needed 12 tickets. I contacted Jonathan at Capitaine Train by email and he was very helpful and prompt with his answers. Just click on the contact link on the website. He speaks good English if you prefer that.

My main concern was the restrictions that the SNCF puts on foreign credit cards - 150€ max per day or 300€ per week. No such restrictions at Capitaine Train. I don't know if that will be a problem for you but if it is, Capitaine Train is much easier.

But just tell Jonathan what you want and he'll sort it out for you.

BTW, I just recently ran into a problem with their (new?)3D secure / Verified by visa program. None of my cards would work. I emailed Jonathan and he deactivated that feature for me. Unfortunately while I was doing that the price of my ticket went up from 30€ to 45€, from one day to the next. So to those who say you don't have to be in such a hurry to buy tickets as soon as they become available, that was not my recent experience.

It looks like I will just miss you again! I'll be in the Nîmes area the week beginning May 25th, returning to Paris on the 31st and home on June 1. Darn!

MaineGG

If you book an iDTGV from Nîmes to Paris, you can choose your exact seats from a seat map like those used by airlines. They also permit booking up to 9 tickets in one transaction.

http://www.idtgv.com/en

grandmere

Thanks for all the replies; helpful info and links. I will use Capitainetrain or IDTGV; either way, on the first day the tix are available. In the past, I have done that at 6:00 PM EST, which is "the next day" in France.

PalQ, surely you were joking that I would pay for 10 tix for 9 people?

Betty, we keep missing each other in the south of France by just a short time. We are staying near Sommieres this time. I love Uzes but could not find a place there that ticked all the boxes for the 10 of us so we're trying a bit farther south this trip.

Betty1

That's a coincidence, grand-mère. I'm planning on renting a place about 7-8 miles west of Sommières. I have done a virtual visit of Sommières on Google Earth and it looks lovely. Looking forward to being there for real.

Do give Capitaine Train a try. I think you'll like it. They are so much more responsive than SNCF.

Wishing you a wonderful trip!

grandmere

Betty, the place we're renting is about 7k northwest of Sommieres!

We drove through Sommieres last fall, and it looked lovely; had no idea I'd be staying near there this coming summer! I really wish we could stay in the town, but places to house 10 people in small towns are hard to find. So, we're in the "suburbs" of a village that has no commerce.

Please make sure to write a TR when you return; I don't know a whole lot about that particular area of France although have spent time twice in Uzes. I'll be eager to hear of what you found especially interesting, etc. I really wanted to get to St. Guilhem-le-Desert last fall, but it didn't happen. It's way up on my list this trip.

A wonderful trip to you, too.

MaineGG

grandmere - You might want to use the SNCF alert system to notify you when sales open for your date of travel for both iDTGV and TGV trains. TGV tickets are sold three months in advance but iDTGV ticket sales open on one date for a range of dates, so sometimes they are available before TGV tickets for the same date.

http://www.voyages-sncf.com/services...te-reservation