French TGV reservations: what happens if you (your plane) is late?
Jun 11th, 2009, 01:07 PM
#21
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Just retired, it seems so complicated..
Usually I overnight in Paris and take the TGV to Avignon from Gare du Lyon..This is the first time that I go straight from the plane to the TGV.
I fly with American Airline..perhaps I should consider walking..?
Usually I overnight in Paris and take the TGV to Avignon from Gare du Lyon..This is the first time that I go straight from the plane to the TGV.
I fly with American Airline..perhaps I should consider walking..?
Jun 11th, 2009, 04:14 PM
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TimS, thanks for your help. I've started exploring some of these sites, which brought up a lot of questions. Perhaps you or someone else can answer them.
I <i>can</i> handle the French, so I went to "voyages-sncf.com". I had all kinds of problems until I completely closed and restarted my browser (for instance, I asked for scheduled trains from Paris to Avignon, and it told me there were none).
Once I got it working, I discovered the magic words. You can call CDG "Roissy".
I don't see the site asking me for my country of residence. As TimS noted, if I told it I wanted to pick up the tickets in the US, it automatically bumped me to the Rail Europe site. I told it I want to pick up the tickets in France.
Question 1: Is saying I want to pick up the tickets in France the right thing to do if I in fact want to pick up the tickets when I arrive at CDG?
Question 2: The site says I'll get a better price if I book a round trip, rather than booking the two legs separately. but my "going" leg is CDG - Montpellier, and my return is Avignon - CDG. There doesn't seem to be any way of setting that up. Is it simply NOT a "round trip" if the return is from a different station, even if the stations are not that far apart?
Question 3: I can get a better rate with a Senior card ("carte Senior"). I AM a Senior - I'm 67. How can I get a "carte Senior"?
Finally, this is one of two similar threads currently running on this subject. The other is "Wha'ts the best site for train schedules - France?" (sic):
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...les-france.cfm
And readers of this thread may be interested in "MorganB's French Rail SNCF Booking guide version 2", although it goes back to 2006:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-version-2.cfm
Thanks.
I <i>can</i> handle the French, so I went to "voyages-sncf.com". I had all kinds of problems until I completely closed and restarted my browser (for instance, I asked for scheduled trains from Paris to Avignon, and it told me there were none).
Once I got it working, I discovered the magic words. You can call CDG "Roissy".
I don't see the site asking me for my country of residence. As TimS noted, if I told it I wanted to pick up the tickets in the US, it automatically bumped me to the Rail Europe site. I told it I want to pick up the tickets in France.
Question 1: Is saying I want to pick up the tickets in France the right thing to do if I in fact want to pick up the tickets when I arrive at CDG?
Question 2: The site says I'll get a better price if I book a round trip, rather than booking the two legs separately. but my "going" leg is CDG - Montpellier, and my return is Avignon - CDG. There doesn't seem to be any way of setting that up. Is it simply NOT a "round trip" if the return is from a different station, even if the stations are not that far apart?
Question 3: I can get a better rate with a Senior card ("carte Senior"). I AM a Senior - I'm 67. How can I get a "carte Senior"?
Finally, this is one of two similar threads currently running on this subject. The other is "Wha'ts the best site for train schedules - France?" (sic):
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...les-france.cfm
And readers of this thread may be interested in "MorganB's French Rail SNCF Booking guide version 2", although it goes back to 2006:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-version-2.cfm
Thanks.
Jun 11th, 2009, 09:05 PM
#23
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For question #1:
Yes.
For question #2
Just book the legs separately.
For question #3:
It most likely wouldn't make sense to get the card on if all you are doing is Paris-Montpellier and. Avignon-CDG. The card costs 54.50€ and entitles you to 25 to 50% off. Just picking a random date in September I am seeing 22-35€ PREM fares. Thus you would be throwing away money by buying the card.
Yes.
For question #2
Just book the legs separately.
For question #3:
It most likely wouldn't make sense to get the card on if all you are doing is Paris-Montpellier and. Avignon-CDG. The card costs 54.50€ and entitles you to 25 to 50% off. Just picking a random date in September I am seeing 22-35€ PREM fares. Thus you would be throwing away money by buying the card.
Jun 12th, 2009, 01:10 AM
#24
Thank god that buying and/or exchanging tickets is a lot simpler than some of this thread makes it sound.
For people with train sectors booked on Air France tickets, I would like to add that there is no problem at all if you miss the train in this particular case. It is exactly the same as missing a flight connection, and Air France would put you on the next available train because they are responsible for you.
For people with train sectors booked on Air France tickets, I would like to add that there is no problem at all if you miss the train in this particular case. It is exactly the same as missing a flight connection, and Air France would put you on the next available train because they are responsible for you.
Jun 12th, 2009, 07:49 AM
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MrNuke, thanks for answering my questions!
But I don't see a fare as low as you found on my particular travel day. Where did you find it? On voyages-sncf.com, I searched for September 9 (our date of arrival), from Roissy to Montpellier after 7am. The cheapest fare is a TGV PREM for 90€ for two people, so 45€ each (I noted we were 60+).
Maybe I'm just too late on that particular day. The fare does note, <i>A saisir, dernières places disponibles !</i>. It's:
TGV 09804 2ième classe
07h25 - AEROPORT CDG 2 TGV
11h28 - 11h28> via MONTPELLIER
- Larry
But I don't see a fare as low as you found on my particular travel day. Where did you find it? On voyages-sncf.com, I searched for September 9 (our date of arrival), from Roissy to Montpellier after 7am. The cheapest fare is a TGV PREM for 90€ for two people, so 45€ each (I noted we were 60+).
Maybe I'm just too late on that particular day. The fare does note, <i>A saisir, dernières places disponibles !</i>. It's:
TGV 09804 2ième classe
07h25 - AEROPORT CDG 2 TGV
11h28 - 11h28> via MONTPELLIER
- Larry
Jun 12th, 2009, 07:58 AM
#26
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The simplest solution is to purchase an inexpensive travel insurance policy with $500 (the minimum) of trip cancellation insurance. Not only would this protect you financially in the event of a trip delay, you would also get medical coverage, emergency medical evacuation, baggage delay or loss insurance, etc.
Jun 12th, 2009, 08:10 AM
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Justretired,
That is the site to use. Like I said I just plugged in a random date in September without knowing your particular date of travel. I'm seeing the same thing you are on the 9th.
That being said, on the 9th, there are 22€ PREM fares leaving from Paris. When you factor in the cost of getting into Paris on the RER you would end up saving approximately $30 at the current exchange rate. You would need to decide if it is worth the time and extra effort getting from CDG to to save the money. If not, the 45€ is the best you are going to do on your given day from CDG and I would go ahead and book it and print the tickets.
That is the site to use. Like I said I just plugged in a random date in September without knowing your particular date of travel. I'm seeing the same thing you are on the 9th.
That being said, on the 9th, there are 22€ PREM fares leaving from Paris. When you factor in the cost of getting into Paris on the RER you would end up saving approximately $30 at the current exchange rate. You would need to decide if it is worth the time and extra effort getting from CDG to to save the money. If not, the 45€ is the best you are going to do on your given day from CDG and I would go ahead and book it and print the tickets.
Jun 12th, 2009, 09:29 AM
#28
It is true that the train fares out of Paris will always be much cheaper than the fares out of CDG. Depending on where you want to take a train, don't forget that you have direct Air France buses from CDG to Gare de Lyon and Gare Montparnasse and a direct RER to Gare du Nord with Gare de l'Est just a few blocks away.
Jun 12th, 2009, 06:46 PM
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Well, it said <i>à saisir</i>, so I seized it.
Thanks, everyone, for your help. I just purchased and printed my tickets from CDG to Montpellier on the voyages-sncf.com site. Thanks for the various alternative departure suggestions, but in the end, we decided that it's not worth going into Paris, and ultimately arriving at our destination quite a bit later, to save a bit of money.
The purchase was quite straightforward, although as noted earlier on this thread, that site is in French. I had none of the strange problems I had earlier on the site. I didn't ask for the English version, so I didn't get bumped to Rail Europe.
I bought the PREM tickets at 90 € for the pair. Our flight is scheduled to arrive at 7:35, and the train leaves at 9:25, giving us 1:50 to disembark, go through customs and immigration, and get to the train. That seems like ample time, unless there's a serious delay. The same flight yesterday and today arrived ten minutes early (the airline schedule allows 6:55 for the flight time Boston - Paris).
Since I was a bit concerned about the tickets being non-refundable if we missed the train, I was happy to see the web site offer me <i>l'assurance annulation</i>, for only 5.20 € for the two of us. The conditions include "<i>Retard dans le préacheminement vous faisant manquer votre départ</i>"; that is, if the delay of a previous leg causes you to miss the departure.
I'm not sure if everyone is offered this insurance on an otherwise non-reimbursable "PREM" ticket. The listing of our tickets had a green four-leaf-clover icon in front of each of them, and a note below said that the offer of the cancellation insurance was valid for trains marked with that icon. I have a vague recollection that this might be only available to riders 60+ years old (as we both are, and which I entered at an early point in the reservation process).
Once I had purchased the tickets, a link led me to a screen that allowed me to download the tickets in the form of PDF files, and I then printed them out. I actually printed them each twice, on a color printer (to get all the pretty pictures), and on a laser printer (because I think it better reproduces the 2-D barcode that they will have to read when I show up).
I might note that I entered the departure station as "Roissy", but on the tickets it is identified as "AEROPORT CDG 2 TGV". Kerouac, this is the sort of web page design sloppiness that makes it confusing for people not familiar with the system, while it's completely obvious to you that these are one and the same. On the web, site designers ought to be rigidly consistent in their terminology (not that this sort of inconsistency is at all rare on web pages).
We still have to make a return trip reservation, from Arles or Avignon back to CDG. We could have saved some money by choosing a round trip from CDG to either Arles or Avignon. However, I was willing to pay more to shorten my drive on our arrival day, when I am apt to be jet-lagged and very tired (I don't usually sleep on the flight, and I'm not sure I'll sleep any better on the train). We considered a flight from CDG to Montpellier, but that would have left us with a long layover in the airport, not the most comfortable place to hang out when you're tired. We figured that once on the train, we could more easily relax.
When I file my trip report in late September, you'll see how it all works out.
Thanks again, all, for your help.
Larry
Thanks, everyone, for your help. I just purchased and printed my tickets from CDG to Montpellier on the voyages-sncf.com site. Thanks for the various alternative departure suggestions, but in the end, we decided that it's not worth going into Paris, and ultimately arriving at our destination quite a bit later, to save a bit of money.
The purchase was quite straightforward, although as noted earlier on this thread, that site is in French. I had none of the strange problems I had earlier on the site. I didn't ask for the English version, so I didn't get bumped to Rail Europe.
I bought the PREM tickets at 90 € for the pair. Our flight is scheduled to arrive at 7:35, and the train leaves at 9:25, giving us 1:50 to disembark, go through customs and immigration, and get to the train. That seems like ample time, unless there's a serious delay. The same flight yesterday and today arrived ten minutes early (the airline schedule allows 6:55 for the flight time Boston - Paris).
Since I was a bit concerned about the tickets being non-refundable if we missed the train, I was happy to see the web site offer me <i>l'assurance annulation</i>, for only 5.20 € for the two of us. The conditions include "<i>Retard dans le préacheminement vous faisant manquer votre départ</i>"; that is, if the delay of a previous leg causes you to miss the departure.
I'm not sure if everyone is offered this insurance on an otherwise non-reimbursable "PREM" ticket. The listing of our tickets had a green four-leaf-clover icon in front of each of them, and a note below said that the offer of the cancellation insurance was valid for trains marked with that icon. I have a vague recollection that this might be only available to riders 60+ years old (as we both are, and which I entered at an early point in the reservation process).
Once I had purchased the tickets, a link led me to a screen that allowed me to download the tickets in the form of PDF files, and I then printed them out. I actually printed them each twice, on a color printer (to get all the pretty pictures), and on a laser printer (because I think it better reproduces the 2-D barcode that they will have to read when I show up).
I might note that I entered the departure station as "Roissy", but on the tickets it is identified as "AEROPORT CDG 2 TGV". Kerouac, this is the sort of web page design sloppiness that makes it confusing for people not familiar with the system, while it's completely obvious to you that these are one and the same. On the web, site designers ought to be rigidly consistent in their terminology (not that this sort of inconsistency is at all rare on web pages).
We still have to make a return trip reservation, from Arles or Avignon back to CDG. We could have saved some money by choosing a round trip from CDG to either Arles or Avignon. However, I was willing to pay more to shorten my drive on our arrival day, when I am apt to be jet-lagged and very tired (I don't usually sleep on the flight, and I'm not sure I'll sleep any better on the train). We considered a flight from CDG to Montpellier, but that would have left us with a long layover in the airport, not the most comfortable place to hang out when you're tired. We figured that once on the train, we could more easily relax.
When I file my trip report in late September, you'll see how it all works out.
Thanks again, all, for your help.
Larry
Jun 12th, 2009, 09:35 PM
#30
Actually, the inconsistency is in the users. Most French people call CDG "Roissy" while most English speaking users call it CDG Airport. The system just tries to figure out what people are typing and then fills in the correct name.
Jun 13th, 2009, 04:17 AM
#31
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Thanks, kerouac. It's always great to have you on the ground in France giving us a hand.
I confess I haven't explored all the SNCF sites fully, and I may be doing things wrong, and missing things. But my impression is still that these are not the easiest sites to use. As with any site, once you've used them a few times, it gets easier to do it again. But in fact I <i>had</i> already booked and printed tickets on this site, for a trip in 2007. Yet without having left myself extensive notes, I had trouble with it all over again.
For example: the logical URL for the French railroads is in fact simply sncf.fr, which is how I started. Annoyance one: it starts with a Flash presentation about carbon emissions, and you have to click "ACCEDER AU SITE" on the upper-right to skip it. You then get to an extremely busy page which caused JeremyinFrance to write, in another thread:
"The SNCF is awful! It looks like it was produced by some teenage flash designers on acid. They forgot the basic function of the website, to give customers the information they need. I agree with Bahn.de - a much better site."
That thread can be found at:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...les-france.cfm
The http://sncf.fr site was the page I got to first. It's one of the most visually busy pages I've ever seen. The designer disabled the status line at the bottom of the browser screen, so if you point to a link, you can't look below to see where it will go if you click it. A casual count shows 29 links, not counting all the drop-down and scrolling menus. The scrolling section at the bottom under "LES SERVICES SNCF" has to be scrolled by putting your mouse over one of the triangles, at which point the possible links start whipping by at their own speed - you can't easily click the list up or down one by one. You have to quickly move your mouse away when you see the link you want, and hope it hasn't already zipped off the other side.
In all this mess, way up in the upper-right corner is a box that says "Voyages-SNCF.com, Acheter un billet". Among the clutter, I didn't notice it. I didn't find it until I came back to this page later <i>knowing exactly what I was looking for!</i> It was one of these Fodor's threads, not the SNCF page, that directed me to the voyages-sncf.com site.
I speak French, but it is still quicker for me to visually scan a page that's in English, particularly on a busy page like this one. So the first time, I clicked the little British flag, and the site changed to English. Fine, except it turned out (the Fodor's people told me) that it's not the same! The "Voyages-SNCF.com, Acheter un billet" link changes to a link to "TGV-Europe, buy a ticket" (but only after you manage to get past the carbon emissions Flash presentation by clicking "ACCEDER AU SITE", still in French). They don't tell you that they've just handed you off to a private company that is going to charge you higher rates. There are other differences on the English page as well.
When I finally did get to the page voyages-SNCF.com, from my Fodor's friends, and not with any help from the SNCF.fr page, it was much better. But my problems were still not over. You note that the system is just helpfully trying to figure out what I'm typing, be it ROISSY or AEROPORT CDG 2 TGV. But of course, I don't know any of these magic words. You do, but I don't. So I thought to try "Paris", but I knew I wanted the airport, not the city. So I used "Paris CDG" in the "Départ" box, filled in the rest, and clicked "Rechercher".
Try it. It replies, "Nous avons plusieurs propositions pour la ville de départ que vous avez saisie. Nous vous invitons à consulter nos propositions grâce au bouton Aide." OK, so I clicked the "Aide" button. Among other things, it offered me:
PARIS (75)
AEROPORTS CDG (95)
AEROPORT CDG 1 (95)
AEROPORT CDG 2 RER (95)
AEROPORT CDG 2 TGV (95)
Now, sorry, it was not obvious to me what all these things meant. I selected "AEROPORTS CDG (95)", on the theory that this would use <i>any</i> of the stations at the airport (still seems reasonable). But I'm now coming to the conclusion that it must mean something else.
I now had the box filled in <i>with text they had given me</i>, so it had to work, right? I've tried this several times, and have gotten several different results, none of them good. On some occasions, I just came back to the same selection screen, with no error comment of any sort to indicate what had gone wrong. The last time, I got the crytic error, "Votre trajet retour n'est pas vendu sur le site car il nécessite au moins 3 changements", even though I asked for an "Aller simple" trip, with no return at all. I struggled with this for half an hour, before somehow figuring out the magic word "ROISSY" for the "Départ" box.
As someone who has written web pages myself, I know that there are ways of handling this that would have been much better.
Anyway, this note has taken much longer than I hoped, but I hope you get the idea. I'm smart, I'm pretty web savvy, I speak French, and it was <i>still</i> not at all easy for me.
Earlier in this thread, you wrote, "Thank god that buying and/or exchanging tickets is a lot simpler than some of this thread makes it sound." Easy for you to say. You've got a lot more background knowlege than we do.
Kerouac, I'm just trying to make my troubles clear. I'm not trying to be critical of you at all - I really <i>DO</i> appreciate all the help you've given us over the years.
Larry
I confess I haven't explored all the SNCF sites fully, and I may be doing things wrong, and missing things. But my impression is still that these are not the easiest sites to use. As with any site, once you've used them a few times, it gets easier to do it again. But in fact I <i>had</i> already booked and printed tickets on this site, for a trip in 2007. Yet without having left myself extensive notes, I had trouble with it all over again.
For example: the logical URL for the French railroads is in fact simply sncf.fr, which is how I started. Annoyance one: it starts with a Flash presentation about carbon emissions, and you have to click "ACCEDER AU SITE" on the upper-right to skip it. You then get to an extremely busy page which caused JeremyinFrance to write, in another thread:
"The SNCF is awful! It looks like it was produced by some teenage flash designers on acid. They forgot the basic function of the website, to give customers the information they need. I agree with Bahn.de - a much better site."
That thread can be found at:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...les-france.cfm
The http://sncf.fr site was the page I got to first. It's one of the most visually busy pages I've ever seen. The designer disabled the status line at the bottom of the browser screen, so if you point to a link, you can't look below to see where it will go if you click it. A casual count shows 29 links, not counting all the drop-down and scrolling menus. The scrolling section at the bottom under "LES SERVICES SNCF" has to be scrolled by putting your mouse over one of the triangles, at which point the possible links start whipping by at their own speed - you can't easily click the list up or down one by one. You have to quickly move your mouse away when you see the link you want, and hope it hasn't already zipped off the other side.
In all this mess, way up in the upper-right corner is a box that says "Voyages-SNCF.com, Acheter un billet". Among the clutter, I didn't notice it. I didn't find it until I came back to this page later <i>knowing exactly what I was looking for!</i> It was one of these Fodor's threads, not the SNCF page, that directed me to the voyages-sncf.com site.
I speak French, but it is still quicker for me to visually scan a page that's in English, particularly on a busy page like this one. So the first time, I clicked the little British flag, and the site changed to English. Fine, except it turned out (the Fodor's people told me) that it's not the same! The "Voyages-SNCF.com, Acheter un billet" link changes to a link to "TGV-Europe, buy a ticket" (but only after you manage to get past the carbon emissions Flash presentation by clicking "ACCEDER AU SITE", still in French). They don't tell you that they've just handed you off to a private company that is going to charge you higher rates. There are other differences on the English page as well.
When I finally did get to the page voyages-SNCF.com, from my Fodor's friends, and not with any help from the SNCF.fr page, it was much better. But my problems were still not over. You note that the system is just helpfully trying to figure out what I'm typing, be it ROISSY or AEROPORT CDG 2 TGV. But of course, I don't know any of these magic words. You do, but I don't. So I thought to try "Paris", but I knew I wanted the airport, not the city. So I used "Paris CDG" in the "Départ" box, filled in the rest, and clicked "Rechercher".
Try it. It replies, "Nous avons plusieurs propositions pour la ville de départ que vous avez saisie. Nous vous invitons à consulter nos propositions grâce au bouton Aide." OK, so I clicked the "Aide" button. Among other things, it offered me:
PARIS (75)
AEROPORTS CDG (95)
AEROPORT CDG 1 (95)
AEROPORT CDG 2 RER (95)
AEROPORT CDG 2 TGV (95)
Now, sorry, it was not obvious to me what all these things meant. I selected "AEROPORTS CDG (95)", on the theory that this would use <i>any</i> of the stations at the airport (still seems reasonable). But I'm now coming to the conclusion that it must mean something else.
I now had the box filled in <i>with text they had given me</i>, so it had to work, right? I've tried this several times, and have gotten several different results, none of them good. On some occasions, I just came back to the same selection screen, with no error comment of any sort to indicate what had gone wrong. The last time, I got the crytic error, "Votre trajet retour n'est pas vendu sur le site car il nécessite au moins 3 changements", even though I asked for an "Aller simple" trip, with no return at all. I struggled with this for half an hour, before somehow figuring out the magic word "ROISSY" for the "Départ" box.
As someone who has written web pages myself, I know that there are ways of handling this that would have been much better.
Anyway, this note has taken much longer than I hoped, but I hope you get the idea. I'm smart, I'm pretty web savvy, I speak French, and it was <i>still</i> not at all easy for me.
Earlier in this thread, you wrote, "Thank god that buying and/or exchanging tickets is a lot simpler than some of this thread makes it sound." Easy for you to say. You've got a lot more background knowlege than we do.
Kerouac, I'm just trying to make my troubles clear. I'm not trying to be critical of you at all - I really <i>DO</i> appreciate all the help you've given us over the years.
Larry
Jun 15th, 2009, 11:06 AM
#32
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Justretired, I agree with you entirely about the complexity of the SNCF site! I've used it a lot in the past, too - but always brace myself when I need it once more. I'm glad to hear about the insurance available for the PREM tickets. I love the get the PREM prices, but always worry that the plane will be late and I'll miss the train. Lucky for me, it hasn't happened yet. And it's so great to have the ticket already printed out.
I've successfully taken trains from Paris - getting to Gare de Lyon and Gare Montparnasse on the Air France Bus. My last trip, though, I needed to get to Gare St. Lazare (for Normandy trip) from CDG - so decided to do RER to Gare du Nord, then taxi to St. Lazare. The line at CDG for RER ticket was horrendous! After that, I decided I would spring for a taxi instead of going through that. Maybe that day was just a fluke, don't know. But I still made my train to Rouen, luckily.
I've successfully taken trains from Paris - getting to Gare de Lyon and Gare Montparnasse on the Air France Bus. My last trip, though, I needed to get to Gare St. Lazare (for Normandy trip) from CDG - so decided to do RER to Gare du Nord, then taxi to St. Lazare. The line at CDG for RER ticket was horrendous! After that, I decided I would spring for a taxi instead of going through that. Maybe that day was just a fluke, don't know. But I still made my train to Rouen, luckily.
Jun 15th, 2009, 05:44 PM
#33
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A friend will arrive at CDG on Thursday, July 2, and wants to then take a TGV to Nantes.
<b>Question: Is it important for her to get a ticket in advance, or can she count on being able to just buy a ticket when she arrives?</b>
If she buys a ticket in advance, I'll help her with any problems with the web site, having just used it myself.
Sue4, your experience makes me think that even seats would probably be available, she could hit long lines, and would be better off having a ticket in advance.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Larry
<b>Question: Is it important for her to get a ticket in advance, or can she count on being able to just buy a ticket when she arrives?</b>
If she buys a ticket in advance, I'll help her with any problems with the web site, having just used it myself.
Sue4, your experience makes me think that even seats would probably be available, she could hit long lines, and would be better off having a ticket in advance.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Larry
Jun 16th, 2009, 01:43 PM
#34
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I've never had any particular problem using the SNCF website, but I can read French. I just don't find it that difficult if you just read the instructions and click a few things.
As for the insurance, people shouldn't buy that if they can't read the conditions (or any insurance, for that matter). I could be remembering wrong, but I don't think it covers American residents, for example. It has nothing to do with age. There are also conditions you have to meet to collect on it. People really need to stop obsessing over trying to save every single euro on train tickets and expecting all kinds of great service and benefits when they buy discount tickets for practically nothing. The OP just blew hundreds of dollars for a single night in the Crillon and yet won't buy a regular train ticket.
As for the insurance, people shouldn't buy that if they can't read the conditions (or any insurance, for that matter). I could be remembering wrong, but I don't think it covers American residents, for example. It has nothing to do with age. There are also conditions you have to meet to collect on it. People really need to stop obsessing over trying to save every single euro on train tickets and expecting all kinds of great service and benefits when they buy discount tickets for practically nothing. The OP just blew hundreds of dollars for a single night in the Crillon and yet won't buy a regular train ticket.
Jun 17th, 2009, 04:25 AM
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Christina - I was just thinking how nice it was that I had yet to run into the kind of attitude that was common when I read these boards 7 years ago on my last trip to France. oh well.
Re-read my post, I never mentioned trying to get a discount ticket. I didn't even know they existed until I read this thread. I merely asked how to avoid buying another one if I miss the one I have reserved.
Re-read my post, I never mentioned trying to get a discount ticket. I didn't even know they existed until I read this thread. I merely asked how to avoid buying another one if I miss the one I have reserved.
Jun 17th, 2009, 06:13 AM
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justretired,
I just checked the SNCF site and found, as I expected, that there are no Prem's tickets left for 2 July. (Those are the only tickets you can print yourself.) So whether your friend books a ticket now or buys one at CDG, she will have to stand in line in either case to pick up the ticket.
However, if she books now, she can still get a Loisirs fare of €53.00 rather than having to pay the standard fare of €64.50. These fares are for departures from CDG 2 TGV at either 10:27 or 13:16. Fares might be different for departures from Gare Montparnasse in Paris.
I just checked the SNCF site and found, as I expected, that there are no Prem's tickets left for 2 July. (Those are the only tickets you can print yourself.) So whether your friend books a ticket now or buys one at CDG, she will have to stand in line in either case to pick up the ticket.
However, if she books now, she can still get a Loisirs fare of €53.00 rather than having to pay the standard fare of €64.50. These fares are for departures from CDG 2 TGV at either 10:27 or 13:16. Fares might be different for departures from Gare Montparnasse in Paris.
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