French train senior discount
 

It appears I qualify for the senior discount on SCNF. But, the site mentions a "carte senior." Would my U.S. driver's license work or is this senior card something issued to residents? It's 50% off so worth investigating.

Beth: Since your a American citizen you do not qualify for the discount. I am afraid only French citizen are issued the cards.

I got 25% off of the price of a rail ticket in France because I am over 65. I presume it was all legit because I sure as heck don't speak French. All I did was show my passport to establish my age. <BR><BR>In Austria you can get a discount rail travel card if you have a picture with you that you can attach to the application. A temporary senior card is granted on the spot and a plastic ID card comes later. It is available to all men over 64, regardless of passport.<BR>I am not sure how old a woman needs to be to get her card, My wife got one too, but she was already 65.<BR>

Jerry is right. In some cases all EU citizens may qualify for a senior discounts but no you and me Beth since we are citizens of the U.S.

I wonder if Amtrak gives senior discounts to EU citizens???

Hi, Beth! *Any* senior (not just EU) over 60 gets a 25% discount on tickets; we have gotten it several times just by showing a passport. This fare is called "Decouverte Senior." You have to choose this fare by clicking on it once the schedule comes up because Carte Senior will come up (it's under and to the left).<BR><BR>The Carte Senior is a special discount card that you buy (for 45 euros) which allows the 50% discount. Unless you plan to travel a lot, the cost of the card would offset any discount.<BR><BR>Another thing you might want to consider is that if there are two of you traveling together round-trip, you get a 25% discount for both whether or not you are over 60. The fare is called "Decouverte a Deux". (It will come up automatically.)<BR><BR>Hope this helps. Let me know if you need more help.<BR><BR>Sue

that's interesting that Bob got a discount on one ticket -- the rules on the SNCF web site for this card don't say you have to be French or EU resident, just age 60+. However, they don't say you can get a discount on one ticket, that you have to buy that "carte senior" which costs 45 euro and is good for a year.<BR><BR>They have senior discounts on some metro passes also, which I'm surprised no one asks about, called an Emerald or Amethyst card (rather than Orange), but those very clearly require you to be a resident as you can only get them at the social services office of the mairie of the arrondisement you live in.<BR><BR>Now that pass is clearly a governmental service (they are also for war widows, disabled, etc.) but the SNCF thing isn't clear if it's a govt subsidy or just a train promotion or policy. Some places in the US give discounts just on age for marketing purposes, for example, and I am pretty sure SNCF gives children's ticket discounts regardless of residency; same for the museums, kids get in free even if non-EU. Well, Beth, it can't hurt to try, anyway.

well, that explains it! My post crossed Sue's so I didn't see it, and she is obviously the expert. Although my RATP info was interesting, n'est-ce pas? They don't describe that decouverte thing on their web site that I could see.

Right, Christina. I find the SNCF site very uninformative. You just have to know what to look for, so I put in a fake itinerary to see what came up. We have used the senior discount (25%) on trips we have taken that were not round-trip (therefore we could not use the Decouverte a Deux).

As always, I came to the right place. Thanks Sue and all others. We are looking for just a day trip, but any money saved can be spent elsewhere! Looking forward to the GTG on 4/23.