Help! Need train tick Paris to Brussels Jan 9 - Thalys trans. not approved
 

Since I have such a short time period, I believe my only option to get tickets from Paris to Brussels is Thalys. However numerous attempts have been not approved. I have called credit card companies to make sure it goes through but that does not work.

Can anyone help me figure out how to get a ticket for Sunday Jan 9 from Paris to Brussels? If I need to buy it there how bad will it be? And can I only buy at the ticket counter?

I am a US citizen.

3 years ago I didn't buy at the price I was quoted online 2 weeks ahead for Paris to Amsterdam... I bought the tickets 2 days ahead when I got to Paris and paid the same high price. ;^(

So I don't think waiting until you get to Paris will cost you more than buying now (if the site would let you).

You can buy your tickets in Paris (or elsewhere in France) at an SNCF station or SNCF Boutique.
The latter is a ticket office not in a station...
there are several scattered around Paris:

http://www.communitywalk.com/sncf_bo...59822#00041Wb=

Right now online you can get a Thalys for 45 euro for the trains leaving around 9 and around 10 in the morning. There are at least a dozen trains that day, with most of them costing more like 75 euro. I saw some PREMs for 66, but 45 is the cheapest. You won't get that price buying at the ticket window.

Assuming you're using www.voyages-sncf.com, just fill out the first window that comes up with "aller simple," assuming it's a one-way trip, then fill in the stations - fill out the whole form and leave FRANCE as the country of residence at the bottom of the form. Or you can fill out CANADA. Then select your train and proceed to the checkout window.

Don't select English - it will take you to RailEurope, where you don't want to be. If it's really a matter of your credit card, which I doubt, I can't help.

Sorry... forgot to mention... you'll need to go to a counter at a station as US credit cards won't work in the ticket machines.

Thanks! The www.voyages-sncf.com will only give me the mail option that will not work with the short time frame. So my only option was to use the Thalys website. I am afraid if I wait I wont be able to get a reservation right away.

No, you're not stuck with the mail option at all. All those orange fares are PREMs fares, which you print out right from your computer. Just stay on the French language site and fill everything out and keep FRANCE as the country.

I dont read French... Any other options?

I don't read French either but have booked many tickets on that site. You simply put in your destination and date and proceed logically from there. I have, at times, had to open another window for a word translation but it is not impossible! I've also done the raileurope site first, noted the prompts in English and then moved to the French site.

I do read French and never have a problem (and have never had to fill out a country of residence on www.voyages-sncf.com). So this is not from first-hand experience, but I think I"ve read about some other folks who cannot read French who use www.tgv-europe.com (which does ask your country of residence) and they put in England so they get English, and then get the same prices as you would on www.voyages-sncf.com. That website does have some trips that are NOT TGV, so give it a look (not sure about Thalys though).

Otherwise, I really think you should just buy it on site instead of guessing about foreign languages. I've read posts from folks on here who don't know what they are doing and then buy something they regret because they buy in French but don't know French. This goes for insurance, also, don't buy insurance if you can't read the terms.

:( I did not get Print at home option...

If you are traveling alone, doing a one-way trip, you click on the following:

1. Aller simple (one way)
2. départ - fill in Paris
3. Arrivé - fill in Bruxelles
4. Aller le - fill in the date (9 january)
5. Nombre de passagers - fill in 1 if it's just you, whatever number if it's more
6. Voyageur - fill in your age range
7. Pick the class of seat - 1 (first) or 2 (second)

Click Continue

Choose your train

Pay for it. Click on Imprimer (print).

Use an online translator if you need to. They're pretty bad, but for just a few words like this, most of which are pretty intuitive to begin with, it should work fine.

The print option does not appear to be available, in
English (from www.tgv-europe.com) or French, for this trip on the desired date. Is Jan. 3 too close to departure? In either language it is possible to pay on-line and then present the print-out receipt at an SNCF station or boutique to obtain the actual ticket.

I just purchased tickets paris to amsterdam for February on the thalys.com website. I had trouble with my credit card being rejected. I called the card company 3 times and then gave up for the night. The next morning I switched to another computer and responded to the credit card alert that I received when my foreign charge was rejected. I followed the link on that and allowed the charge. Of course I had already done that 3 times previous over the phone with a CSR. I tried to purchase and it worked!! It also gave me the option of printing my own tickets. I got a confirmation and then about four hours later I got the actual tickets with bar code emailed to me. I have printed them and I am set to go. I was able to get the tickets for 35 euro each way. I am purchasing more than 30 days out. Good Luck. Try the Thalys site and let your credit card company know ahead of time that you will be using them.