okay, I bought a trip on RENFE from Barcelona to Perpignan which consists of two trains, there is a change in Figueres. I had no problem buying the ticket using my Capital One Mastercard, by the way, for those interested. And as another tip, I couldn't print the tickets when purchasing (I suspect maybe my Chrome browser blocked the popup, not sure), and when I went into RENFE with my locator number, it claimed it had no record of the purchase. My credit card was charged, though.

My tip is I waited a couple days until the charge was marked as having gone through on my credit card, not just "pending", then RENFE recognized my ticket locator number so I could retrieve the tickets, and print them. I thought all was fine, it printed my entire itinerary and had the fees correct, but I noticed that it only printed the train ticket from Barcelona to Figueres, there was no ticket for the next portion, and I tried just inputting that train info on RENFE. No dice. It is a PREM tarif according to the RENFE receipt.

Does anyone know if it is impossible to get RENFE to print the PREM ticket? If I had known, I would have bought them separately from RENFE and SNCF, but I wasn't even sure that was a French train or Spanish, and they were selling the ticket, after all. I think it was actually cheaper on the RENFE website than on SNCF, also, by about five euro. I have a seat assignment.

Does anyone know if I will I have to go to a train station to get that ticket printed out when I'm in Barcelona before my trip? I was hoping to avoid that for convenience, but I don't understand how they can be selling tickets they can't send to you to let you print, when they are printable tickets.

At least I bought it with no problem. I emailed RENFE but just got a canned response that didn't address my issues.

I always get an email from Renfe, with the tickets attached, when buying online. The last one was about 30 minutes ago. Chrome should not block the pop up, but like Safari, you may not be able to print. I've gone to using Firefox when buying downloadable tickets, but there is no need with Renfe, as long as they send that email with attachments.

You may have to end up going to the ticket office in Barcelona to have them recover your complete purchase. just make sure you have the credit card you bought the tickets with to show them.

hmm, the RENFE email had no attachments on it that I got, that is very strange, have you gotten PREMs from them? I just got an email titled "confirmation de venta Renfe" and the page listed the trains I had reserved and the price, and the locator number. No attachments at all. But I could print the first segment when I went to the Renfe website with the locator number, as I said.

I didn't realize it at the time, but found out later that Chrome has an automatic popup blocking feature. YOu can change it, but I think I had it on and didn't know it, and you don't get a real obvious message when it happens. I did click on the imprimir button but nothing happened (meaning the popup did not even show).

thanks for responding, I'm afraid I'll have to go to the train station to get the ticket and remember to take the credit card.

This was my email from Renfe:
<<Hola Christina ....

Su compra se ha realizado correctamente. Compruebe que los datos sean correctos.

Localizador: JNJX5J

Ida : Sábado 13-07-2013 Origen : BARCELONA-SANTS Destino : FIGUERES VILAFANT
then the times and seat numbers listed
AVANT 34053
9:05 9:58
Turista ....
Adulto Sólo Ida 20,20

Ida : Sábado 13-07-2013 Origen : FIGUERES VILAFANT Destino : PERPINAN
TGF 09702
10:20 10:44
Primera ...
Prem's 15,00

Importe Total del Viaje de Ida :35,20€
Importe Total de la Compra : 35,20 EUR
Le deseamos un feliz viaje.
Este email ha sido enviado automáticamente, por favor, no responda al mismo. Si lo desea puede ponerse, en contacto con [email protected]
---- Este documento es informativo y en ningún caso constituye su título de transporte ---->>

Did you check the very bottom of the email? That's where the attachment would be. But depending on your email program (AOL, Comcast, etc,) the service may strip the attachment from the email coming from Renfe. It happens. You should check with whatever service you have to check on how they handle attachments.

As far as I know, if the ticket is for the total amount of 35,20€, then that's all you'll need. Renfe will not send you a separate PREM ticket.

hi, thanks, yes, I checked, there was no attachment. I got it on gmail, so maybe they stripped it but I don't know why, they do allow attachments.

ANyway, I'm not clear on what you mean about not sending me a separate PREM ticket, the ticket printout I did get was clearly only for the first leg, it only says Barcelona-Figueres. SO I won't be able to use that for the second leg. They are two different trains.

Have you ever gotten a PREM from them? I just thought maybe they are not allowed to give out printable PREMs because those are another railroad. Although obviously they are going to have to give me one if I ask the ticket clerk in person as I have to board in Spain (at Figueres).

No, I've never purchased a PREM fare through Renfe, only through SNCF.

I just checked Renfe and something is strange. Your ticket is for Saturday, 13 July, but Renfe isn't showing a 9:05 am departure on any Saturday or Sunday in June, July or August, only the afternoon trains.

thanks a lot, sorry to bug you, but I know you know a lot about this.

I think 9:05 is the regular departure for a train from Barcelona to Figueres-Vilafant. And I just bought it through their website a few weeks ago, so I bought it from the ones they offered me.

I just checked Renfe right now, looking for trains from Barcelona to Figueres-Vilafant on that date (using horarios y precios), and it showed it to me. It actually shows 2 which I think are the same train: an AVE no.03053 and AVANT 34053. They arrive at 9:58. I do remember there were only 2nd class seats available on that train when I bought it, though. Maybe it's sold out so you can't see it if you use the "comprar" button.

I just used the Comprar and it showed on there, also. Actually, it is funny that you can see the 1st class on the AVE listing but not on the AVANT listing.

Do you know if these are 2 different trains? I did buy the AVANT ticket, not the AVE.

ah, now I see the issue, if you put in Barcelona to Perpignan, it won't show trains for sale on that date. I can't search the Horarios as it doesn't list Perpignan in the drop-down list. You can see this ticket for sale on the SNCF website, though, with no problem (even starting in Barcelona).

Well, I sure hope I got my seat on the French train okay, they did sell it to me and I have the receipt to prove it. I even have a seat number assigned. Luckily, I'll be in Barcelona for several days before and can go to the train station, but I really wanted to not have to do that and to print it myself. Wish I had bought it on SNCF now.

The way Renfe does things can be madding, but from what I've been able to figure out, since it occurred when checking other routes we often use, the trains are the same. In this case they are referring to the train from Barcelona to Figueres as an AVANT, changing to an AVE when it moves beyond to Perpignan.

Zorte on! (Good luck!)

thank you for your help, I appreciate it, I sure hope I get my ticket okay.