StuDudley

This is my first attempt at purchasing tickets on the RENFE site. I have purchased dozens of tickets on the French SNCF site.

I am from the US and I notified all the issuers of my credit cards to expect a transaction. We spend 2 months in Europe every year, so this is nothing new to us.

The RENFE is pretty simple & straightforward - compared to the SNCF site.

I entered all the info - name/Credit Card, etc and then clicked the final "buy".

The system cranked through a couple of screens, telling me:
- we are connecting to your bank
- a connect to my bank, including the bank logo
- another "nothing" screen
- a screen saying something like "don't do anything - we are connecting"
- an final screen saying "an error has occurred" with a G001 code, and also saying "the process cannot continue right now. We apologize for any inconvenience"

I tried this with my Capital One credit card about 3 times over 3 days. I also tried this with my BofA Debit card 3 days later. My wife (who worked at Visa for 20 years) called the Cap One people and they said that there was no transaction encountered - no acceptances or declines.

I am using Mozilla Firefox

Anyone have any ideas???

Stu Dudley

wanttogo

Stu,

I don't know whether this is info that you can use but here it is. If you are a senior citizen, you can purchase a senior card which entitles you to purchase train tickets at a discount. The card itself is sold for a nominal fee. We were
able to save as much with the card as we would have saved by
using the RENFE site in advance from home. In our case, we went to the RENFE office at the Madrid airport upon arrival, purchased the cards, pulled our schedule, told the ticket agent which train tickets we wanted and purchased them all at
once.The only awkward part was that we each had do the transaction so it took twice as long to purchase the tickets
than it would have if we had been allowed to have both our
cards registered on each individual purchase. I believe that
there are two RENFRE offices at the airport;I think we were
at Terminal One. Of course, there are other RENFE offices
all over Spain and I think that you can use a travel agency in
Spain to do all this, too. We are US citizens, were 64 and 67
at the time and qualified for the Senior Card. I believe that
we paid by credit card, also. I knew the price of each leg of
our trip by using the RENFRE site in advance of the trip.

PalenQ

People have been lodgin complaints here about Renfe.com for years and in recent weeks still - novice users renfe.com wants to make it so hard for some reason.

Man in Seat 61 said that RailEurope USA is actually using renfe.com now for many of their ticket prices, including discounted ones and adding just $7 per ticket on - could be worth it to escape all the legions of hassles folks for years have been reporting. Go to www.seat61.com and click on that site's commercial link to RailEurope USA (or Canada if Canuck) and buy thru the link then Man in Seat 61 gets a cut of price from RailEurope as commission - well anyway for what it's worth if you cannot get renfe.com to work - it will when folks who have used it tell you the intracacies of it all.

Robert2533

Stu, you should know by now that there have been and endless string of problems with Renfe since that switched from the old German booking system to their own, now more than two year ago. That's why we use other sources, including Petrabax.

StuDudley

I spend most of my time on the French "tag", so I encounter very few Spain subjects. I was not aware that RENFE had problems.

What "other sources" do people use - what's Petrabax?

Stu Dudley

greg

http://petrabax.com/renfe/ is a Renfe authorized agent in the US. After going thru similar frustrations for my spring trip to Spain, I ended up buying Renfe tickets from petrabax. They offer the same web deep discount as Renfe, but then tack on about 20% premium for accepting US CC in dollars. You should compare petrabax prices and raileurope prices. Petrabax tickets are print yourself and therefore do not require shipping charges. To get Raileurope prices, you need to go through the steps to see what other fees get tacked onto the ticket.

StuDudley

Thanks greg. We leave in 1 1/4 weeks and 20% seems steep - but I really don't want to wait in line at a train station to purchase tickets and I'm guessing that having the concierge at our hotel get the tickets at a perhaps "street" rate plus tip will be close to the 20% premium.

I'm barely a senior and my wife is 63 - is there a senior discount from petrabax?

Stu Dudley

goletian

I succeeded in purchasing the tickets I needed on the Renfe site but it certainly was an exercise in frustration. I spoke to two banks which handle my credit and debit (Master) cards here in the US and they were able to tell me that when I got the G001 error message their systems had not been accessed. If you don't mind trying over...and over....and over....eventually you will get through. A short cut is to create an account on the Renfe site; that will allow you to omit a page or two of the purchase process (passport number, address, etc). My browser is Mozilla Firefox. When I got the G001 rejection I simply pressed the "purchase" button and the desired travel dates, station, and times were remembered but the number of tickets was not. I still needed to do the "search" and fill in the credit card number. I had put that number in the computer memory so all I needed to do was control-V paste. Then Firefox knew to fill in the remaining blanks when I entered the first character for each blank. Keep trying. It may take a day or two, but you can do it. It feels great to print out those tickets! Still, Renfe needs to get their act together.

greg

There is even a special Tripadvisor page on Renfe:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g1...ts.Online.html

ribeirasacra

some more advice on how to purchase tickets.
http://issuu.com/vallausa/docs/how-t...ickets-preview
If you get your hotel to purchase tickets not only will you miss out on web fares you will pay them commission too.
Leaving it too late may also mean all the web fares have gone as they are limited.

PalenQ

If RailEurope USA uses renfe.com fares and only adds $7 to each, according to Man in Seat 61 post a bit back, why use Petrabax at 20% more? Or is Man in Seat 61 wrong about that?

StuDudley

I give up on RENFE - tried 3 times this morning and same results - nothing. Lots of other quirks when "signing up" and entering data. I thought SNCF was bad - but at least it worked most of the time.

I leave in 1 week, and I assume Raileurope tickets will not arrive in time if mailed. Can you print a ticket on-line using Raileurope???

I'll try Petrabax.

My itinerary is
Madrid to Toledo
Toledo to Madrid to Salamanca

for 2, RT to Toledo is only about 38E
Salamanca is 45E - so no big cost involved.

Stu Dudley

PalenQ

I leave in 1 week, and I assume Raileurope tickets will not arrive in time if mailed. Can you print a ticket on-line using Raileurope???>

try calling Byron at www.budgeteuropetravel.com and ask if it is an e ticket or has to be mailed - mailing costs can be signifiicant and not sure if RailEurope matches every renfe.com fare but that is what I recall Man in Seat 61 saying but with some exceptions or glitzes.

You can always buy those tickets you outlined on site - always IME - Madrid to Toledo goes so so frequently and Salamanca also has great service from Madrid.

If getting a lower cost is not the goal why pre-book at all - tickets never sell out on those lines or would be rare. buy all your tickets once you land in Madrid at the airport train station or rail desk perhaps.

Robert2533

You can't get the senior discount online through any source, not even Renfe. To obtain the senior discount, you have to buy the Tarjeta Dorada (€5/each) at the station and purchase your tickets at a station or through a local Spanish Travel Agent. The senior discount is typically 40%, but varies depending on the day and route.

PalenQ

All the more reason just to wait until there to buy tickets.

skatedancer

the desk at my hotel told me that Renfe only takes Spanish credit cards. I bought my ticket to Toledo at Atocha -- no lines, but the first train I wanted was sold out, and so got the next one and bought my return at the same time.

I had zero lines or problems getting tickets today at Chamartin for Segovia from Madrid.

skatedancer

Meant to say: only takes Spanish credit cards online.

StuDudley

Thanks for all the suggestions. My "desires" are:

- spend as little time at the airport as possible. After 18 hours of travel we want to "get going" and not have to look for a place that sells tickets & then purchase them.

- Not wait in a long line at either the Madrid airport or Madrid train station.

Our first train trip is 4 days after we check into the hotel in Madrid. The train station is less than 20 mins from our hotel. If we get to the train station very early in the morning (8:30) the day after we arrive, will there likely be long lines?

How difficult is it to find the ticket booth at the Madrid airport and what kind of lines can we expect at noon on Monday 9/24? We speak English & French - but despite spending my entire life in California - I can't read or speak Spanish.

During my online RENFE adventures, it seems like there are lots of seats available on the trains we want to take. Our Salamanca trip is on a Sunday morning at 11:14.

Thanks all

Stu Dudley

Robert2533

"the desk at my hotel told me that Renfe only takes Spanish credit cards" The information your hotel gave you was incorrect! Did you use a credit card to purchase the Madrid-Toledo tickets, or cash?

chapla

I followed Maribels guide to buying my tickets and no problem.
For your trips to Toledo and Salamanca I always prefer to go by bus which leaves you in town. The train stations will involve a bus or taxi into town!