Loco? Rail Europe? Did I buy a legitimate ticket.
 

Hello all.

Needed to get train tickets from Madrid To Seville in April, so set alerts ( clearly at multiple sites). About 3 weeks ago, got an email from Loco2 letting me know the tickets for my dates are now available. So I went ahead and bought them. Well, today, I get an email from RailEurope letting me know the tickets are available. When I put in the dates/times etc - the page is showing the same train number; however, the cost is about $200 more than what I paid through Loco2 (first class tickets). Wondering now what this means, and hope I got the right tickets.

Thanks for any thoughts,

D

What it means is that you should avoid Rail Europe, as has been said multiple times here.

Exactly. Your tickets are perfectly legitimate and purchased at a fair price, unlike the ones you might have bought from Rail Europe.

Rail Europe is a travel agency - not a rail road company. They rarely sell discount tickets and the tickets they do sell are marked up. Have to pay for their services some way.

Gosh! Thank you SO much for confirming. Looks like I saved $150 going directly with Loco2.

We used Loco2 for all our train tickets in 2015. Not a problem, plus they actually have customer service where they responded to a couple of my questions by email...quickly.

((H))

I prefer www.trainline.com, but Loco2 is great as well.

I usually book directly with the train company, but I gather some people have had difficulties with RENFE.

I've had trouble booking online through RENFE.

I am setting up alerts, too, to buy train tickets for travel to Spain in September. It is a bit confusing because there are so many sites to buy from or get information from. So, I have a few questions, or would like the experts to verify I am understanding everything correctly.

Man in Seat 61 is only an informational site, right? I can't buy tickets from this site.

Are loco2 and trainline the best places to buy train tickets? What about petrabax (sp?)

Rail Europe is the most expensive site to buy tickets from?

St.Cirq, why do you prefer www.trainline.com instead of Loco2?

What has everyone's experiences been regarding when booking opens for buying train tickets in Spain? Man in Seat 61 says it's usually 60 days, but then when I checked specifically for some of our cities, it gave different information. For example, loco2 says the booking for trains between Toledo and Cordoba (which I know requires changing trains in Madrid) opens 3 1/2 months in advance. Seems like a big difference.
Thanks!

Based on the price difference, I'm pretty sure that the tickets you bought on Loco2 are either for a different train class, or have different refund conditions than those you saw on Rail Europe. It's true that Rail Europe marks up their tickets, but not by the amount of the difference you've found.

I just checked the cost of tickets on Loco2 and Rail Europe for a trip between Madrid and Sevilla; for comparison I checked the cost on the Renfe site, which is the official Spanish rail site. The ticket cost for both Renfe and Loco2 was €40.75 per person, for a nonrefundable tourist class ticket. RailEurope sold the same ticket for $49. That's about a 10% markup, after considering the exchange rate (about 8% difference right now), and they probably will also make money on reservation fees and delivery fees. There are other classes and refund conditions available; a flexible Club class ticket was €127.20 on Renfe and Loco2, and $161 on Rail Europe.

Perhaps was a full-fare fully flexible ticket on RE vs a discounted and train-specific ticket non refundable non changeable - like comparing apples to oranges.

I trust bvlenci for knowing all about this and yes RE is more and more kind of matching tickets on national rail sites- still more expensive (though you pay no foreign transaction fee if your c c has one by buying in U S $ thru RE.)

And then other naively chime in about what a rip-off RE is- well it once was but now that take is outdated IME. Yet repeat it enough and folks naively repeat it.

And the least expensive fare (Madrid-Sevilla) on Petrabax.com in early April is $48, but that's for the AV City 02260 train that departs Atocha at 06h20. The tourist class ticket on the AVE 02080, departing at 08h00, is listed at $63.

But with Petrabax, as with Renfe, you can print you ticket instead of waiting to receive it in the mail.

Ah, PQ leaping to the defence of RE again. Never fails. I'm only surprised he isn't pushing a rail pass as well.

I always say to buy tickets directly from national rail sites but also to check RE because unlike the nonsense you spout:

<What it means is that you should avoid Rail Europe, as has been said multiple times here.>

they are not always more than national rail sites - often are but by a small bit recently as bvlenci - an expert in this - says.

I will defend RE when folks like you make such outrageous claims that are based on hearsay and not based in today's reality- and again you have to know you are comparing apples to apples not apples to oranges - OP said $100 more bvlenci found a modest surcharge from same sources.

It is not nonsense, and the difference in price is very train specific.

I looked at Madrid to Seville on Apr 12. Taking the 8:00 am train in Preferente you would save 8.17 USD buying from RENFE rather than RE, not counting any extra fees at RE. Taking the 10:00 train you would save 55.31 USD.

We don't know which train the OP was looking at, and in any case the price will have changed since then, but i see no reason to dismiss her figures.

I only say check all sources -what's wrong with that? Point is RE is not always outrageously more expensive -

Taking the 10:00 train you would save 55.31 USD.>

for the exact same ticket - fully flexible or restricted?

In your first example saving $ 8 with renfe.com - well if you figure 3% foreign exchange many cards have it's about a wash.

Again my point -don't dismiss RE out of hand but unless you find a lower price on RE -as I have in some fares at times - book thru the national rail site- from the source.

<What it means is that you should avoid Rail Europe, as has been said multiple times here.>

This is what I object to - don't avoid them but check em - renfe.com is hard to get to work for many - RE obviously not. But never buy blindly from RE or you could be paying a lot more - but not always as your first quote implied.

RE is largely owned by the French National Railways -SNCF with Swiss Railways a minority stakeholder- they recently have been tapping into national rail sites for their fares -it is not complete but things are changing so don't repeat nonsense like "avoid RE'.

One thing you do have to take into consideration with RE are handling/mailing fees though those too are less and less since you can print many of their tickets yourself.

Nuff said -I could care less about RE but do care about correct current info being presented.

As for railpasses I only mention them when they are a viable thing for train travel plans and requirements of travelers -fully flexible, etc - and I do that because no one else does -with the again foolish mantra 'railpasses are always a rip-off' - well again for many who buy them blindly they may be but someone who is taking several longer trains and especially if they want flexibility a pass can be an option. Cheapest may not always be best for what one wants.

I believe in presenting options not 'pushing anything' or saying this is what you should do. More options the better.

<<St.Cirq, why do you prefer www.trainline.com instead of Loco2?>>

Because I have an account with them (and they recognize me the moment I log on to their site), get discounts, and find it easier to pay them online. That's all. I don't think there's a noticeable difference between the two.

PQ - can you site cases where RE, including fees, is ***CHEAPER*** than other sites? Because if it is never cheaper, why would I ever bother to check it?

I have travel cards with no conversion fees, so I never have to consider them. I have a travel card with chip + signature/PIN, which may be why I do not have problems with RENFE. I did, however, note that LOCO2 has a 2.5% fee for using a credit card.

I think loco2 is great. Much easier for us Aussies to use rather than RENFE. The alert allowed me to get tickets from Paris to Barcelona for 59 euro. These prices were not available on the RENFE site at the time I got the alert as I was checking the two sites at the same time.