weluvtravel

Must I buy my ticket from Paris to Bordeaux in advance or can I get my TGV reservation when I arrive in Paris 4-5 days prior to my trip to Bordeaux? We arrive in Paris on the 25th of May, 2009 and leave for Bordeaux on the 29th. Thanks.

geeper

Been having trouble finding into. Does anyone know if the 2nd class cars on TGV have electrical outlets at the seats? I know the 1st class cars do.

nancicita

bookmarking

thursdaysd

Thanks very much for the info here!

I successfully got English by changing FR to EN in the URL on the second page. Then I did test bookings for my five train trips to compare the prices with a railpass - either Senior first class or Individual second class - at the current exchange rate and date it was significantly cheaper to book point-to-point.

Then I went through booking all five trips (Nice to Grenoble, Grenoble to Dijon, Dijon to Strasbourg, Strasbourg to Nancy and Nancy to Paris) for April. Everything was fine until I tried to pay. Does SNCF have something against Visa??? I have a Capital One Visa I use for foreign transactions (no fee), but SNCF wouldn't take it. I even had Cap One on the phone, while I input my data and tried again, three times, and the transaction never went through!

I called SNCF, but after a while on hold I gave up and tried my Citi Mastercard, and the transaction went through smooth as silk, but cost me a 3% conversion fee. Snarl!

BTW, am I right in thinking I can pick up all five tickets when I get to Nice?

grandmere

My daughter is trying to get us tickets online for April 25, and the sncf site will not allow her to complete the transaction past a certain point. (She is fluent in French so the language is not the problem). However, she is using a Mac with Safari; could that be the issue? I decided to have her do this b/c I made a costly mistake a couple of years ago, and the SNCF is not forgiving.

Her daughter/my granddaughter, 6, will be with us, so we don't all have Prems (it was less expensive for a regular child's ticket) and know therefore that we can't print them here.

Merci!

grandmere

Ok, one problem seems to be solved; using a pc now instead of Mac.

However, they are now saying that we must have a secret code to pick up the tickets in Paris? What is that?

Thank you very much!

thursdaysd

I believe the "secret code" is the six alpha digit reference number. It should be on the confirmation order page and the confirmation email. Don't forget to take the credit card you used to pay for the tickets as well.

grandmere

Thanks so much, Thursdaysd; that helps. And also for the reminder about the same credit card.

djkbooks

It has been reported many times that when booking online with a Capitol One and a vendor in a foreign country, you have to phone Capital One ahead of time or their security measures will prevent the transaction from being approved.

Their security measures must be very stringent. I booked a hotel room in Las Vegas with a Capital One card, then booked again for a few additional nights and received "invalid credit card" which I know was not due to my credit limit. When I used an alternate card, it went through just fine. I didn't bother to call Capital One, but I'm guessing some security measure was in place, because I used it an hour or two later to purchase show tickets.

thursdaysd

"It has been reported many times that when booking online with a Capitol One and a vendor in a foreign country, you have to phone Capital One ahead of time or their security measures will prevent the transaction from being approved."

If you had read my post carefully, you would have seen that I had Capital One <b>on the phone</b> while I tried to put the SNCF transaction through. I had already told the automated line I was in France for three weeks while I put my hotel reservations through - all successfully. So the problem was with SNCF, NOT Cap One.

csankar69

Hi,

I am planning on taking the Artesia train from Rome to Paris on May 3rd. What's the cheapest way to book the ticket while here in the USA (the EuroRail.com rates are pretty high)? How can I either get the tickets mailed to my address in USA or have it to be picked up at the station in Rome (or Venice/Florence/Pisa)? Also do these prices vary much (i.e., can I get there and buy the tickets or are they likely to go up as the travel date nears)?

Thanks.

JeanneB

My biggest problem using the SNCF site is the "station" names. Reading this, I've learned to put in "Roissy" if I want to depart from CDG.

But is there a list somewhere of all the stations and their proper names?

MsTriste

A little bit of my experience travelling through Holland and France:
1. The 2nd class TGV trains DO have electrical outlets.
2. US credit cards can cause problems when booking online. With Thalys, NS (Netherlands) and SNCF, you must pick your ticket up at the counter. The machines do not accept US credit cards. Beware, as I ran to catch a train after waiting 55 minutes in line at Gare du Nord just to pick up a ticket I'd already paid for.
3. The SNCF and Thalys websites all suck if you only speak English. Grr.