jbjayhawk

Hi Morgan! Great instructions, but I'm still having problems. I am on the Order page, step 3 which says "To complete your booking, please provide your personal information". According to your instructions, I should leave this blank (France is listed as the country). But when I hit confirm, the site instructs me to fill in the required address fields.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated. If anyone besides Morgan knows what's going on, feel free to chime in! Thanks!

lmernal

Thank you, MorganB! This should be quite an adventure.

Katerbug

I'm having the same issues as jbjayhawk. I selected 2 PREMS one-way travel Sept 28, 2006 9:40 am from Lyon Perrache to Paris Gare Lyon. Is it cuz I opted for cancellation insurance, and they'll only mail tickets w/ insurance? Sept is 3 months away; do you still suggest NOT having tickets mailed? thx

Katerbug

MorganB, etal: To heck with the cancel insurance; I got thru the ordering process just fine and printed out my confirmation! Actually it was quite easy, esp with your instructions! Thanks so much for your efforts, which were gallant BTW!

MorganB

Hi all, have been out of town. Sorry it took to long to answer.

Jbjayhawk: You do need to fill out a bit of info on the order page. The fields with the asterics by them must be filled out. Thats usually name and email.

Katerbug, Yes it was the insurance as it appears you figured out. Have a great trip!

teachntri

MorganB -

Thanks so much for your suggestions. If not for some major technical problems with the website and my computers over the past two days, I'm sure it would have been an easy task.

However, upon payment and receipt of confirmation, it appears as though the site allowed me to purchase double booked seats for both my wife and I for a trip back to Paris from Lourdes. I've never been to Europe, so this train stuff if new to me and I'm wondering if I just made a major blunder. Suggestions? Laughter at my newbie-to-the-system mistake?

Any and all suggestions would be most appreciated.

MorganB

Hi Teachntri.

Sorry to hear you had problems. It all depends on what fare you bought. If you got something like a discovery stay fare they are refundable before departure so you could get them reimboursed at the station. If its a printable fare then they are all non exchangable non refundable. Odds are you would need to call and discuss it with the SNCF in that case. Heres the phone number as dialed from the US: 011 33 8 92 35 35 39 (English line).

teachntri

MorganB -

Thanks for such a prompt response. Just to clarify - if the leg of the trip that says "Double Reservation" is listed as "Regular Fare: Exchangeable and Refundable," we should not have a problem changing the times/reservations or simply getting a refund when we arrive in France? You're setting a novice traveler's mind at ease with any and all advice! Thanks!

MorganB

Regular Fare is a full fare ticket so you are good. You can get it refunded easily. However I am confused... Where does it say "Double Reservation". I have never seen that before.

teachntri

When the confirmation of order screen came up at the end of the sale, it indicated that "one passenger has been allocated on an over-booked seat". I tried to enter the information more precisely so that it would not do the same on the next order (placed my wife's ticket order and mine separately because getting two seats together was seemingly impossible this late in the game). It came up again. I then checked the confirmation e-mails and they indicate that the "seats are not guaranteed." Upon checking the dossier on the website, the "details of your journey" link brought up our details and it says a Coach number, then Seat 0 - Double Reservation for each of us on the portions from Lourdes to Bordeaux and from Bordeaux to Paris Montparnasse. I guess it tells me that they will continue to sell seats even beyond the number that they are allotted.

Ah well, I'm taking the attitude that everything is going to be great and we're going to enjoy our trip tremendously! I just hope my training has prepared me for the rides we're doing through the Pyrenees - I may not care what train I'm on when the week is finished.

Thanks again for your help. I'm really glad I found this website and found your French Rail guide. All the best!

stokebailey

MorganB, thanks a million for your help with this.
I don't see any mention of the buy-roundtrip-and-discard-return-ticket method. It seemed to make the total cost plummet. How guilty or apprehensive should I feel about trying that? Obviously they can't track us down in London and march us off to the station for the compulsory ride back to Paris.

MorganB

Teach, Just saw your reply. Yes indeed they do over book trains. You will need to see the conductor ASAP to get a seat. Try to get to the station about 25 minutes before your train . Your train should be posted on the board about 20 minutes before. The conductor should be on the platform near the train. Locate him and ask for a seat assignment. He may give you one right away or he may tell you to wait in the car and he will come by. Double reservation sounds like a poor translation that should read overbooking. Have a good trip.

Stokebaily,

I have done the toss the return ticket before and did not have any issues. I suppose eurostar could check the records, see the return was not traveled and then rerate the fare and help themselves to the extra cash. Thats what they say they will do in the terms and conditions but I havent heard of them actually doing it.

Dukey

Am reviving this thread in hopes of some clarification.

Have found PREMS fares which are listed as printable and have declined the insurance. However, on the next screen the only option seems to be pay online and have them mailed.

Am i doing something wrong?

Thanks and sorry if this has been answered before now.

Christina

Probably, because that's not normal. I don't think there has ever been a single example of that really happening to anyone on here unless the person was really trying to do something unusual they weren't mentioning. If you are just buying one straightforward PREM fare with no other tickets or qualifications, and no insurance, that isn't normal. Is there anything at all you are doing beyond that which you haven't mentioned? What route and date and time and class are you buying, someone can maybe compare what happens.

Dukey

I actually figured out the problem; sorry to have bothered anyone or wasted anyone's time.

MorganB

Hi there. What was the prob out of curiosity? It could help others.

Have a great train trip!

auhntiei

MorganB - trying to use mappy.com to get directions from Avignon TGV station to my hotel in St. Remy. Can't find the address for the train station anywhere and when I see the dialogue box not sure which is the appropriate address for TGV. As always, thank you.

job816

Hi MorganB - got my tickets no problem. I found it very easy to follow your directions. I printed out my tickets, but I just want confirm. I neither need to go to a ticket booth before boarding nor need to validate them - I just board. Thank you for your response and kind advice.

Dukey

Re: the problem with printing....it appears I was trying to print out tickets which were a possible "mix" of fares.

MorganB

Auhntie, sorry just saw your question! The official address is Chemin du confluent – La courtine
84008 AVIGNON . You can get lots of info (in french) on that station here:

http://www.voyages-sncf.com/guide/ga...vignon_TGV.htm

JOB816:

You have it right, with home printed tickets you just board the train. No additional steps needed.

Dukey:

Thanks for your reply! Yes the tricky mix of fares gets alot of people.