Need help buying train tickets at SNCF.com - where is the PURCHASE button?
 

Editing at the top of the post to add this - for a train ticket from Paris to Brussels should I be using thalys.com?

For some reason I can't figure out how to complete a train ticket purchase. I'm at the SNCF.com website. I do a standard search and select starting and stopping city, date and time. I'm then given a number of itinerary options to choose from. The problem is when I select one of them I can't figure out the next step. I see all the details of the train ride, stops along the way. There is a button at the bottom that says RETURN TO SEARCH RESULTS, and a right and left arrow that cycles through other itinerary options. But I'm not seeing anything that allows me to purchase the selected route. I thought I was buying a ticket too far out, so I tried to get a tickets for 3 weeks from now and it's the same thing. I'm usually pretty good at travel arrangements and am not sure what I'm missing.

Editing to add...this is for a train from Paris to Burssels. Is the Belgium destination the problem?

I have no knowledge of the SNCF website so this is just a random hack try. Maybe try a different browser Safari or Chrome or Edge to see if the browser is an issue, or download the app and try it on your phone.

I've tried it on 3 different computers with the same results. I'm thinking I'm supposed to use thalys.com for international purchases since this is from Paris to Brussels. That website seems to work and would let me purchase the tickets I'm needing.

At the top of the homepage of SNCF English there is a book now tab, from there you can buy your tickets (put Brussels into the search line) or just ttry Thalys.com.

I don't have any problem using SNCF and buying tickets, are you using it in French?

If you are getting prices and trips, you pick one by clicking the blue button that says "choisir cet aller a .... whatever euro price" under the choice you want.

Then you will get a page asking if you want to add insurance or a car, seating preference, a few pages like that and you jsut click the blue "continuer" button at the bottom. Then you get a page with a price box on the RH that says "total commande" (total ordered) you click "valider le panier" (validate the basket" and then you get a page and you click "valider et payer" (validate and pay). YOu have to have an account, I think, I have for years, but at least you have to enter your details there.

This is the website I use. There is no language flag I see so I presume you are using it in French. You can pick a country and if you pick "other europe" you do get it in English. I tried that and it's basically the same process, you pick "select this outbound journey at x euro", then ytoiu get the choices of car, seats etc, you click "validate the basket", then you get "validate and pay".

YOu can easily buy a ticket to Brussels on SNCF.

When frustrated by the SNCF website, I turn to Trainline which is easier to use (relatively), for a small fee.

Sheesh...I'm realizing that when I went to https://www.sncf.com/en I was selecting ITINERARY, and not BOOK NOW. So it would allow me to select the FROM and TO locations, time, number of travelers, and then would show all of the options...but once you're in there you can't move forward with purchasing the tickets. Looks like it was my fault, but you'd think that you'd be able to select a train under ITINERARY and then be able to jump to purchasing tickets there vs. starting over.

I just realized I forget the URL I use.

It is www.sncf-connect.com

I always use that and didn't even know sncf.com still existed but sure enough when I went there, I couldn't figure it out either. I thought the old sncf.com transferred you ro the the sncf-connect.com but it doesn't.

Anyway, it is straightforward if you go to sncf.connect

I don't know what's wrong with them, sncf.com is an old website I think and they should fix it or have it resolve to the correct one.

The programmers at the SNCF have brain fever since they find it necessary to change the site every two or three years even when it is working well. But it is never working well for certain things. For the last two years I have actually had to go to the ticket office at Gare du Nord to renew my "senior advantage" pass because nothing works on the website.

It should be mentioned that all of the SNCF ticketing problems began when the SNCF purchased its new software about 10 years ago from.... American Airlines

Once you choose your route on sncf.com, it then switches to sncf.connect to finalize your purchase.