PREM tickets
 

getting close to the 90 day start period to book RR PREM tickets for our late April trip - we get in to Paris on the 29th so I think we can search Jan 29th or so for RR travel to Stasbourg and Feb 15th for Lyon back to CDG.

does it make any difference to wait until closer to the travel date to see if prices come down or are ticket prices pretty constant from day 1??

from playing around now it looks like going out is quite cheap vs flying but coming back, TGV is more expensive than flying - weird??

thanks for your help! Dale

I think waiting around, you would chance not getting anything, as they sell out. I don't think there is much room to move on that particular ticket, the PREMs are always around 25-30 euro. I don't know how cheap you are expecting to get them, but you can wait around if you want to gamble like that.

Pricing varies depending on demand, it's not weird if they are more expensive on some dates and times than others, it's normal. They are usually cheaper in the middle of the day on that route, for example, and lots of others, as most people don't want to travel in the middle of the day.

Perhaps you aren't aware they sell out.

I don't think you need to book them the first day, but your day is going into a holiday weekend. That date is going right into May 1st, one of the biggest holidays in France, which falls on a Saturday this year. Now I don't know what they do for observance when two national holidays are on Saturday this year, I can't imagine all the workers just say that's okay, we get off two few days.

OK - to strasbourg the tickets were 44E for 2 which is good - but from Lyon they were 212E for 2 - maybe not PREM?? yes I see where seats are limited on those I checked

we get in at 8am so late am - middle of the day is fine going out but have to be back to CDG by 9-10 am for 1:30 flight

The 212 euro for 2 would not be a PREM fare, and they would not list the PREM fares for more than 90 days out so you will have to wait until Feb.15 or whenever.
If you are planning to travel near a holiday, I would get the tickets as soon as you can b/c the less expensive fares sell out quickly at those times and for popular routes.

In July. 4 of us were getting tickets Strasbourg-Paris for Oct., and we had to take a later train than we preferred b/c only 2 of us could get the lower fare at the earlier time.

Christina--We are going from Strasbourg to Gare de l'Est on 30 April and have the same concern you voice about travel just before 1 May. Even though there will be no "le pont" as there was when we arrived in Paris 1 May 2008, I am concerned that travel to Paris will be in high demand this time. Do the tickets get added to the website one day at a time, exactly 90 days before the travel date, or does it vary somewhat? Also, is there a time of day (French time, of course) when the new date(s) become(s) available?

My experience has been that they add them 90 days out, a day at a time. I would imagine you could get them at midnight, France time.