PREMS tickets on SNCF website
 

I am in the process of booking tickets from Paris to Caen for October. While I am able to select PREMS fares, when I try to select a seat, it says there are no seats available. If I select the non PREMS fare, I can select seats. Does this mean there are no PREMS seats available? I would think that if PREMS were not available, the website would not be showing the PREMS fare for that particular train. Can anyone provide some help? Thanks.

That is strange, I have never seen that happen but I've never tried to buy a PREM on any kind of train but a TGV and that is an intercite train.

I don't know the rules but it looks like if you buy a PREM, you can't make a seat reservation, that's all. I didn't know anyone could make a seat reservation on those kind of trains, actually. If they will sell you a ticket, then you can buy it. I'd make sure to not board at the last minute, that's all. I think the issue is that on those kind of trains, you are not guaranteed a seat without a reservation and they will actually let people on the train who don't have a seat. Which is why I'd get there early.

It's not going to make much difference, since you're not riding a fancy train with different kinds of seats like the TGV. I didn't even think it was possible to reserve a seat on a train like that. Just buy the tickets without seat reservations and board as early as possible.

Same here -- Paris to Caen is just a little ordinary train, probably with no reserved seats. I wouldn't worry about the train being full in October anyway.

PREMs are not just available on TGVs. Intercité trains do not ordinarily have assigned seats unless you pay extra for them, usually 5€ more but as kerouac points out, it will not likely be necessary.

I think I have always gotten Prem tickets on the TGV, espesially direct - always was given a seat assignment not of my choice but side by side and all seats seem fine, even upper dect

Yes, dsevig, but that's not the point here. The OP isn't taking a TGV. And BTW, when you book a TGV, PREM ticket or otherwise, you DO have the option of selecting your own seats; if you don't you are assigned seats.

yeah, I think the issue is that you can reserve seats on some intercite trains, that being one of them, but it costs extra and is not required -- so they aren't going to give it to you included in the price of the deeply discounted PREM fare. ON TGVs, you have to have one, so it is included.

The OP is correct, you can reserve seats on intercite trains to Caen, I checked. But only on a regular ticket.

Thank you all. Christina appears to be correct. We booked PREMS with no seat reservations and plan to board the train early in order to insure we get seats together.

Well, as I'm sure you know, "boarding early" is the same for just about everybody since the track is posted only 20 minutes before departure. 85% of the passengers are already standing there waiting for the platform number to appear.