Very helpful information & analysis, man_in_seat61. Thank you. It will make purchasing train tickets in France a better experience.

Hey Saras,

> "Verified by Visa" <

Thank you for providing light instead of heat.

I shall check into that.

((I))

One can also use Paypal at the French language site for Belgium "Belgique".

Ticket prices are the same.

Thank you, Man, for a very helpful post.

>>>You seem to have done all of the purchasing steps correctly but is your Visa card signed up for "Verified by Visa"?<<<

Mastercard has something similar called SecureCode. Many online sites require these to make purchases. This is not the numbers on the back of your card. This is something you must contact your credit card and specifically set up with passwords, etc. You have to register this code.

http://www.mastercard.us/support/securecode.html

https://usa.visa.com/personal/security/vbv/index.jsp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-D_Secure

I had to register my card for a US online purchase originally.

Raileurope should be avoided.>

Yet on the date I put in RE had the lowest fares for two trains - lower than the lowest fares on SNCF site except the overnight TGV train. Granted RE usually has higher prices and does not regularly list the deep discounts www.voyages-sncf.com does but like in the day I picked however they did have two trains cheaper than any on sncf.com - most other trains were higher but in NO case 50% higher which was my only debate here. Sarastro should do a current survey before giving out misinformation - the advice to check both sources cannot be criticized and is what the smart person would do IMO rather than just regurgitating the mantra RE is always a ripoff - always 50% or more higher when in fact you will find very few 50% higher for similar trains and conditions.

Even though Rail Europe sometimes offers fares that are similar to those found on the SNCF site, you will pay a substantial shipping and handling charge if you wish to have the ticket sent to you. The other delivery options offered are to retrieve the ticket at a self-service kiosk using a code RE provides, or print at home. They charge a booking fee when these methods are chosen.

business; KNOCK KNOCK
man in seat 61;Who's there?
business; OPPORTUNITY KNOCKING
man in seat 61;What is needed?
business: A site to compete with rail Europe usa for
simpletons so ziggypop can easily buy tickets.

Ira, I also recently got one of my cards verified by visa. The first couple of people I talked too had no idea what I wanted but finally they connected me with someone at Visa corporate that set it up.

business: A site to compete with rail Europe usa for
simpletons so ziggypop can easily buy tickets.>

already there - ACP Rail! Quebec.

okay, I just bought 2 more rail tickets from voyages-sncf.com just about an hour ago and had absolutely no problem whatsoever, using my American Capital One Mastercard. I had told them a few weeks ago I would be making online purchases from European countries, so don't block it, and they said fine. And it appears they actually did unblock it correctly, since it worked.

I don't have any special Verified by anything program that I know of, I think they have something similar for MC as Visa, but I have never done anything with that, and I wasn't asked for any special verification code or anything unusual. It was just like any online purchase, stick in the card info (number, expiration date and CCV) and hit purchase.

And I did get the confirmation email from SNCF a few minutes later so I know it went through okay.

Yikes, I need to buy tickets on the 6th and hoping I don't have some of these difficulties; have always used www.voyages-sncf.com in past with few glitches but sounds as though it's becoming more problematic.

Ira, you may have been wrong about the cause but the details of the answer are proving invaluable, well done.

Man thanks for the extra links, I've never had problems (being a Brit) with the SNCF site but back up options are always useful

Good debate everyone!

50% more than 66 is NOT 122, that's 100% more.

50% more than 66 is 99.

66 x 50% = 33. 33 + 66 = 99.

At 6:05 EDT today (July 6 in France), I went to voyages-sncf.com, and all went well until I tried to pay for my 5 tickets for Oct. 6 with my Cap One Visa; it was rejected even though I had called a few day ago, etc. So I immediately tried my AMEX, and it went through. Got good 1st class Prem fares, Paris-Avignon, 40 e. Interestingly, no where did it ask for my country so I didn't have to put in Antarctica or wherever.

So now, 1 journey purchased and printed; same drill next Fri., Avignon-Strasbourg and then to Paris 3 days later. Hope Amex works once again but very strange that Cap One did not; it has in past for me, and I see that others above have used it successfully. Does this necessarily mean that Cap One didn't unblock it correctly?

It never asks you for a country on voyages-sncf.com (unless you asked for something to be mailed to you), the people who keep talking about that are using a different website (tgv-europe.com) because they don't know French.

Who knows about Cap One, it is possible they didn't do their job because they did do that to me once (I had called them about the foreign charges, but it was blocked anyway, and when I called them back to inquire, they had gotten it and blocked it, they admitted). So they do mess that up sometimes.

I've heard Amex often works better, don't know why, as I would think they might block stuff, also, who knows, I was going to try them but they do have a 2.7 pct foreign exchange rate so I always try Cap One first.

I can't imagine why, but in theory, I wonder if somehow SNCF problems with blocking could be related to the Visa. I have a Cap One Mastercard, not Visa, and that just went through okay. However, I think there is the same thing on SNCF about those secured services with Visa or Mastercard (veritified by whatever, just different names), which is why I doubt that is the issue as I didn't do any special veritification process.

You might find out by calling Cap One, if they had blocked it, but at some point, you get tired of doing that, especially if another card words.

Hi g and c,

You can change the country by clicking on the flag at the upper right.

Germany and Belgium will let you pay with PayPal.

You can sign up for Paypal at https://www.paypal.com/home

((I))
Thanks for the kind words Bilbo

Yes, as long as Amex works, I will just give up on Cap 1 for trains. As you say, C, just too tiresome to keep trying that.

Ira, I will keep PayPal in mind. Good to know there's an a alternative to going to RailEurope! :(

Thanks, folks!

Two years ago the SNCF policy for purchases with foreign credit cards was to limit transactions to €150 per day and €300 per week. Not sure if that's still the case, but if it is, 5 tickets @ €40 would put you over the limit. However, it is interesting that the Amex transaction went through, so who knows?

I posted the policy here two years ago:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...edit-cards.cfm

As for SNCF not accepting Cap One cards, I used my Cap One Mastercard for two separate transactions earlier this year and it went right through with no special verification information required. One purchase was at voyages-sncf, and the other at the iDTGV site.

I'm thinking that www.capitainetrain.com would be a better alternative than Rail Europe if the SNCF sites don't work.

good suggestion. I didn't think about the total purchase amount being an issue, my purchase that went through fine was only around 40 euro. I think it is a mystery about Cap One cards, although perhaps there is an algorithm that would explain it including all these different factors (purchase amount, Visa or MC, maybe even exact type of Cap One card program, etc.). Actually I think you and I are some of the few who had no problems, and we both have Mastercards.

50% more than 66 is NOT 122, that's 100% more.

50% more than 66 is 99.

66 x 50% = 33. 33 + 66 = 99.>

Yes my fault on that but I actually saw on that sample day two trains to Nice from Paris that were CHEAPER than anything on sncf.com site except the night TGV train - so RE was the cheapest on daytime connections that day - cheaper! Always check both sources is just the intelligent thing to do. Just takes a minute and you may find a surprise like I did where the lowest daytime fares were on RailEurope and not sncf.com.