I just got off of the phone with a SNCF operator who told me that I couldn't purchase tickets over the phone, I had to go through the Raileurope website. Well I don't WANT to go through Raileurope since the tickets are about $50 more.

I thought it was possible to order these tickets over the phone and mailed to the US; is that not true?

I don't think you can buy on line from SNCF when the trip originates in another country. You could buy a ticket from Frasne (1st stop in France after the Swiss border) to Paris and see with the SBB (Swiss railways) about buying a ticket Lausanne to Frasne.

Since your journey originates in Switzerland, you should try the swiss rail site : http://www.sbb.ch/en/index.htm

Hi J,

SNCF doesn't normally mail tickets to the US.

You can buy your tickets online and have them mailed to you in Switzerland.

Change the name of the country at www.voyages-sncf.com from FRANCE to Switzerland.

I wouldn't get them mailed to me in Switzerland; how would I ensure they would be there waiting for me when I got there?

It *looks* as though I can purchase tickets on the sbb.ch website and get them mailed to me for free to the US. Not entirely sure yet but I'm going through the checkout process now.

Woo hoo! It worked. Tickets mailed to me for free from the Swiss Rail website. And it was cheaper than the SNCF website too.

jeblase
How did you get the web site to issue a ticket? I can see the schedule, but the web site won't give me the fare/ticket.

That's funny that your tickets bought from the Swiss website were cheaper than the SNCF ones because I live in Lausanne and always buy my tickets from SNCF because they are cheaper than our site! And there was just an article in the paper here the other day that Swiss Airlines fares are higher for flights originating in Switzerland than in other countries. Maybe our rail system has the same pricing tsar.