questions about TGV
 

I am trying to book some Prems tickets to go from Paris to Bordeaux.
Depart Oct 18 and returning Oct 22
Is my return(oct 22) within the 60 days Prem? I am getting a price of $25 for the Oct 18, but $45 for the Oct 22. If I put Oct 20 I get the $25.
Should I book the 1 way for Oct 18, and wait couple days till the Oct 22 come on sale for risk of the Oct 18 Prem ticks being sold out? Or should I wait for the returns?

It's only August 23rd, so there is no urgency to do this today. It is right on the edge of 60 days, and I don't know exactly how they count that.

There is no real purpose to booking roundtrips, anyway, you don't get any better prices or special deals, so I'd definitely wait a while and check periodically to see if PREMs show up.

Its two months , not 60 days. So for Oct 22nd you can book beginning on August 22nd. You are within the time period. Did you check different times of day? The 3.35 and 4.37 pm trains are 35 euros each. I would buy now.

Just noticed the 4h52 pm train is 25 euros. I assume you meant euros in your prices and not dollars? It says last seats available at that price so you should book ASAP!

Hi C,

Buy the PREMS as soon as you can. They sell out quickly.

((I))

Yes the price was Euro.
I guess my question was should I book the Oct 18 ticket for 25 euro now, then wait a little till the Oct 22 ticket comes up ?

Yes, before you lose the Oct 18 ticket.

the 25 euro is offered now at the time i mentioned. I would not wait. Book both now.

Trying to book the Prems tickets. I am from Canada, so there is no Canada listed in the drop down menu for countries. And I would like to print my own tickets. Is this possible?

When I am trying to confirm the order, the part where it says deliver option, it only shows the Ticket delivered by post, it does not show that I can print my own ticket?

Can I still book online and print my own ticket?

thanks

Normally if you don't get "print yourself"option, that's not Prem's ticket. That should be full fare or slightly discounted (compared to Prem's big discount)tickets that you can't print yourself. But you are paying €25Euro, right? That's a Prem's dicounted price so I wonder what's going on with the site.

Also with Prem's tickets, as long as you print it youself, you can leave the country as France.

Hi C,

If you cannot print your ticket, you can have it mailed to your hotel.

((I))

I just tried your date Oct22 for Bordeaux-Paris and found Prem's €45 then went of to see if there will be a print-at-home option. I got the following message in red.

"La partie Impression à domicile du site a été temporairement désactivée. Aussi ce choix ne vous sera pas proposé." meaning temorarily print-at-home fonction is disactivated. I have never gotten this message before.

went of > went on

Commie:

Just leave FRANCE as the country of origin and print the tickets out (when the website will allow it again).

Can I buy the ticket online....and have the delivery by post option.
Then print the ticket when available?

1. did you select the option to pay online (now), or did you select the option to pay when you pick up the tickets?

2. the 'print yourself' option will only display on certain fares - if it isn't displayed, there is nothing you can do to force it.

3. without the 'print yourself' option, there are usually two left to choose from:
- mail tickets (they don't officially mail to Canada)
- pick up tickets in France (go to a station or SNCF boutique)

Travelnut, as I have tried and commie said so too, the site gave only the delivery by post option temporarily. No pick up at sncf boutique option, at least half an hour ago.

And as I have bought Prem's tickets many times and printed myself every time, I can tell commie did everything as she/he should have done.

Commie:

I would wait until the site is operating properly to buy your tickets, then, if they are PREM or IDTGV tickets, leave France in the country space and print them out. I would not use the mail option because the SNCF is not obligated to mail them to a country not listed. You might get lucky, but you might not.

If you're not buying PREM or IDTGV tickets, use the Pick Up Tickets option, print out your confirmation number, and take it and the credit card you use to buy the tickets on line with you and get the tickets at the station when you get to France.

I tried twice today to buy ticket and pick up at the station, that is also not working. A technical error it said, I also saw the print your own temporarily disactivated.

I guess we will just have to wait for it to get sorted out.

gg

Okay...thanks everyone...
I tried booking the PREMS ticket again, and this time it showed the option to print at home...
So I purchased 2 return tickets from paris to Bordeaux, Oct 18 to Oct 22.
The Oct 18 at 12 noon was $25 each, and the return on 22nd at 12 noon was $45 each....Still not bad...I didn't want to return around 4-5pm on the 22nd for the $25 PREM tickets...

Now my next question, I am trying to print the ticket....And have generated the ticket....It tells me to click on the printer/pdf document icon to download the ticket....But when I click on it, I am getting a page not found error???

anyone seen this before???

No, I haven't seen that message before. Do you have Adobe Reader software? You need that to download the ticket. If you don't have it, you can get it free, right there on the page where you download the ticket. Otherwise, I'd pick the option to print later, and go back and try it again when your computer's feeling better.

I tried x2 again today to buy ticket to P/U at station. It is not a prem. I get all the way to the end of the booking putting in cr card number and click. Then it gives me a techical error message. I also get an email saying my card was not charged because the booking could not go thru due to a technical error.

I am going to Deauville/Trouville on the 8AM train on a Friday morning, late Sept. I guess if I can't buy before I go, I will just buy a ticket when I arrive on Wednesday before.

It must'be been the website..
I tried again, and now I am able to print the pdf..

The ticket is in black and white and in all French right?

Doesn't look very official to me???

Yes, the ticket is in black and white, with a picture of a girl on it, plus your name and the train info. No, it doesn't look very official, but it is.

Hi Commie

I too live in Canada and have very few good things to say about the ease of using the SNCF web site.

Last May I printed Prems Paris -Avignon and they worked like a dream.

In the beginning of August I started trying to buy a one way Prem from Paris to Lyon (I was just on the inside of the 60 day window so could only purchase 1 way) and I could never get past the ordering part on the SNCF site. It just stayed stuck and wouldn't allow me to purchase.

Several wonderful people on Fodor's suggested that I try Mozilla Firefox as my browser rather than Internet Explorer. Voila! that made the difference at the start of August. However by the time I learned this my Prem price was gone. (I should have posted here right away).I did however get the ticket.

Fast forward to August 22. I need to purchase my return Prem and also 2 regional tickets from Lyon to Roanne.

Using Mozilla as browser I put all my info in only to have the SNCF site time out on me constantly for 2 days!!!!

Internet Explorer by the way wouldn't even allow me onto SNCF at this time.

I kept trying to buy my returns with Mozilla and finally got through, imput my credit card info and got an error message saying that my card was no good.

I was determined not to lose the Prem price for my return by waiting so I tried again using my husband's card and it worked immediately. I got 1 ticket,the Prem.

I still had the problem however of needing my 2 tickets Lyon-Roanne. Since the tickets are not TGV or Prem but for a RER train they can only be picked up in France and the retreiving credit card and the purchase card must be the same.

At this point the error message for my card was still appearing (there is nothing wrong with my card). I had attempted to purchase these tickets for close to 2 days (at different hours)
but always got some sort of glitch.

Yesterday morning (Aug. 24th). I had 5 minutes before leaving the house. I entered the info that will forever stay burned into my fervent brain and I GOT MY TICKETS 1ST TIME!!

The SNCF gets my vote for the most exasperating site when planning a trip!

I'm glad you were able to overcome whatever traps they set (ha) to avoid allowing us to buy seats. ~o)