RailEurope - "Reservation not included" ??
 

Dear everyone,

I am trying to book a train from Paris to Antwerp and return trip and on many train itinerary options it says, for example :

11:03 (Antwerpen) - 13:53 (Aeroport CDG 2 TGV)
€85.20
Train 9224 - Reservation not included
Train 9828 - Reservation included

What does 'Reservation not included' mean exactly ??
Does it mean :

(a) You will pay €85.20 but this only includes the ticket price for 'Train 9828'. For 'Train 9224' you would have to purchase the ticket when you get to the train station, on a first come first served basis ...

(b) The €85.20 includes the ticket price for both 'Train 9828' and 'Train 9224'. Your seat is confirmed and reserved on 'Train 9828' but for 'Train 9224' reservations are not possible and seats are available on a first come first served basis. If seats are not available, then you need to take the next train etc ... in which case you might probably miss your connecting 'Train 9828' etc etc

(c) The €85.20 includes the ticket price for both 'Train 9828' and 'Train 9224'. But in addition to ticket price, there is another component which is a 'price to reserve the seat'. The price of reservation is included for 'Train 9828' but for 'Train 9224' the price reservation is not included

So what does it mean ? I read on some questions posted online on forums and seems (c) is the answer. But then, how and where do I buy the 'reservation' for that train ? Another thing that really puzzles me, why sell the the train ticket, but not include the reservation ?

Last question : What does 'Train' mean ? Does it mean TGV, Thalys, Eurostar ? For some trains it is clearly stated for example 'Thalys 9352' or 'TGV 5118' so we know which train company, but 'Train' means ?

I'm sure a poster more knowledgeable than I about trains will come along and sort out your problem but the first thing you need to do is check the official rail websites, not RailEurope. I only ever use the TGV website. Go to www.tgv-europe.com. Enter Antarctica as your ticket collection country if you automatically get redirected to the RailEurope website after enetering your travel info. The RailEurope website often doesn't show all the available trains and often has higher prices than the official rail websites.

Perhaps you can't use the TGV site for this journey and have to use the Thalys website. You'll have to wait for someone who knows more about trains than me but my advice about RailEurope is still valid.

Hi S,

>What does 'Reservation not included' mean exactly ??<

You can board the train, but you are not guaranteed a seat.

I always use www.voyages-sncf.com The official French railway site.

((I))

Many trains don't require a reservation to travel on them, you just find a seat when you board.

But I would absolutely avoid RailEurope and use either the Belgian or French railway companies direct. RailEurope often have wrong timetable information and can wildly overcharge for the fares.

I'm surprised if that is all the information you got, ask Raileurope. The first train is an IC9224 from Antwerp to Brussels Midi (11:03-11:42).

The 2nd train is a TGV from Brussels Midi to CDG (12:18-13:53). TGVs have mandatory reservations that are included in the ticket.

It definitely doesn't mean you wouldn't have a complete train ticket for both trains. I guess that is your (b) but I really would not worry about no seat. I doubt if they have reservations on a short intercity train like that. When I tried to buy that ticket on the Belgium railroad website, it cost about 10 euro and they would not even offer a reservation possibility. http://www.b-rail.be/main/E/

The second train is a TGV, not Thalys. Those times are correct for beginning and ending. I don't think Thalys trains go to CDG.

Thanks very much guys for all the very useful replies! Sorry I have not been able to login over the weekend due to some weekend traveling. Really grateful for all the replies. I will be travelling to Antwerp on a Sunday and back from Antwerp to Paris on a Wednesday. In the end, this being the first time travelling to this area I thought I should just take a direct train from gare du Nord to Antwerp via Thalys and save all the hassle with changing and worrying about seat reservations.

But these are all very useful replies and this post would remain to provide useful info to other future travellers. I googled extensively prior to asking these questions and there wasn't a lot covered on this specific topic.

Oh and also thanks for the tip about where to book. I tried with b-Europe and Thalys but they didn't let my foreign credit card go through. In the end only TGV website came through for me!

Train 9224 is an IC train. Those trains have open seatng and no reservations are possible.

Train 9828 is a TGV. Reservations are mandatory and are included in the price of the ticket.

FYI, I found this information on the German Rail site which has detailed timetables for virtually all of Europe.

As say Ira, you are not guaranteed a seat, go to www.raileurope-world for for info about french tgv.
Arnaud

how did your trip go?

i am booking a train from Paris to Geneva with Rail Europe. this is the ticket that I got: Paris Gare Lyon to Lyon Part dieu, then Lyon Part dieu to Geneva. One leg says 'reservation included' while the other leg says 'reservation not included'. I don't get it either...

any help?

Neil,

Paris-Lyon will be on a TGV. Seat reservations are required on TGVs and are included in the price of the ticket. Lyon-Geneva will be on a regional train. There is open seating on those trains and no reservations are possible.

What does Rail Europe have to do with all this?

What does Rail Europe have to do with all this?

http://www.raileurope-world.com/

Ira's site does not work probably because it does not have .com after it - this links to RailEurope U K

What does RailEurope have to do with all this? The fact that RE is wholly OWNED by the SNCF/SBB and is their North American marketing arm means that the SNCF that everybody here thinks is oh so wonderful is trying to get your money.

TimS,

In my itinerary/ticket, it says TGV Reservation included. So I already have a guaranteed seat?

The other says TER Reservation not included. What does that mean?

> The other says TER Reservation not included. What does that mean?

As some others have mentioned (I think) above, TER has free seating - no reserved seats - no reservation possible ( or some can be reserved if wished? but not compulsory ) Are there such on TER? I don't know. At least with the TER lines I have used many times like Geneva - Lyon, no seat reswervation was needed nor possible.

TGV Reservation included. There TGV reservation is compulsory - they cannot sell you a TGV ticket without reservation - hence it is included.

> In my itinerary/ticket, it says TGV Reservation included. So I already have a guaranteed seat?

Yes. If you have the TGV ticket, that should say your car/seat number.

thanks kappa1 for the info

they cannot sell you a TGV ticket without reservation - hence it is included.>

Well this is not always the case, in the case of Sur Reservation tickets sold I understand, where you sit in no-show seats or if none of those in fold-down seats between the cars - i often see folks in fold-down seats between cars and assume that is the sur-reservation tickets - tickets without an explicit reservation on them. That is my understanding at least.

> Well this is not always the case ..

That has happened in the past, have not seen rescent cases though. And I think you you can buy such a ticket without reservation only at last minute, such as a few hours, minutes before the departure. If you buy one through internet, via agency weeks, months before, this does not apply; you can buy basically only with seat reservation.