Renfe help please!!
 

Hi all,

I am trying to book on Renfe tickets from Barcelona to San Sebastian next month and despite offering an English front page the rest is in Spanish. That's OK as I used Google translate, but I am stuck on the bit where you have to fill in your name and email address. The first option asks me to select ID (presumably I select the 'pasaporte' one so the next tab I thought would be the number (it says 'documento') and when that didn't work I typed 'pasaporte' but that is not right either.

Anyone have the answer to this cryptic clue!?

Read this -

http://www.seat61.com/Spain-trains.h...kets_for_Spain

Well join the crowd of past Fodorites having problems with that most finicky, flummoxing site!

Just a note that someone last week reported getting tickets thru Rail Europe of all sources at about the same price as www.renfe.com - I read they now use Renfe's booking engine on some fares but not all - if a total deadend give them a try.

try putting in your passport number

or buy it at rumbo.es

If you are from the States or Canada, you can purchase your tickets through Petrabax.com without paying a foreign transaction fee (http://petrabax.com/renfe/). They will send you your e-ticket to print out within 24 hours.

I used Petrabax, too. Very easy to use and rates are very close to the actual ticket costs. I did eventually use Renfe as well but it does take some patience to work it out. I think I followed instructions from TripAdvisor and was able to purchase the tickets then.

Thanks all ...

Rail Europe are charging around $300 compared to about $60 on Renfe!!

I'm not from the US or Candada - I'm Australian.

I tried my passport number but it doesn't work. At the moment on Renfe the fare is 44 euros for a first class mesa fare, compared to double that for the cheapest on loco2.com - and my friend only wants to travel first class so that is around 150 euros.

I really don't want to pay that when renfe has it for so much less. We may as well fly!

I think I picked ID and put a random number...

It's now accepting the passport numbers and our names but because I am booking a mesa fare (2z2 seats) with just the four of us, I read on seat61 that I need to buy all four seats for the three of us (it still comes out way cheaper anyway) but it won't let me put myself in twice, even though seat61 says to do that. I went for the 'other' in type of ID, made up a random number and that is accepted but it won't let me enter names ...?

And now it has crashed!

Finally had success guys!!

Based on Seat61's advice the problem in Australia bizarrely has something to do with our major national ISP, which is what my work goes through. So I tried it on my mobile phone - which uses another provider - and huzzah! It was excruciating as the screen is small, I had to type every word into Google Translate so I knew I was doing the right thing, but it worked and only cost us AU$65 each for first class, compared to the minimum $200 on other sites for 2nd class!

good for you. !
Renfe can be a problem for some customers, but it is worth getting a good deal

seat 61 is the best site for train how to's

I love Seat61.

I do want to add that years ago, in my battles with RENFE, I had created an account with the website. I tussled and tussled with RENFE and my cc companies until transactions went through.

I was always successful eventually, but it WAS quite a process.

So my expectations this past spring in Spain were not particularly high. While trying to see train schedules via my smartphone (using WIFI) from Toledo, I saw there there was a RENFE app.

On a whim, I downloaded the RENFE app, and I logged in via my old account info.

OMG, the thing worked!

Instead of battling with my credit card as I have with every other trip to Spain, the app allowed me to pay with PayPal.

No fights. No calls. No repeated transactions. Done.

I am still in shock.

RT2015, I'm happy you finally got your tickets through the Renfe web site. Did you use your Australian credit card? I've read in the past that Renfe's system would not link to foriegn banks so the charges would be denied. Has anyone had trouble recently using a US bank's CC?

I'm hoping the discount tickets show up soon for our trip from Madrid to Malaga. The discounts are now availble through Sept. 6, our travel day will be Sept 14.

AleesandraZoe, I didn't see your post before typing mine. I registered on the Renfe site anticipating keeping track of our tickets for our trip. I will now download their APP so I can use PayPal if I have trouble with my US issued CC.

I downloaded the app too - after all of this though!! FYI I used a GE Money 28 Degrees MC which has no conversion or other fees. Not sure if it worked because it's not an exclusive Australian company ..?

Another less than satisfactory Renfe experience to report.

I easily created a Renfe account and added my wife as a frequent companion. This basically went smoothly, but don't try to read the legal acceptance page. Rather than opening a new tab it replaces your entered data with the legal jargon. Then when you go back to the prior page all your data is gone and you need to re-enter everything.

But what kind of nut would read legalese in a language they don't speak?

Anyway, after failing several times to get a Madrid-Toledo ticket with a credit card, I used Paypal and it went smoothly, first time. Cool, I thought, that's the solution.

But then I tried for Madrid-Cordoba tickets, over, ... and over, ... and over. Paypal, credit card, Firefox, Safari, no luck. Always an error at the very end of the process, after the seat selection. I masochistically spread these attempts out over a couple of days.

Finally I switched to loco2.com and had tickets within a few minutes, so now I'm a loco2 fan. (Thanks, seat61)

Will try Renfe again out of curiosity when the next leg of our journey becomes available (Granada-Ronda), but this was a frustrating experience.

I did not download the app because it requires iOS 8.2. I'm at 8.1 and I don't want to go to 8.4 on an old iPad. Maybe the app is Renfe the solution?

<<But what kind of nut would read legalese in a language they don't speak?>>

Obviously you couldn't but I don't think it is unreasonable for a website to presume if you are booking and buying something and it is in a foreign language that you should read that language. Most people never read them anyway, even when they do know it. Besides, they have to provide it legally, so what is your point? If someone doesn't know English and buys something on an American website, the legal disclaimer will be in English, what do you think it would be in? Ever see a legal disclaimer in the US translated into 100 languages to match everything that could be possible? Ever see it translated into anything? Very rarely, the Amtrak disclaimers are only in English, also.

<i> > so what is your point?</i>
Two points:

1) I was poking fun at myself for trying to read the legalese, since no one reads this stuff in their own language, as you noted.

2) I was attempting to show that users need to tread carefully on the Renfe website, at risk of losing carefully entered data. A better designed site would open the legalese in a new tab or pop up, preserving the user's data.

Nelson: I am happy that at least part of your efforts went through.

I used an Android phone to download the Renfe app and book, so I have no clue about the iOS version (s) success rate.

All I can say is that I found the Renfe app not only useful but also to operate much better than the Italian Trenitalia app. And by the way, Trenitalia itself used to be exhausting, but now the entire Trenitalia system has gotten much, much better.

Hi guys,
I booked from Australia and had to do it on my phone as it turned out Renfe didn't like my ISP! However, when we turned up to use the tickets - Barcelona to San Sebastián - a couple of weeks ago, the types of seats we booked didn't exist! We got a very good deal though and had decent seats so that's the main thing. We paid AU$60 each and booked a 2x2 in first class. The staff were less than friendly so we didn't even bother asking about it.

As for Trenitalia/Thello, we used Thello from Nice to Genoa and the seat we booked didn't exist - nor the carriage. The staff were friendly but had no explanation - don't think they knew either! I did get kicked out of my seat at some point but I found another nearby easily. At the Nice station though, the poor SNCF guy had no idea when our late train was arriving or where it would come (even though it comes every day, several times) because it was a Thello train. Apparently they just ignore each other!

As for Trenitalia well I should have used the app because I was unable to book anything on my phone as it just kept timing out. But I have all my tickets now.

I will in the near future write a post about my train travel experience. Mostly good, but I did have a frightening experience at Bologna yesterday. I escaped all good but was very nearly coerced into a lift, despite rushing away from someone who offered way too insistently to push my suitcase for me. He then got his hands on my friend's but we got away just as they were opening a lift. When we saw the nearby escalators we knew we would be in trouble if we got in there with them!

FWIW: yesterday another failure using a credit card on the Renfe website, followed immediately by success with Paypal.

Bought Renfe tickets (Madrid-Valencia) recently on Petrabax site as recommended by Seat 61. Seamless, easy transaction. May have paid a small premium, but well worth it.

This is great guys and the next time I go back to Spain (probably not for longer than I would like!)I will try these methods.

Thanks,
RT :-)