Renfe On Line Train Ticket confusion
 

Howdy & Happy New Year,

Trying to book Barcelona/Valencia train tickets for next month on-line, and getting confused. I'm on the Renfe site and the fare options it's giving me for is A) Turista for 41.00 € or B) Web for 16.40 €. I'd love to book the web fare but don't know if I can take advantage of the fare, am I missing something or is it really possible for me to book? Thanks for any help.

E

In theory, yes, you can get the Web fare. However, there appears to be a glitch that prevents people with a non -Spain CC to book through the website.

Give it a try, you might get lucky!

ecat,
IF you have a credit card issued by a Spain bank, you can move on to the next step and purchase the web fare (a 60% discount) for 16,40.

Those who have credit cards issued by non-Spain banks used to be able to make online purchases, but Renfe can't process these non-Spain credit card transactions at the present time because of a glitch in the new system. I received an email from them last week to that effect, as did other posters.

But *perhaps* they've now ironed out the problem since the first of the year.

Try to go on to the next step of actually purchasing the ticket and tell us what happens! Many posters here and on Trip Advisor who have non-Spain issued credit cards have been stymied lately by this glitch, and their attempts at purchasing haven't been successful.

The Renfe web site does state that if you call to make a phone purchase by credit card, you can take advantage of the Estrella * fare (a 40% discount) but NOT the deeply discounted Web fare.

Yes, you can book the Web fare. The exchange/refund policy is much more strict with the WEB fares, but if you're sure with your schedule, go ahead and book it. The WEB fare will disappear when all those discounted tickets are sold out.

If your CC doesn't work, I've had luck using my AMEX.

Make sure you have your pop-up blocker turned OFF when you do your purchase. Your ticket will show up as a PDF file in a pop-up window, which you can then print it out.

Hi cruiseluv,
Didn't see your post while writing mine!

To clear up the confusion:
Here's the English response from Renfe:

Dear customer,

We inform you, there is a temporal error in the web site, witch does not
allow to pay with foreign cards, our technical department is trying to
solve it as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenient.

Currently we have no information of the date this problem will be solved.

If you are planning to travel soon we recommend you to buy your tickets at a travel agency

If you need further information don't hesitate contact us.

Kind regards,

ecat,
Here's the entire recent thread on this frustrating subject:

http://tinyurl.com/a5onnr

Thanks everyone. Well I'm sure glad I'm not a complete dope. I spent an hour trying to figure it out, it kept switching from English to Spanish and then only Spanish. I knew it had something to do with the CC but for the life of me I did not know why. I think I will drop by the travel agency tomorrow and see if they have better luck, cause it's really not working.

All this on my first day off chocolate - arrg...

tt

I continue to have no luck with the site. Still testing the site every day for an update.

I called a local travel agency who was going to charge me $40.00 per ticket just to issue, so it seems I'll be better off or the same just getting tickets when we arrive in Barcelona.

Meanwhile call the issuers of your credit cards and tell them that you are trying to enact transactions from Spain - your problem might be that their security software has blocked the transactions, and the reply from RENFE could just be a stock reply...

Before you leave, also call the bank where the account is from which you withdraw with your ATM card, tell them when and where you are going, and have them increase the daily withdrawal limit in case you need a lot of cash in a hurry for an emergency.

Dalai,

It's actually the Renfe site that is not accepting CC outside of Spain, card is fine, nothing being blocked by the issuer. A "technical error" on the Renfe site that is pretty costly if you don't have a CC issued in Spain.

ecat,
I've just tried, in vain, to purchase tixs online for 3/17 with my US bank issued c.c.
I honestly don't think they'll be fixing this glitch any time soon, so I'm having a Spain travel agency associate-friend buy these for me and send me the pdf file.

I'm assuming (?) your c.c. is North American bank issued.

Some U.K. residents on the Spain Trip Advisor forum have reported recent, successful online purchases at www.renfe.es .....
so, I'm not sure the problem is with non SPAIN bank c.c. but rather with non E.U. issued cards.

However, Renfe did write me, in English, that the glitch was "foreign cards" and wrote in Spanish: "tarjetas no emitidas en España".
But maybe that particular agent just didn't know or assumed the problem to be with all non Spain cards!
Who knows?

You could try calling their international number
902 24 02 02
during normal Spanish business hours to get an English speaking agent.
Over the phone, you may be able to get an Estrella fare (the 40% discount) if still available and pay with your c.c. since you're not dealing with the impossibly vexing, glitch ridden online system.