SNCF Paris to Barcelona--"foreign reservations closed"?
 

I am seeking advice. I am trying to book the night train from Paris to Barcelona for a Saturday night trip at the end of April. I was poking around on the SNCF site last night and this morning figuring out options and pricing, and a couple times went as far as putting tickets in my "shopping cart" just to make sure I understood how the site worked. I did, it worked fine. But when I went back this afternoon and tried to put the same tickets in my shopping cart, this time intending to actually purchase, a message came up telling me that I cannot purchase for this train because foreign reservations are closed. This message is now the same no matter what class of ticket I attempt to buy. I don't know how it knows I am foreign, since I have never gotten as far as putting in any identifying information, and I don't understand why foreign reservations would suddenly have closed midday today, when no such messages came up this morning or last night. Does anyone have any advice? Did I miss my chance to reserve at a reasonable price from the US?

Hmmm interesting. Websites can actually filter by geographical region.... I wounder if the SNCF site has started doing just that? I am in France so I can't test it .. .can anyone else?

Hi em,

I think that the problem is that you have a pending purchse in your shopping cart that you have to either consummate or delete.

((I))

No, I don't think it's a pending purchase; I had deleted the things that I successfully put into my shopping cart earlier. And while they could be filtering for foreign users, they apparently weren't a few hours ago, when they had no objections to me. So I remain puzzled.

Hi em,

I just went through the process -up to giving CC info- with no trouble.

((I))

Could it be that " foreign reservations are closed" means that you can't buy anymore tickets *from France to foreign countries* (for instance after a given hour, french time, or simply because they have some problem with their database), rather than refering to you being a foreign customer?

just a guess, but maybe you could try again tomorrow at a differet time????

I just did a random test, too, making sure that I had FRANCE as the country for pickup of tickets, and it went right through to the point of giving them my CC - no problem.

I also noted that they are offering a special fare of 107€ from Paris to Barcelona by air right now - maybe that's a better option?

Thanks for the thoughts. I was hopeful that maybe a computer snafu had righted itself, but when I try it, it still says the same thing (and I do have France as the country for picking up tickets). The train I am trying to get is the one leaving on the evening of April 23d; are any of you able to get up to giving cc information for that particular one? I like the idea that this is just a temporary glitch, and I will keep trying, but for now, the glitch remains. I had looked into flying, but no super super cheap fares seem to be available that weekend, and once you factor in travel to and from the airport, and of course the extra night lodging, the train looked preferable. If the glitch continues, perhaps I'll revisit.

Never mind; persistence pays off and the glitch seems to have fixed itself. The theory I find most convincing is that they were trying to tell me their computer was down and that they could not currently process international tickets. Thanks for everyone's prompt advice!

Great train ride. You'll love it!

I am no big fan of the Talgo train between Paris and Barcelona, and its franquist era like separation between men and women! On the whole, I find it is quite uncomfortable and not cheap. Normally I sleep OK on trains, but this one keeps stopping in the middle of nowhere, so here goes your "free" hotel night! There are so many cheap fly options. EasyJet is the best known, but not the cheapest. Actually, the best kept secret for Barcelona loving Parisians and Paris loving Catalans is Vueling (www.vueling.com), a perfectly safe and reliable Catalan airline that has two flights a day between the two cities. It flies out of CDG 3, which is quite convenient, since it's within walking distance from the RER (FYI, the RER is 8 euros from Paris, so this won't break the bank.

Actually, I have just checked on Vueling's web site, and for the 23rd of April, you have two flights, the cheaper of which will set you back 78 euros, all taxes included. In Barcelona, the AirBus is a frequent, comfortable and cheap connection into the city.

I looked at Vueling before making the train plans, and you are right about the cost, but the first flight gets in slightly before midnight, the second slightly after. Given that I will be staying in a small hotel in Barcelona that likely won't have 24 hour desk service, it just didn't seem like a reasonable option to me. I researched before making my choice, and know that the night train got mixed reviews here, but there was a special for a couple prebooking by more than 14 days so our tickets came out to be only 99 euros each for a first class compartment--a good deal. I sleep pretty well in a not very reclined seat on Amtrak, so I imagine I'll survive, and it will be an exotic experience.

emnyc, Spain is not the States, people do not have dinner at 5h30 PM but at 10h00. Midnight is just when they are finishing their after dinner coffee, discos don't get going before 2 AM, so I think that even for a "small hotel", midnight is pretty standard, especially for a spring Saturday night...

Well, I AM a big fan of the TrenHotel between Paris and Barcelona, especially if you can spring for a Grande Classe compartment..great ride and I don't think you'll be disappointed