SNCF site - what happened to the 90 day limit?
 

I got an email from SNCF this week advertising summer fares.

"Appointment now on Voyages-sncf.com to book tickets for this summer: from 25 € (1) with TGV and 15 € (1) with INTERCITY, for travel from July 4 to August 25!"

Another message on the web site indicated I wouldn't find fares for August before May, which made sense to me. I wasn't going to look for tickets until 90 days before I planned to use them. But is that still accurate?

I did find fares searching on dates even in late August, and the fares were good (Dordogne - Paris on various routes for about 30E pp).

As usual, I'm sure I missed something. What should the strategy be now for SNCF tickets?

Starting last summer, the SNCF began publishing some schedules earlier than the traditional 3 months in advance.

You can always be sure of knowing about PREMs as soon as they become available by using the SNCF´s free Alerte Résa service. Just fill you the date and locations you need and they will send you an email as soon as tickets are available:

http://www.voyages-sncf.com/services...te-reservation

I second Sarastro's recommendation for the Alerte Résa service. I have used it six times over the past three years and been alerted the day before sales opened for the routes/dates I needed.

This also works for iDTGV which opens ticket sales on a different schedule from TGV and other SNCF trains. As of now, iDTGV tickets are available up through September 12.

They have extended the 90 (in fact, 92) days for the summer.

Conversely, the 92 days will probably shrink to 60 days for dates after the timetable change on the 2nd Sunday in December.

It has been my experience that the lead time for schedules is 3 months, not necessarily 90 or 92 days. SNCF literature mentions both days and months so there has been and continues to be a lot of confusion about the SNCF´s actual intent.

Thanks for the great info! I'm signing up for the Alerte Resa.