SNCF ticket printing
 

Hello all,

I am thinking of buying various train tickets for a France trip using the SNCF website, and using their print ticket option. I live in the US. I have never used their site to buy tickets, only used it for informational purposes.

It says you can print tickets that you purchase, but I am leary to provide my credit card info etc and then have some kind of problem trying to print the tickets.

I remember in years past buying tickets from SNCF when you lived in the US was a problem. Does the new print option curcumvent the old problems?

Could someone who has used this system fill me in on the reliability and the process. Thank you.

hi there...
The best thing you can do is find the 'tutorial' written by MorganB, posted to this forum.

Otherwise, key thoughts:

1. Leave the country as "France"

2. You can only print tickets that are discounted / non-refundable, so not always an option

3. You have to decline the insurance in order for the print option to be offered

4. If the option to print isn't available, you should be able to choose to pick up the tickets in your first French city. In Paris, you can go to either a large train station (any of the "Gare.."), or one of many SNCF boutiques (agencies) all over Paris.

5. I think the window to buy is now 90 days in advance; if that's wrong then it's still 60 days.

6. If you were able to get the option to print, you can use printing paper in the realm of 8.5x11" or A4 (I think that's what the site says to use), and print in black/white or color, whichever, and you can print as many times as you want.

7. I think the stage where you are asked for the passenger names is toward the end of the process, maybe even after the credit card info is entered. So don't panic, it will come.

All good tips. I want to stress the point re: buying insurance. Do NOT buy insurance. The only time I had a problem printing was when I elected insurance coverage.

I just booked 2 seats thru the SNCF site for the first time and had no problems with printing tickets. I followed the instructions given in the "tutorial" refernced by Travelnut. After you have given your credit card info you have the ability to print your tickets. You will be asked for the name(s) of traveller(s) when you go to print the tickets. There are a couple ways to print the tickets and it was easy. There is an email confirmation that you receive from SCNF as soon as you book. You can print the tickets from the email or go to a web site in the email to print your tixs so if you have a probem, you can try printing again. The time frame for booking tickets is 90 days in advance of travel dates. I also recall reading where someone did have a problem with their tickets and contacted SNCF by phone for resolution of their problem. Good luck!

I agree with all the above and must add a warning to be very careful when you click the button to purchase because there is no way, in my experience, to get a refund if you make an error. I was multi-tasking when I was buying tickets, having trouble with our travel buddies' credit card, and not paying close enough attention; the tickets I bought from here in US were for the very next day in France. I argued with them on the phone, by letter, and email that there was no way I could have used the tickets the next day from Annecy to Paris to no avail. So, I lost ~$168 and learned a lesson. If they say the ticket is non-refundable, they mean it!

I see now that you're not speaking of the low-fare PREM tickets; they're the ones I'm referring to. Perhaps a full fare ticket is refundable, etc.

I've used SNCF quite a bit for many years and there never was any problem buying tickets if you live in the US. I've always done it without any problems at all. The only problems I think were people who somehow expected SNCF to mail them tickets for free all over the world, and no national railway will do that. They wouldn't mail to North America, but buying tickets online, paying by CC, and picking them up at a rail station in France was never a problem, ever.

Any website can have something go wrong when you use your credit card to buy something, I suppose. I've never had a problem with the print-yourself SNCF tickets. Every single person who has had a problem and reported in on Fodors was doing something unusual when the full story came out, or didn't read the instructions or something (like the insurance -- the fine print does state you cannot print those, but people never read the full disclosures). Or they claim the website makes you fill out information that it doesn't, but they just weren't following directions or reading the site properly. LIke many folks claim it makes you put in your home address but won't allow a US one, and that is just not true if you aren't having tickets mailed. It never makes you put in your mailing address. I just go with the flow and figure if something goes wrong, you will have an email with the details which you could present to get a ticket. IN fact, I think they give you instructions online as to what to do if you can't print them.

"You can only print tickets that are discounted / non-refundable" also means you cannot buy other kind of tickets on the same order.

For multiple leg trips, some PREM - some not, I have to place multiple orders to complete my transactions. PREMs give me actual ticket to print while other reservation mandatory tickets only give me receipts which I convert into tickets in France.

I am a bit surprised, Christina, that you have apparently never used the drop-down on the Voyages-SNCF site to see exactly which countries "all over the world" that SNCF will, in fact, mail tickets to as it is somewhat extensive.

Iwannagonow: the reason SNCF will not mail tickets to North American addresses is the simple fact that they have always funneled (or at least have tried to) all of that particular business through their jointly-owned (with the Swiss) marketing subsidiary, RailEurope.

If you type SNCF or MorganB in the serch box the excellent tutorial about using the site and printing tickets, not buying insurance, not mixing fare types, etc., etc. will come up and if you follow it you cannot go wrong.

Good luck.

Thanks everyone. I have looked at MorganB's tutorial and wow, everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask type of thing.

I guess the moral of the story is it works, but proceed with caution. Thanks for the advice.