I spent a very frustrating morning trying to book two overnight train tickets from Paris to Berlin for April. The prices on bahn were SO much lower than Rail Europe. I tried using different credit cards (that had blocks removed) with no success. Finally I sumbitted a message through custome service and received this response:

"Due to construction works in France, many overnight trains are currently not bookable. I am afraid we have no information currently as to when the French Railways will give us access to the respective trains again, because they have issued no statements regarding this. Please try again at a later time or, alternatively, you can try to make the booking with SNCF directly."

SNCF just leads back to Rail Europe... I feel like this is a scam.

I am going through this horror right now:

Smallish purchases (80 E, 90 E) rejected for multiple cards on both sncf-voyages and tgv-europe, despite calls to CC companies.

Then 1 purchase went through.

Waited 24 hours to avoid exceeding the daily limit with 2nd purchase.

Next attempted purchase using that previously accepted card was rejected.

Wits' end.

My theory is some people are allowed purchases because they are grandfathered on SNCF or are purchasing using s Euro issued card. New customers have strict purchase constraints. Just my theory, not fact.

I have been going through this same nightmare.

Have never had this problem before and did purchase tickets on the same credit card just this spring.

I have been trying to use my Capital One Mastercard. I am in the US, using the SNCF french site. Checked with credit card company twice and they say everything should be fine and they could not see that there had even been an attempt made to charge anything.

Waited the obligatory 24 hours each time(3)and declined each time.

So after being declined for the third time,I decided to give it a try and use my American Express even though I'd have to pay a foreign transaction fee. It worked like a charm. Tickets paid for and printed.

Any ideas--Man_in_seat_61?

Similar thing happened to us the other week. I tried booking TGV tickets from Paris to Besancon with my Cap One card. It was denied. I then tried with my AmEx card. It was declined. I then asked my wife to try it on her computer with her AmEx card. Went right through. Maybe something with cookies?

Is a puzzlement ---

Probably bears repeating that the easiest purchase after a month of frustrating CC denials was to download the SNCF app on my ipad. Very slick, worked like magic. Just need a FRENCH phone number (hotel, apartment, rental company, doesnt't really matter, just has to be 9 digits). Good luck.

NOTE from tgv-europe website:

3D Secure (also known as "Verified by Visa" or "MasterCard SecureCode") is an authenticated payment system that offers added security for your online purchases. During payment, your bank checks the card holder's identity before validating the transaction.

This service is free of charge for payments by Visacard and Mastercard.

The authentication process
Stage 1: book your e-ticket in the usual way and enter your bank details

Stage 2: confirm your identity

Connect to your bank's website and confirm your identity.
After validating your bank details you are transferred to your bank's website.
A 3D Secure window appears and you are asked to follow an authentication procedure which differs for each bank. You may be asked to:

•enter your date of birth,
•enter a code you have received by SMS,
•answer a secret question, etc.

Stage 3: complete and validate your order

After confirmation from your bank, your payment is validated and your transaction completed.
You will receive your booking confirmation by email.

Your transaction will be cancelled after 3 failed authentication attempts. Your card will be blocked after 3 cancelled transactions. If this happens, contact your bank.

Please direct any questions about 3D Secure (obtaining a code, lost code, changing your code, etc.) or the authentication process to your bank.

Heaven know what they mean about contacting your bank via website. Certainly no new window opened on my screen. And my banking institution does NOT verify CC purchases -- Mastercard does.

All a great mystery. After using all our CCs several times, I guess we are blocked forever!

I've emailed TGV Europe. We'll see what they say.

SNCF Voyages replied It's likely a problem in communicating with your bank, so call your bank OR... use Rail Europe.

Yeah, not gonna happen. I'd walk Paris-Nimes first.

BTW, I found the following elsewhere on the TGV Europe site. It implies that THEY not YOU are in contact with "your bank":

Payment refusal

As soon as you have entered your card details (16-digit number without spaces, expiry date and security code on the back) the SNCF payment site passes these details to the bank authorisation centre for payment authorisation.

As a security precaution, if you enter the incorrect details your bank card will be blocked for 24 hours.

AMEX cards: the TGV-europe site permits a maximum of 2 on-line payments per day

Cindyjo: Probably too late for us now, as we may be blocked forever under the "3 strikes" rule. But good for others to know.

Tedgale:From what I have heard from French friends most french credit cards are connected to your bank and you must have the money to cover the charge. They are more like our debit cards so maybe that is why they keep referring the customer to the bank.

Also, if the 3 strikes rule is in effect then I'm out with my Capital One card. I called again and they say there has been no attempt to charge my card from SNCF.

Cindyjo; sounds like you have a solution, but unfortunately I don't have an iPad or a smartphone.

Also, no authentication box popped up. I just think they have a definite glitch in their system.

We'll probably never know!

Tedgale: Were you ever successful in purchasing your tickets?

In the US, banks are always the ones to administer various credit cards, as far as I know. It isn't necessarily "your" bank in the sense that it is the place you have your checking account, etc., different banks just are hired to managed varous credit card products by other entities. For example, my AAA Visa is managed by Bank of America. Several banks do have their own major brands (Capitol one and Discover), and of course, you can get a Bank of American Visa directly, but they also administer the cards for others. All branded credit cards are really managed by some bank, you just may not even know which one it is (although the name usually pops up in various documents you get, or the fine print of where you are mailing payments or calling).

So I presume the SNCF website would be referring to the bank that administered the credit card used when they talk about "your" bank.

In any case, I've used an American Capitol One Mastercard to buy SNCF tickets very recently and had no problem and no box where I had to "verify" anything popped up with my bank or anything about 3D secure. I know I read something like that was going to happen, but I figured I'd just wait and see, and it never did. SO I just presumed the talk was about normal CC transaction verification, that's all, just like any store does which you barely notice.

Bloody amazing that these problems should persist with simple rail bookings when we can book our international airfares, and arrange to sleep, use the toilet, and shower at properties at either end of those rail routes on the other side of the world, without any dramas at all.

Laidback: about 5 days ago we got lucky and were able to buy tickets Nimes to Barcelona.

For the Paris to Nimes trip, we have had ZERO luck

Same problem. Tried to pay for 30€ PREM tickets for two from Paris to Dijon, booked about 90 days in advance through www.voyages-sncf.com . Tried Capital One CC (declined), United Visa (declined), American Express (which opens a browser pane asking for address information including street, city, and postal code but NOT country - declined), and finally Merrill Lynch Visa (declined). Capital One immediately generated a fraud alert which I called to explain. Customer service rep stayed on the line as I tried again with Capital One, and again was declined. Capital One said they were not declining the charge, so there was probably an issue with the SNCF processing system.

So I remembered visiting this forum several months ago, came back to it, read through all the posts, and in the process my SNCF reservation timed out (10 minute limit). So on a hunch I re-booked and again tried my Capital One card. And SUCCESS! Maybe it took a few minutes from my call to Capital One for the change they made to my account to take hold?

Stay tuned as I'll be booking our return PREM to Paris in a couple of days.

Just a few days ago I booked tickets from Lyon to Paris on the SCNF french website. Our trip is in April. Had no problem with my American Express. My time was worth the transaction fee to get it done on the first try. It looks like there is still a glitch somewhere since took Rumseydog five tries.

I've had the the same issue for the past several weeks, after purchasing tickets for years online. Today, my Mastercard would not work again, but American Express did. Mastercard told me that the error they were getting was that incorrect information was being submitted -- very strange!!

One further possible solution (haven't searched above to see if it's already been mentioned)

www.capitainetrain.com

It's a private website which links directly to the French Railways (SNCF's) ticketing system to sell SNCF tickets in competition with SNCF's own websites. They were allowed to do this after SNCF lost a court case about anti-competitive behaviour. They are the David to SNCF's Goliath.

You can use www.capitainetrain.com to buy train tickets from or within France wherever you live in the world, as long as you get a print-at-home or collect-at-station option, which you usually do for most journeys starting in France

Exactly the same trains, at exactly the same cheap prices as tgv-europe.com or voyages-sncf.com, and no extra fees to pay.

No Machiavellian redirects, no games with IP addresses, and so far no credit card problems reported...

The only drawbacks? It's in French. But simply use the Google Chrome browser with its automatic translation. It also can't sell some international sleeper trains. So far, one US user reports success!

Great info! Thank you very much for posting!

I have to purchase tickets CDG TGV to Avignon, and then Brive-la-Gaillarde to Brussels in a couple of weeks and was dreading the process,but this looks promising! I don't speak any French and am on a Mac so I don't think I can/want to use Google Chrome, but I can probably figure out the words with Google Translate.


Man in Seat 61, you mention it should work in the US:

<<as long as you get a print-at-home or collect-at-station option, which you usually do for most journeys starting in France>>

but how will I know before paying if I am getting that option - do you know when it appears?? Think you might do a step by step translation on your site (which I love by the way and have referred to many times)? hint hint :)

It worked for me!

Super, super easy.

I had sent an email with a few questions to Capitaine Train before the purchase and got a prompt response from Jonathan, who was very kind and helpful.

I did call my cc card bank, Chase, to let them know I was making the purchase and they also put me through to Visa so they would know as well. A verified by Visa window popped up but I didn't have to do anything with it, it just automatically authorized.

Capitaine Traine emailed my tickets straight to me. Done and done!

I tried to buy tickets last night on tgv-europe.com. I tried 3 different credit cards, and all 3 were denied. Tried capitainetrain.com this morning, and I have my tickets. Man in Seat 61--thanks very much for the information!!

I'll have to remember that if I have trouble again (although I never did after I notified my credit card -- to the person who asked, I always notify them a day ahead, I wouldn't presume you can immediately buy one a few seconds after notifying the CC company -- often computer systems refresh at night, for example, but I would just assume it would take some time).

I don't really understand how SNCF could lose a court case about "anti competitive" behavior about selling its own tickets as it's a quasi-public utility as I understand it. But in any case, if capitainetrain sells SNCF tickets for the same price as SNCF with no markup or distribution fee (is there one?), then I don't really understand their business model. How do they make money?

Good to know about this alternate source for train tickets.
I'm also curious about how Capitaine Train makes money. Perhaps SNCF and other rail systems consider them travel agents and pay commission? In any event, if US and Canadian issued credit cards are accepted without problems, it will be very successful with ticket seekers on this side of the Atlantic.

I don't know the answer to your question, Christina, but I also had good luck with Capitainetrain. I posted about my experience on this thread a few days ago.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...t-cards.cfm?54

AND I want to mention that when I went back to Captaine Traine for a second purchase 10 days after the first (right at the 90 day window for prems) I checked the SNCF site for pricing immediately before going over to CT website. The price on CT was much lower - 29 euro - vs SNCF. It was like 2/3 the price. I wondered if they still had access to a fare bucket that SNCF had already sold out of?? I apparently got the last two tickets at that price because, just for grins, I modeled a new purchase on CT after my tix were purchased and it was back up to the higher price showing on the SNCF site.

I was very happy with that price, 29 euro Marseille direct to Brussels, what a fantastic deal.

Thanks again Man in Seat 61!

Another benefit of Capitaine Train is that there does not appear to be the 24 hour wait for a re-try if your credit card is declined, as there is on sncf.com. Last night I tried to purchase a ticket for my son on sncf.com, using his credit card. (He had called his credit card provider the night before to tell them to expect the charge.) The charge was declined. I then tried Capitaine, and the charge was again denied.

In the meantime, my son's provider called him to ask him about the charge, and he okayed it. I tried sncf again, and the charge was denied. Tried Capitaine, and the charge went through.

I think Capitaine Train was a fantastic suggestion by the Man in Seat 61!

As I mentioned on the thread referenced above, I emailed the SNCF group service about buying tickets for 12 people Paris to Dijon on May 25. That was around Feb. 18, a week before those tickets would become available.

This past Monday, Mar. 11, I finally got the following response.

Dear Sir, Dear Madam,

We hereby acknowledge receipt of your E-mail indicating your interest to travel with SNCF. We regret to inform you that we are unable to follow up your request and that you need to contact the departure network of your country, which is either of the following:

- [email protected] if you live in Belgium, Holland or Luxembourg;

- [email protected] if you live in Italy;

- [email protected] if you live in United Kingdom or in Irland;

- [email protected] if you live un the United States, Canada or Mexico;

- [email protected]

- [email protected] if you live in another country.


For any other query, feel free to contact us:

- By telephone: 00 33 810 879 479

- By fax: 00 33 810 875 475

- By e-mail: [email protected] Best regards,

Your Travel advisor


Apparently the SNCF doesn't want us foreigners buying tickets on their website, at least not more than 6 at a time. Sheesh!

Thank goodness (and Man in Seat 61!) for Capitaine Train.

Ugh - I wish I didn't have to participate in this thread, but I've just wasted more than an hour of my life (not to mention my company's time!) trying to book Figueres - Paris TGV tickets, which have FINALLY opened up for sale for our travel date in late May.

Tried several credit cards on the voyages-sncf site and all were denied (there was no indication about "three strikes, you're out," although I'm not surprised.) And yes, I called my credit card company and they didn't even see a charge attempting to come through.

I tried the chat, and he sent me a link, which sent me to a form to fill out, to which I received a response by email sending me to the rail-europe site!!

I will try the Capitaine Train site later from home since it wants me to download another browser and I just can't do that on my work PC.

I'm so bummed. I had the nice "duo vis-a-vis" two-seater facing each other on the upper deck and everything. I'm guessing those won't last long.

Sigh.

Ooh - problem solved already thanks to Capitaine Train (and the Man in Seat 61 for telling us about it, of course).

My husband just purchased our vis-a-vis upper level seats on the Capitaine Train site at home - and using our Capital One card (no FX fees). Our tickets are printed already!

Now to tackle the RENFE site. ;-)

Just wanted to update the info contained in this and other threads about the need to sign up for Verifed by Visa, 3D Secure or MasterCard Secure to buy SNCF or CapitaineTrain train tickets. It seems that these services are no longer offered by U.S credit card companies due to numerous phishing attacks.

All the credit card companies told me they've worked out a way to verify without the need for customers to sign up on the verification sites. My Chase Visa worked fine today.

thanks for the update. I have a Chase CC and called them about the Verified by Visa signup and they literally had no idea what I was talking about. It really irritates me when an average consumer knows more about something than people when it is their job and profession to know. I also called B of A as they even say they participate in Verified by Visa right on their website! So I figured no problem, but I called and no one (talked to 3 people) had any idea what I was talking about, even when I showed them their exact webpage saying they participate in it. Then some guy tried to be helpful and got instructions as to how I was supposed to sign up, but they were bogus (sent me to some page of theirs about privacy statements). I gave up at that point.

I encountered this problem as well today. Used both credit cards, called both credit card companies -- they say the transaction never got to them (so was not technically "declined") and there were no special fraud restrictions in place. Tried saying I was from France on the SNCF form (vs. USA), that didn't work.

What DID WORK was selecting the PAYPAL option, and then via PayPal, having the $$ debited from my checking account.

Yay!

--Mary

I ran into the same problem trying to book a TGV ticket from Paris to Avignon on scnf.com, using the french language option. I found an iDTGV ticket for a lot less than expected but couldn't complete the purchase with my US credit card. I tried a couple of times and couldn't understand the reason why it wouldn't go through, I contacted my bank and they assured me that they had not declined the charge, in fact the charge had not been submitted. I called scnf on the phone and they told me it could be the US card but that it shouldn't be the case since I had used it successfully with other french vendors in preparation for this trip and suggested I tried again. Finally, I decided to check with Fodors Forum talk, and sure enough, I found I wasn't alone in my predicament! Using captainetrain.com (which took me to www.trainline.eu) I found the same iDTGV low fare ticket and was able to complete the purchase without any trouble at all. Thank you all for your posts and for sharing your experience - believe me, I always refer to Fodors Forum Talk but from now on, this is where I will start my planning!

It has something to do with some software SNCF uses, I have no idea why they cannot accept US credit cards when other foreign onlin
vendors can (like captaintrain or whatever they are now). The fact that some other foreign website accepts it (like a hotel or whatever) doesn't have anything to do with SNCF being able to, in my experience. It's SNCF, you'd think a big company like that could figure it out.

If you want to hear something really funny, I had the same thing happen to me when I went to a SNCF boutique store in Paris proper. Even in the actual office, they could not run through my US Visa or MC credit card, I thought it was just an online issue. They could run through an Amex in that store, though, which was my last hope. I have never had that happen in any other store in Paris.

To be honest, I've had the same problems with the Spanish railroad website, Renfe. The only thing that worked was Paypal.

That is an anti-laundering policy.
French institutions are well aware of the fact that US travelers are drug dealers and therefore built a financial wall to protect themselves.

Mexican credit card work though, just get one !

Just use www.trainline.com - partner with SNCF with exact same schedules and prices and no issues with American cc's. I never had a problem with using my American cc on SNCF, but many people did, so I have to believe it's a problem. With my Carte Bleue obviously it's a non-issue now.