pconte

I heard at one time there was a 25% discount on AVE or Talgo train travel for trips within 48 hours arrival or departure of an international flight.

Anyone know whether this is still available?

Thanks!

-- Paul

kenderina

I have never ever heard such a thing , really I'm Spanish, though...

Robert2533

I think someone was pulling your leg. As kenderina mentioned, I've never heard of such a discount, not even when flying Iberia.

josele

There is a discount if you buy the return ticket. It is 25% I think.

WillTravel

If you look at these 2003 Rick Steves postings, this exact thing is mentioned there. So this has existed in the past. The question is whether it still exists - I have no idea, but the Spanish rail web site would be a good place to start.

WillTravel

The link to those postings:
http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/a...raintips03.htm

Do a search on "48 hours" to find the post.

Robert2533

There are always discounts if you purchase a round-trip ticket on Renfe, but not the one mentioned in this post.

You get a 20% discount on the Madrid-Toledo run when you purchase the round-trip ticket.

Chris_England

I DID see exactly that "international flight" discount on the AVE price list yesterday. But I didn't look at what you have to do to obtain the discount....

The www.renfe.es web site is quite easy to use, with a price list and timetable for the AVE in English.

pconte

Chris England: I've been using the RENFE Web site (even have an ID), but haven't seen mention of this discount. Where were you looking at the "AVE price list"?

The R/T discount is 20%, but I don't know whether it applies to "open jaw" trips, such as we're making (Madrid->Sevilla; Granada->Madrid). Haven't found any way to book that as a single trip on RENFE.

BTW, I was able to use my USA passport number as my "ID" with no problem.

Thanks for the help!

Chris_England

Knew I'd seen it somewhere.... Took me ages to find it again.

The refence I found (Conexion Tren + Avion) is shown under "ofertas nacionales" on the home page for each of the separare services (AVE, ALVIA, etc).

Unfortunately, this only applies to "internal" flights over the Med (ie from the Balearics or Ceuta or Melilla).

This does not sound the same thing at all as the "international flight" discount mentioned by the OP (I can't find that) - so apologies for the blind alley.

The list of discounts is quite interesting. Some readers will probably like the 40% reduction for people over 60.

The ida-y-vuelta discount does not (as far as I can see) apply for open-jaw trips. I would not have expected it to.

Now I've had another browse, I'm getting hooked on the TrenHotel sleeper (eg Paris-Madrid for 60-odd euros).....

elba

Chris - where did you find the offer for tren-hotel for 60 euros. I can't find it.

pconte

To close the loop ... I exchanged some e-mails with Renfe and also talked to a raileurope sales rep, and they both said there wasn't any discount for travel immediately after or before an international flight.

One thing to note is that the English and Spanish versions of the Renfe Web pages aren't equivalent, and you should look at the Spanish pages to get the complete and up-to-date info.

-- Paul

cruiseluv

THe OP didn't imagine that. I remember reading about it but never followed up as I was not taking a train within 24 hours.

Chris_England

It's the "Oferta Mini" Its €69 not €60, sorry. (€105 in Preferente). I think you have to book 14 days ahead to get that price, and I bet beds at that price are limited.

That's the low season fare: now until June, excluding Easter. High Season is €84/€124.

http://www.renfe.es/oferta_mini/index.html

Aduchamp1

Attribute this to another Rick Steve inaccuracy.

elba

Thanks Chris. I'll certainly need them in December.