TGV Etiquette
 

Is there a queque for boarding the TGV departing CDG for Lyon? I presumed (haven't used TGV before) with requried seat reservations our seats would be "secure" and we could just hop on the correct car. Some posts have mentioned "lining" up to get on early to get a seat. What is the proper etiquette?
Thanks,

no, no formal queue. If there are a lot of people trying to get on at one time, there may be a few people trying to get on the same car and a slight queue at that car door. I've taken that train and there wasn't any queue when I did. I just waited on the platform until the train came, and then got on. You can just get on the right car, and with a seat reservation there is no worry about that. People just like to get on, get settled, and grab spaces for their luggage, I think. I don't remember reading posts about queues to get a seat on a reserved TGV.

Now I am having second thoughts from your post, wondering if somehow I have blocked out all queues (I truly don't ever remember reading such posts) but I honestly can't remember ever being in a queue to get on a TGV.

Hi J,

Brits queue. Continentals mob. :)

With reserved seats there should be no issue with needing to get on early to secure them. That said on a recent trip from Lille to Paris we found two young men in our seats. They moved along readily when we arrived and looked for seats elswhere. I have no idea why they did not have reserved seats.

Ira...you can tell I haven't been to the continent or across the pond for that matter in quite awhile. I had forgotten about "mob" lines...first introduced to those in Lech for a ski lift in the 70's ..oh lah what an education that was :)

So, if I'm concerned about luggage space get to the front of the platform would be the way to go.

There should not be a mob - or long line - just a few people taking a moment to get their luggage on.

But be aware that people do take seats not belonging to them - and you may have to ask them to move along.

This happened to us on a train from from Frankfurt to Prague. They didn't want to move - since their luggage was already stowed - but we insisted, since we didn;t know how full the train would be. Turns out they didn;t even have First Class tickets - and claimed they didn;t know trains had classes (who knows? maybe they didn't?).

Shortly after we started the conductor shooed them down to a second class car.

&quot;<i>So, if I'm concerned about luggage space get to the front of the platform would be the way to go. </i>&quot;

Not necessarily - you'd want to stand near where the front of <u>your car</u> is/will be. The front of the platform might be a loooooong way from your car.

What you do is look at the large diagrams along the train tracks. They will show you where to wait for your car; then you just grab your luggage and climb on. All TGV seats require reservations; so there's no need to worry that there won't be adequate numbers of seats.

I think the &quot;queue&quot; is getting on the correct car. Go to that part of the platform and enter.

The TGV platforms have a diagram of the car set up: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 is the most common, but when trains are cobbled together from different points it can be something like 1-2-3-4-11-12-13-14-15-16. The platforms also have letter markers, generally using the end of the alphabet S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z for example. So the diagram might show you that car #4 will be at the W position. People position themselves accordingly and just get on the train when it arrives.

If you are leaving from a terminus station like Paris or Marseille, the platform is listed 20 minutes before departure and people just get on the train any time up to the last minute (and I always admire those people who are still so nonchalant when they are arriving with 30 seconds to spare).