I must be doing something wrong. I've read the posts about the process for ordering TGV tickets - and I braced myself for a frustrating evening. After several failed attempts on SNCF (and rereading the great instructions offered by a fellow fodorite) I finally made it through the process to the point where I saw the fares. Yikes -- for two fully refundable roundtrip tickets from Paris/CDG to Avignon -- approx. $1000 US. Can that be?? We arrive in Paris on Sept. 2 and depart on Sept 17. We're still 60 days out but possibly I should have paid attention to this sooner and booked 90 days out. Even the lowest fare I found (for two nonrefundable tickets) is over $600.

Am I doing something wrong?

At this point we're considering renting a car in Paris and driving to Avignon. We've rented a house in Caromb and were planning on renting a car in Avignon anyway -- we just thought it would be more fun (and convenient) to take the train after a long flight from the west coast.

Would appreciate any advice or insights. Thanks!

> Paris/CDG to Avignon for USD1000.--?

Simply put, Impossible. Something must have gone wrong on what you did. The full fare (fully refundable)is as I checked €75.20 per person in 2nd cls. The price cannnot get higher than that.

Are you sure ?:
- The price you got is for Paris-Avignon DIRECT ?
- The price you got is really for 2 persons. USD1000 seems more like a fare for 10 persons.

It's impossible, even for 1st class and no discount
Did you look how many tickets were in your shopping cart ? (it doesn't clear automatically)

Not sure what you did. Sounds like perhaps what the other poster suggested, you had several tickets in your basket. Full fare CDG-Avignon in first is 254 euros. I am seeing fares as low as 50 euros (non refundable) each way in first for your dates.

Are you selecting Avignon TGV as your final destination? Trains are direct to this station unlike the avignon central station.

Let me know if I can assist. If you provide the times you want to travel I can price it out for you as well and see if I can guide you down the right path.

Hi cm,

www.voyages-sncf.com currently has 1cl PREMS for 50E for the 07:20 and 54.90 for the 07:54 on Sept 2.

The highest price I could find was about 100E for full fare.



Try again.

I dont think my post was clear on one point. The 254 euros full fare is round trip per person. The 50 euros prems are one way so 100 euros for round trip per person.

Ok, I missed the round trip part. Then USD1000 seems more like for 4 persons So it is possible your shopping cart has the ticket for 4 persons. As norween suggested it doesn't clear automatically when you repeat the booking procedure. Still you can see it on the screen before you make the payment.

I'm going from Paris to Avignon next week and snagged a round trip ticket in 1st class for only 100 € -- the promo on 1st class was offering tickets cheaper than in 2nd class.

Keroac, I did the same. GVA-PAR oneway €50 in 1st cls. There was Prem's 2nd cls for the same €50. Both Prem's hence self-printable. Who would take 2nd cls. in this case?

whar does GVA-PAR mean ?

Perhaps Geneva - Paris

Geneva - Paris, that's right.

Good morning and thanks for all of the replies - I am comforted to know that I have obviously done something wrong. I'm going to have a cup of coffee and try the process again. MorganB - yes, we are going from from CDG to Avignon TGV. Our flight is scheduled to arrive at CDG at around 9:35 am and we could get the TGV at the airport around 11:25 direct to Avignon TGV. I'm concerned about getting a nonrefundable ticket in the event of delays so I'm hoping we can get a fully refundable ticket at 254 euros or less (per person). I'll report back - and, thanks so much!

SOS -- yes, indeed I was buying multiple tickets last night -- so, this morning I started fresh and we decided to get a second class refundable ticket from CDG and a second class non-refundable return ticket (since we're spending the last night near the airport we don't have to worry about missing a flight) -- the total fare came to 288 euros -- great. BUT - now we can't pay for the tickets on-line -- no matter which delivery method we choose we get a message that says we cannot use the e-caret blueu system to pay. What now?? I guess we've timed out and will need to start again away -- and we did not choose the mail options (based on your advice). Any idea what the problem is? We understand we need to collect our ticket once we get to France -- but we need to pay and get a confirmation # here. Right. Please advise . . . and, thanks!

Perhaps the payment system was down? Frankly odds are you can just walk up to the counter and buy them if you are going full fare. September all of the holidays are over. In fact you can probably quality for a discover stay which is a min of 25 percent off by just walking up to the counter.

Here is what I would do since you arent going for the ultra cheap prems:

Make a reservation about 3 days before you leave. Select reservation only without payment. Check to make sure that the reservation expires 30 mins before the departure of the train. Show up at the ticket counter with the reservation number and purchase the tickets. That way at least you could get 25 percent off.

whoops typo:

quality = qualify

Also have you already purchased your plane tickets? Many airlines code share with the SNCF so you can get your train ticket built right into your airfare and dont have to worry about being late.

The message about the e-carte bleue is systematic
the e-carte bleue (i don't know if it exists in the USA) is a VIRTUAL banking card (it has a very short validity and is to be used for online payment) the SNCF doesn't accept this very specific type of card
To be able to pay online you have to select a type of 'classic' card (Visa, Matercard, ...)

I need to give this a rest for a couple of hours my frustration is beginning to build - maybe the system is temporarily down as you suggest.

I like your suggestion about waiting until three days before our departure -- I was just concerned that prices would keep rising each day closer to departure. What would be the consequences of bypassing the internet altogether and just waiting until we arrive at CDG and walking up to the counter and purchasing a ticket then? Yes - I guess the train we want could be sold out so that is a big risk. But, are tickets bought the day of departure normally less expensive or more expensive? Are trains often sold out?

I hate to admit it -- but at times like this I sort of miss the good old days when travel agents handled all of these details

More later.

With your chosen date, i would suggest booking : Sept 2 is a saturday (often crowded) and school begins on sept 3 (since many rentals are saturday to saturday, this will be the day many families will travel, maybe not Paris-Avignon, rather Avignon-Paris, but....)
I just tried, the system is up and working (i stopped when entering my card number)
And, yes, i saw the message about the e-carte bleue, but as i wrote before, it's just a notification that you can't use this very type of card on the site since you will - of course - never be able to show a virtual card when picking your tickets)