tgv - how to book
 

Which is the best way to buy Tgv tickets from USA for travel from Avignon to Paris?

Go to www.sncf.fr and look in the top left-hand part of the home page screen. There will almost certainly be PREM's fares (25 euros apiece from Avignon to Paris). If there aren't any, keep trying until there are.

Follow the directions for booking the fare, give your country of origin as France, and print out the ticket confirmation. Make sure when you get to France you have the same credit card with you that you used to buy the ticket.

You won't need to do anything else with a PREM ticket. If you purchase a regular ticket, you'll need to put France in as your country of origin, pick the ticket up when you get to France (again, using the same credit card you used to purchase it online), and composte your ticket (get it punched at at the orange machine at the station).

Thanks-StCirq- but how soon can I buy for travel in May? Is this the only way - or can I call sncf directly? How about thru Raileurope?

You can't book on the website until 60 days before your trip. Yes, there's a number you can call for SNCF, but I don't have it (I'm sure someone here does, though), and I've never called so I don't know if you can get around the 60-day problem that way.

Forget RailEurope unless you want to pay at least 30 percent more than you need to.

And the PREM's fares are only available online - so I would suggest you just wait until 60 days before your trip and book them. They're not going to run out of tickets between Avignon and Paris - there's a train every hour or two every day.

The number of the English-spoken line at SNCF is

011 33 8 92 35 35 39

It will be a toll call but shouldn't take long.

St.-Cirq: why put France as the country of origin? Will the police come after me if I use USA?

StCirq....I'm trying to book 2 tickets from Avignon to Paris(TGV) on April 27th, first class at around 9:15AM. I don't see "prem" tickets listed anywhere,and I'm getting a price of over 100 euro for each ticket. Am I doing something wrong? By the way, when I enter "www.sncf.fr" I get switched to www.sncf.com. Does this have anything to do with no listing of prem tickets on the upper left hand side of the home page. HEEELP...and thanks.
Martha

Underhill: SNCF does not ship tickets to the USA, so if you put in USA as your place of residence, you'll be bumped to a new page where you have to put in your specific address, and then they will tell you you can't get your tickets. IN order to pick tickets up at a SNCF boutique or train station in France, you must tell them you reside in France - otherwise the website doesn't allow you to order tickets online. Quirky.

The only way I know to get SNCF tickets online is to specify:

1. That you will pick the tickets up at a billetterie automatique or guichet in France, and
2. That your place of origin is in France.

If you do that, as I did today to book a ticket on March 31 from Paris to Périgueux, the site responds nicely and asks you for your address - even though it doesn't need it because it's not sending you tickets. I put in my USA address, along with a French cell phone number, just to confuse the heck out of their computer system, and voilà! tickets ordered and confirmed.

Martha:

No, www.sncf.com is the same as www.sncf.fr as far as I know. On the home page in the upper left-hand corner, the PREMs fares are listed. If you don't see fares between Paris and Avignon listed, just keep checking. The fares listed change several times a day, and the Paris-Avignon line is regularly listed. What I'm not sure of is whether the PREMs fares are good BACK to Paris - never checked on that.

But anyway, 100 euros is more than I've ever paid, even without a PREMs fare. I usually pay around 40 euros, without the PREMs fare.

Good luck.

Thanks so much, StCirq...I found the prems using the French language screen. It doesn't appear on the English language screen,at least not for me. Using the French screen, I got a prem price of 50 euros each. Should I wait for a better price? By the way, it appears that all prem tickets are for 2nd class. Is that correct? I don't mind taking second class,but would prefer a first class prem if possible. Thanks so much for your quick reply and helpful advice.
Martha

Martha: I should have mentioned that I think the PREMs fares are only available on the French site - sorry.

I don't think you have a choice of 1st class with the PREMs. Don't worry, though, second class is not that different. Just go for it!

Happy travels.

StCirq....is that $50 prem ticket well priced, or should I wait for a $25 ticket? Do the prem seats sell out fast? I will be traveling in about seven weeks. You've been so very helpful....I really appreciate it.

Martha:

50€ isn't a bad price, but since you have 7 weeks to go, I'd keep an eye on it for another week or two. It could very well go down to 25€ - it often does.

Can we just purchase the Prems and then print out the tickets ourselves? It seems like that would be easiest of all. Have you tried doing that? Or if there a reason why it can't be done?

This is a great thread. Everytime I have a question, you answer it.
Here is my question, when I get to the form for filling in my personal information, in French it states, "Recevoir votre billet gratuitement par corrier at gagner 65 points maximiles" I am tranlating this to mean, they will send me my tickets free and I will get 65 points from maximiles." I tried to unselect the button but it will not let me.
So, I typed in a phoney address for Gabon, (why do they let you select Guam and Tavalu, but not the USA?)and I can get to the credit card payment page. Since, I am just practicing I do not know what happens next. Do I need to be concerned about Maximiles sending my tickets to Gabon?

Yes, Kristinelaine, you print out the PREMs tickets and then you don't have to bother going to the guichet at the train station - that's the whole point.

Merrymice, I have no idea what is going on with that.Maximiles is basically a frequent flyer-type program associated with the SCNF. I belong to it and get miles on train travel similar to miles one would get on air travel. But I have no idea what it means when it's telling you you'd get 65 Maximiles if you had your ticket delivered by courier. I suspect it's just some promotion by SNCF.
DO NOT USE GABON as the address at which you will pick up the tickets. Use France, and pick them up at any SNCF station or boutique

Thank you, StCirq, you have the patience of a saint :) I now feel confident enough to buy my tickets online and in French.

Are you saying that the PREM ticket is one that is good for one trip on the TGV from Paris to Avignon? Would I still need to buy seat assignments? I had not heard of these before. Thanks.

As for why you can pick "Gabon" and not "USA", I would suspect that it's because the SCNF isn't a shareholder of a company selling overpriced train tickets in Gabon.

Hi GerryB,

The TGV trains have assigned seating. It comes with the ticket.