Train Ticketing Problem/Question
 

I used the SNCF (France) web site to purchase our tickets for April travel by train from Milan to Strasbourg through Basel. I thought I would be able to print the tickets myself but the confirmation e-mail says I need to pick them up at an SNCF Kiosk or Boutique. How do I do that while in Italy (Florence, Venice, or Milan)?

Thanks for your help.

Unfortunately, you don't.

The first thing to check on any booking website is delivery/collection arrangements.

Voyages-sncf.com only allows collection at their own (French) stations or on SOME types of route and ticket they offer print-your-own tickets. So although it will happily BOOK inwards Milan to Paris tickets, it won't let you collect them in Italy, or let you print them out. They will post tickets to other European countries, but only if you pre-select that country and ticket that option.

For journeys starting in Italy, you cn use Italian Railways www.trenitalia.com to book, with collection at Italian stations.

There MAY be an SNCF/Rail Europe office in Milan, worth doing some Googling. If so, they MAY be able to retreive your booking.

Supposedly you can pick up your tickets from a Rail Europe office for a 7€ fee. I found one down the street from Milan Centrale, but I would contact Rail Europe to make sure it's possible and the office is still open. If not, I would look at cancellation policy and rebook with Trenitalia. Generally, if you book tickets for travel between countries, you can only pick up the tickets from/in the country you booked with so you need to use the departure country when booking.


Rail Europe Italia
Via Vitruvio, 1
20124 Milan
Italy

Thanks to both of you for the advice. I have already tried to e-mail the Milan office of Rail Europe at the e-mail addresses on their website, and for both addresses the inboxes are full. Does anyone in Milan or with knowledge of Milan know whether that office is still in business?

Also, when I "purchased" the tickets I was not allowed to make seat reservations. Does this seem normal?

Man_in_seat_61: Both the Italian and the English versions of the Trenitalia website tell me those tickets must be booked in Italy. I cannot make a reservation/purchase from the USA. If I cancel the tickets I tried to purchase from SNCF, what other choice do I have to buy the tickets before leaving the USA?

I made a similar journey last month, from Firenze to Basel changing at Milano. I booked (from the United Kingdom) via the Trenitalia website and picked up the ticket from a machine at the first convenient station in Italy which happened to be Palermo.
Trains are very rarely fully booked far in advance, so in most cases you can book when you arrive in the country.

Thanks, GeoffHamer. We prefer the security of having tickets (or at least paid confirmations) in hand when we travel to places where we have very limited language skills, like Italy.

If the ones we bought don't work out (and I have exchanged e-mails with SNCF in France about it, but do not yet have a definitive answer) I will just "eat" the inexpensive tickets I bought (they are non-refundable), buy new ones through RailEurope USA, and consider it a learning experience.

The Trenitalia website will not let me purchase tickets from the USA.

I have also asked the helful person at the hotel in Milan to chaeck with the Rail Europe Italia office there to see if they can issue the tickets--initially SNCF told me they need to be issued in France. Oh well!!

The "femme gentille" at SNCF checked for me and confirmed that the tickets can indeed be picked up (for an 8 euro fee) at what I assume must be an SNCF contract office within Rail Europe Italia in Milan, so we will plan on doing that and hope for the best.

Thanks again for the info/advice.

While you are in Milan Centrale you will notice rows of ticket machines. They are touch screen and you can select English. Very easy to use to purchase tickets. You can do some trial runs without purchasing so you will feel more confident next time you need to buy tickets. Here's a video that walks you through it.
http://www.webvisionitaly.com/search.php?act=&&pos_=7#

Opps. He shows how to use the old type machines first and then the new touch screens.

kybourbon--With our low-tech USA credit cards (no chip) wouldn't we need to use cash at those machines?

No, your credit card will work fine as long as you've notified them in advance you will be using it in Europe so they don't block it. Mine (no chip) works fine in the ticket machines. I use my credit union Mastercard the most because they don't charge the fees that some credit cards do for international purchases. There are rows of machines that take credit cards and then there are others that are marked cash only. Milan also will have manned ticket windows if you want a person to wait on you.

http://www.grandistazioni.it/cms/v/i...003f16f90aRCRD

http://www.grandistazioni.it/cms/v/i...003f16f90aRCRD