you usually having the option of printing your own ticket. RailEurope says they have to mail you most tickets>

outdated information?

yes isolated examples of $100 more can be had but you are comparing apples to oranges as RE's tickets are generally full-fare fully flexible tickets and the one you are comparing them to are probably non-changeable non-refundable and must be booked months in advance to get - well that is what I suspect is the case here - they are not the same type of tickets. RE sells full-fare tickets and compare those to full-fare tickets to see what the difference is.

>>>So the Fodor mantra that RailEurope always outrageously rips off folks is not always true? And it is not always or nearly always true - but folks who never investigate their pricing will hear someone else here say it and repeat it as fact.<<<

I'm always curious about the RE markups so I've looked this up. RE does offer a print your own ticket on this train (not all). The fee is $7.95.

This ticket could have easily been booked on the Belgian train website without a fee in English (under Netherlands you can select four different languages on their website). While the markup isn't huge on this particular ticket, one ticket I looked at last week had a markup of $100 on RE.

Here's the breakdown for the 7:05am TGV Brussels Midi to Avignon.

RE:
Ticket - $80
RE Fee - $7.95(when you check print at home option)
Total - $87.95

Belgian website:
Ticket - 58€ = $75.85 (current exchange rate)
Belgian Fee - 0
Your credit card exchange fee - $.76 (most credit cards charge 1% as mine does)
Total - $76.61

You've paid RailEurope $11.34 more to book on their website (about 15% for this ticket).

The Belgian website:

http://www.b-europe.com/Travel/Booki...stepTravelWish

I only priced one ticket. I don't know if RE charges the fee per ticket or for the entire order.

But what about my other ticket from Avgnon to Paris? Assuming that I would still need to book that through SNCF or RE.

I'm okay with $11 to be able to one shot book and have less chance for things to get screwed up.

I'm okay with $11 to be able to one shot book and have less chance for things to get screwed up.>

yes all of 11 euros! - You'd probably spend a few hours actually trying to book online - well worth the time IMO though some will say even if you spend one euro more and have to spend hours doing it you should!

(most credit cards charge 1% as mine does)>

all mine charge 3% as many IME do

and what exchange rate did kybourbon use - if it's the one in the paper's business page then that is not the actual effective rate your credit card company would have - meaning that there for some at least nearly no difference in pricing - anyway the normal traveler would happily pay $11 then navigating unfamiliar web sites, which can, to wit many Fodor posts, be time-consuming and frustrating - oh well to save the price of a cup of coffee in Europe some folks will spend hours!