TVG train-1st or 2nd class?
 

We will be travelling from Avignon to Paris CDG Airport. Appr 3 hr trip. Are the 1st class seats more comfortable? I live in the US and am thinking of Amtrak, so maybe my assumptions are incorrect. Do you folks recommend 1st or 2nd class? It's 15 Euro pp difference. Not much. Someone told us 2nd class has less people and is quieter, and I'm just finding that hard to believe! Thanks in advance.

Second class is fine, and the ride is not that long.

Someone told you wrong! First class has fewer people and is quieter, less crowded and the seats are slightly larger.

On some trains I actually prefer second class (Thalys) often less crowed and less noisy.
On french TGV's I am of two minds - have had horrendous experience in first class (actually had to flee the wagon and go to second class).
Also for 3 hours... not a big deal.
But on average, first is slightly more confortable (bigger seats and reclining a little bit more).
German first class on ICE is defintely worth it however.

For 15 euros take the first class - much larger seats and solo seats with just one row of seats - an aisle and a window seat can be facing each other or not - 2nd class always 2 x 2 - I just love the so-called isolated seats.

Plus probably more empty seats I can always find an empty seat to move to if I don't like my assigned seat and often find an empty seat nearby to put my bags on - stowing baggage is a big benefit of first class.

Now if the difference was great than 15 euros but for that - to me it's a no-brainer. And no screaming babies in first class either!

For a look at things like class differences and French trains in general check www.seat61.com - great info on discounted seats; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Many TGVs are Duplexes now - duble-deckers and the view up top if IME far surperior to the view in the sunken lower level where views are often obscured by windlbocks, retaining walls, etc - definitely go for the upper deck.

An aside, when you are ready to book, use --
https://www.capitainetrain.com

so as to avoid issues with your U.S. Credit card being rejected. Same fares.

We always take first class when the fares are 25E per person or less than 2nd class. More room for us and the luggage, and fewer people trying to scamper on/off the train at the same time.

Stu Dudley

Thanks, all. Yes, Debit, I got the schedule and prices on Captaine Train @ someone's recommendation.

No one can tell you if it's "worth it", but yes, of course first class is more comfortable.

Really odd - I was able to buy idTGV online with my credit card, no problem (I had called the bank to let them know about upcoming charge).

Couple of weeks later, I tried to buy in sncf, after making same call to bank and no luck. Tried 2 cards. No go. I ended up using capitaine train, no problem.

Debit - also a Native NYer ;)

The difference to a person like me, on a budget, is negligible. But if I can buy in advance and get discounted 1st class for about the same as 2nd, then I do, for the reasons mentioned above. But 2nd is perfectly fine on civilized European trains in most cases.

2nd class is perfectly fine but for the salient reasons Stu Dudley just above says if not much more first-class is kind of a no-brainer and for 15 euros certainly so IMO.

Funny, I've checked my train reservation AFTER my trip this wednesday.
I was in first class but travelled 2d class. Found it confortable...

For return trip (in one hour) I'm booked on first again.
Will try to sit at my seat, in first...
Will update on monday :-)

People ask this all the time and no one can tell you whether the price difference is going to be worth it to you or how much that small amount of extra money means to you in your budget that you are debating about it.

Yes, it is "nicer", that's why it costs more.

For a 3 hour trip, I would accept to pay 15 euros more.

Due to the small difference in cost, we too have decided to take the Avignon-CDG via first class this September. But we have travelled in second through France, Spain & Switzerland with no crowding, no luggage area issues, or crowds.

Honestly.
Didn't see any difference
Seat in first larger but I still can fit in the one in second.
Depends more on your neighbors.
I worked and slept in second.
I worked and slept in first.
Quiet in both this week.

There is a reason manhy folks pay more for first class - being on a business expense accont probably being the foremost or discounted tickets - and seniors I believe can get special first class fares with a Senior Pass - so first class is IME much more quiet and reserved due to the nature of the clientele and as always IME significantly more relaxed though 2nd class ain't, again, no cattle car on the very modern TGV trains. Non-TGV trains can IME see a bigger difference with often seriously overcrowding in 2nd on the ones I always take from Les Aubrias-Orleans to Paris - some in 2nd class SRO at other times OK - a crap shoot but TGVs have controlled capacity so you can't get mob scenes.

"Non-TGV trains can IME see a bigger difference..."

What I was thinking when I wrote "...in most cases", on most of the trains tourists traveling between cities use. I got a cheap fare from Dijon once, was in no hurry and the difference was noticeable on the non-TGV local train. Regional?

Always take first class if it is within your budget.

This living and breathing human being is consistently astonished at how many people believe that silence is so important and that the presence of children behaving like children is poison.

A train is not a hotel room.

Being a person who isn't a natural lover of children not my own, I think that assessment is a bit harsh, k. I feel the same way about most dogs not my own but respect those who have feelings for children & dogs, despite my lack. Maybe, instead of astonishment, you could think about feeling sorry for us, or at least recognize that people have multitudes of different affinities. Most of us, I suspect, are good people despite it. And by the way, I don't care for noisy adults either.

I like booking my tickets on www.capitainetrain.com because they list both 1st and 2nd class fares side by side. I've seen many times where the 1st class ticket is cheaper than the 2nd class ticket.

After sitting in a full 2nd class car on a ride from Hendaye to Paris, I plan on choosing 1st class whenever possible and especially on longer rides.

Some comments here are not necessarily accurate :
On SNCF you can at time have first class tickes cheaper than than second class a little bit later.
So about the comment of differenciation of clients, you can buy a first class and be in a coach full of clients of second class, who will have paid half the price you did.

Secondly, less on TGV, but clearly on Thalys, people in second can behave better than people on first, who, because their boss paid more, consider they have extra rights. Allowing them to be arrogant towards the catering personal, for example, or speak loudly on their phone.

On the opposite, I was recently in the first, behind a guy who spent half an hour explaining (loudly) to his boss that he had to drop his hash because customs were too close to him. Not really the kind of people I love to travel with.

Lastly, I'm a natural hater of people who don't like children. If one cannot stand children one should travel by himself/herself by car or private shuttle and spend his/her vacation on a remote private island.

After sitting in a full 2nd class car on a ride from Hendaye to Paris, I plan on choosing 1st class whenever possible and especially on longer rides.>

Some folks like me find first class much more relaxing - most folks really yet the Fodor's mantra is 2nd class is the same as first class - nothing could be less true IME of decades of European rail travel.

I been in both 1st and 2nd and haven't noticed a ban on babies, screaming or otherwise, in 1st. Maybe the official French Baby Police were on strike. I hear they can be quite strict.

Babies and children are less annoying than adults who behave like babies.

I absolutely love 1st class on the TGV, Eurostar, Thalys or Lyria and I choose 1st class whenever the fare is reasonable compared to 2nd class. However, for people who want calm and quiet, I must say that the mobile phone business addicts or just colleagues taking the train together can be far more annoying than any family traveling with children. Families at least try to keep their children quiet while the Masters of the World feel that anything they do is perfectly fine. Therefore, if you require <b>real</b> peace and quiet, travel in 1st class on the weekend only.

kerouac,

Are there not any "silent" wagons on SNCF trains? There are on German long-distance trains. I also just booked a trip from home to Paris, and I was able to reserve a seat in a quiet car. Don't know if that will be SNCF or DB though.

s

On the iDTGV trains you can choose "Zen" or "Zap" cars.

Theoretically, mobile phones are only supposed to used in the vestibules of TGV cars but ha ha, good luck finding many people respecting that rule.

I kind of like overhearing mobile phone calls - what folks are talking about - in Britain that is in first class but if not English then it is an annoynce.

"I also just booked a trip from home to Paris, and I was able to reserve a seat in a quiet car."

I almost always get a seat in the quiet car on ICE trains and find, alas, that people are more and more ignoring the rules. On the trip back from Heidelberg last week, one couple would not shut up (they were German speakers). Ditto for a pair of German executives (who also talked on their mobiles). I had to hunt down the conductor and ask him to get these self-centered a**holes to pipe down. (It wasn't ignorance, they looked at the Pssst stickers on the windows and shrugged or laughed)

The only thing that matters - and it doesn't matter much at all, really - is the tiny bit of extra comfort in the 1st class seats. If someone is very tall or very corpulent, he/she won't be extremely comfortable in either class, though those solo seats would be helpful for someone with long legs.

The passengers who board the trains - either in 1st or 2nd class - are beyond anyone's control. People who travel are animals - tired, stressed-out, often drunk or just plain brought up in a barn.

The only way to guarantee a completely stress-free ride is to buy up all the seats in the wagon and bar the door.