AnywhereViaColorado

We will be taking the TGV train from CDG to Stasbourg on a Monday the end of September. Our plane is supposed to arrive in Paris around 11 am. We're wondering if we should book the train tickets early online or just buy them at CDG? Do these trains usually sell out? Are they cheaper if you buy them early? What if the plane gets in early or late, are tickets transferrable? Thanks for any suggestions!

grandmere

They are much cheaper if you buy them 3 months out and get more expensive the closer you get to the date. Most tickets are not transferable, there's the rub: what do you do if your plane is delayed?

Most people say that if you allow 3 hours between ETA and departure time of train, you're probably ok. I've never tried it; I always spend the first night in Paris.

Go to www.captaintrain.com and look at prices, options, etc.

Southam

The official site http://en.voyages-sncf.com/en/
will show you several layers of pricing. The ticket includes a seat reservation on a specific time and date. At a substantially higher price you may be able to buy a ticket that can be transferred to a later time. The rules are fairly clear on the site.
Any would-be train passenger needs to know about the font of all knowledge, www.seat61.com

RonZ

I see a direct train at 12:46PM, the next one around 4. As a time-saver at the station I would take a chance and buy tickets in advance for the 12:46. As to the 4 or so, you could get an earlier one in town at the Gare d'Est.

Andrew

I took the TGV from CDG to Strasbourg in 2014. I booked it ahead of time, the cheapest ticket to save money. I risked a tight connection (no checked luggage) of only 1:16 between flight arrival and train departure. In my case (before all of the terrorist attacks in Paris may have made security tighter and added more delays), I made incredible time through immigration: it took 7 minutes to get from off the plane through passport control and past baggage claim and customs. But I was almost first off the plane, and I was first in line at a passport control kiosk that just opened when I walked up. I had plenty of extra time to kill waiting for the train.

Some people say what I did was risky, but I also hated the idea of waiting extra hours at the airport after a long flight. Had I missed my original train, I could have booked the next train at full price (assuming it wasn't sold out). To me, it was worth the risk.

I booked on http://en.voyages-sncf.com/en/ . Note that it used to reject some American credit cards, so have a couple handy to try if the first fails. My second card worked.

grandmere

Captain Train is a much more user friendly site than the SNCF one, it's in English, and no problem with USA credit cards.

Took me over an hour to get through passport control on a Wed. late morning in June. Just saying.

StCirq

You've already missed the cheapest tickets, so go to captaintrain.com and book asap. I've flown into CDG countless times and almost always get on a train right after. Once I missed a couple of trains and came close to missing a few others, I learned to give myself 3 or more hours after landing before boarding a train. I don't mind hanging around the airport, and I actually enjoy hanging around train stations. Which leads me to suggest checking for direct trains from the Gare de l' Est as well as from CDG. You might have more choices, and going into Paris might be more interesting than sitting at the airport.

AnywhereViaColorado

Thanks so much everyone! I'm not sure we would make a 12:46 pm train from CDG with our flight getting in at 11 am. We are sitting mid plane and will have to get through customs & collect our checked bags. I love the IDEA of that working since it puts us in Strasbourg early and it is the easiest to navigate. What are the odds of that actually working? The next direct train isn't until 5 pm so we wouldn't arrive in Strasbourg until 7 pm.

Thanks for the suggestion of catching a train from Gare de l'est! There is one that leaves there at 2:54 pm giving us about 4 hrs to get there. It looks like we'd have to take a RER train from Gare du Nord, then its a 10 min walk to Gare de l'est...is that correct? I figure we can kill time walking in the city if need be. If we go that route, do we just buy the RER tix at the station? Is that plan fairly easy?

AnywhereViaColorado

For an extra 12 euros per ticket, we would be able to exchange tickets for a fee of 15 euros. If we got these tickets for the 12:46 pm train, then realized we were not going to make that train, could we transfer them for the tickets out of Gare de l'est at 2:54 pm? Or can you only exchange them for the later train out of CDG? Thanks again everyone!

StCirq

Yes, it's a 10-minute walk at most between those stations.

I don't know if you could exchange tickets bought for CDG to Strasbourg for tickets out of Gare de l'Est for the same price.I'm sure somewhere on the SNCF site, which is very comprehensive, it is explained, and I could look it up for you but not until much later today as it's market day and I'm off...

You can buy RER tickets at any RER/métro station, but only if you have a chip and pin credit card can you use a machine to do so. Whether they have them or not at the RER station at CDG I don't know, sorry, as I always take a taxi into town.

You could also take one of the Air France navettes or the Roissy Bus into central Paris, then a short taxi ride to Gare de L'Est, to save money getting into the city.

Sarnia

There are two kinds of refundable/rebookable tickets. The cheapest (Leisure tickets) can be refunded/changed for a fee but only until the time of travel. So if you miss your train, they are worthless. The most expensive tickets (Pro tickets) can be exchanged/refunded up to 2 hours after the time of travel (I think there is a fee if you change it after the time of travel).
If you have a Pro ticket, and miss your train, I'm not sure you can directly exchange your CDG-Strasbourg ticket for a Gare de l'Est-Strasbourg ticket, but I'm sure you can at least have your CDG-Strasbourg ticket refunded, and then buy a ticket for a Gare de l'Est train.

Christina

exactly, you can get a refund but you can't change tickets to a different itinerary. The terms clearly state that you cannot exchange them after departure (it is a 15 euro fee the day before and of departure)--the one that is about 53 euro. Buying these is worthless to you over the cheapest price if the goal is to exchange if you miss the train. The only one you can use then is the full price one at 93 euro, which you can get refunded up to 2 hours after departure at the same train station. It says it isn't a direct exchange, you have to pay the difference in price of a new ticket. It's basically just a refund. I don't think there is any fee on the PRO ticket even after departure.

Personally, I never want 3 hrs for a train at CDG and would find that timing acceptable. I don't think I personally have ever spent more than an hour after the plane landed getting through passport control plus getting my checked bag. I know I've never spent 2 hrs. Yes, you are taking some risk of losing iot all, I suppose with the cheapest tickets. That's what I would do though, if I missed it, I'd deal with it.

The next train is at 5 pm, not 4. No way would I wait around 4 hrs at CDG for a train intentionally. But if you aren't willing to gamble 40 euro, you'd have to buy a ticket for that train.

PalenQ

several folks I know lately on non-Air France planes had their aircraft park in the middle of the airport and slowly had to wait for buses to ferry them to the terminals - took a lot lot longer.

leave plenty of time between plane and train.

PalenQ

If not on a real budget consider airport transfers - yes costs a lot more but a whole lot easier:

http://www.shuttledirect.com/en/transfers/Strasbourg/

not recommending this outfit but you can get a cost estimate.

Sarnia

I missed my train last month (by a long shot) at CDG with 1h and 45 minutes before landing time and train departure, and I only had carry-on luggage, but passport control was a disaster (terminal 2E, and it seems it's a rather common problem). I had a Pro ticket so I finally got home. For someone who doesn't know the airport, with a non-refundable ticket and a valuable vacation relying on getting a train on time, I think 3 hours is comfortable, 2 hours or less is risky.

christycruz

In July, none of my three chip and pin cards worked at the RER kiosks at CDG (including my one from Andrews Credit Union). Luckily the fairly large ticket office was open, and I'd think it would also be open 11am on a Monday. The office is right there slightly beyond the ticket kiosks.

PalenQ

I have seen long long lines at manual RER ticket offices at CDG-don't the machines take cash - probably not- but long lines are possible - last time I landed and could not use the machines I had to wait about 45 minutes in line - but if machines don't work...