I have been trying in the Renfe site, for trhee or four times, following the
instructions of the departure arrival, etc..etc...
from Madridi, Chamartin to Segovia, and when they look for the schedules,
they say its incorrect my dates to my Europe trip?? I dont
understand what is
going on, please any advise?
I wanted to book or to check schedules to differentt towns, but know I am desoriented.
Thanks

try
MADRID(*)


SEGOVIA AV

Welcome to the club of Fodorites who cannot make sense out of renfe.es - thankfully folks like danon are around who do know the site and its foibles for novices.

Let see do they design those sites (trenitalia.com too) to frustrate foreigners?

They have a drop down list to choose station names from. I don't have any problem getting fares for Madrid-Chamartin to Segovia, maybe your dates were incorrect. I tried April 20th. Maybe you put in dates that they don't have schedules for yet. I got results the first time.

I did use both Madrid-Chamartin and Madrid (*), both worked. But it seems only Segovia AV works.

IN either case, I didn't get an error about dates, though.

Departure is Madrid-Chamartin, arrival is Segovia AVE. I have put a date at the end of April and it works.

Which are your dates?

rgds, Cova

Sorry, I have just seen that you are travelling in June. No, there aren´t any tickets yet, only 2 months beforehand.

Bye, Cova

We've had trouble also and get an error message that the transaction cannot be completed at this time.
Question: do you have to notify your credit card company in advance - could they be blocking it?
Do their systems go down?
We thought we would just try another day but already have 2 hours into it and no tickete.
Suggestions?

-- American Express does not work
---don't try to book more than 62 day ahead of time
---when I was booking, at one point, I got a screen note from my CC company to answer a security question and after that the transaction went through ( it was Canadian MC)

Even when I called my credit card company in advance, I got the error message. So I would call my cc company again, give them the approximate amount of the transaction in dollars, then go through the process on renfe again--then it worked.

this Renfe problem with CC is strange ; we all use CCs to purchase all kinds of things on the Net .
Has something like this ( CC blocking the purchase) ever come up before in your experience? Not with me.

Yes, I have had it happen on other overseas sites before, though rarely. The last one (besides renfe) that I remember was with a hotel in Japan last year.

thanks Paul for responding...
It would seem reasonable that a popular site like Renfe would be a bit easier to navigate and that CC companies would have some clue about the company.
Oh well..

It could be that the renfe system only accepts local (or European?) credit cards. Some companies in Canada only accept CDN cards (frustrating for me as I live in the UK but buy gifts for people in Canada), and I think the Italian train site only accepts local credit cards as well...could have nothing to do with you or your credit card company...

Renfe accepts CC issued in North America - Visa and MC (not American Express)

and I had issues with my debit card. interestingly enough I noticed last night when I purchased my Madrid to Sevilla train tickets that it actually says you can use a credit or debit card. and, it turns out that my stupid credit union forgot to LINK my debit card to my new checking account. even tho I told 2 different people that I would be using it to access cash while in Spain....

but I didn't dare try using my debit card last night. and I only had to key in everything ONCE!!! oh glory be....wonder what would have happened had I used the debit card. I have a couple more train tickets to buy, maybe I'll attempt the debit card then.....

all this to say...I really do wonder if one can use a debit card on renfe's site and that my issues last week were because the card wasn't linked to the money? hmmmmm......

i would just buy the tickets at the station. the first first class on the Ave train is a really nice treat!

hmmmm...but you can get 60% off when buying online ahead of time. also applies to first class....just sayin'...

I agree with tobyo... 60 euros is a nice saving on second class , for a family of four - several hundred dollars !

we were in spain 5 years ago. didnt know they offered discount if you buy in advance on their website. i do remember their website was very confusing. but definitely go for the discount if you can!