Has anyone had any trouble purchasing tickets on the Peru Rail website? I can't seem to get it to work and no one from Peru Rail has responded to my emails. Someone in an earlier thread mentioned a "Visa verification" process, but even the 1-800 number of Citibank didn't know what that meant (not that that means anything).

We're leaving next Friday and I just want to at least have my tickets ahead of time to Machu Picchu, we can figure out how to get out of there, but I don't want to miss getting there in the first place!

Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks in advance!

I was able to order tickets on their website last week. I did need to get that Visa verification first. One of my Visa cards was not part of that program, but another Visa through a different bank was. I think through visa.com I was able to find info on that and a list of banks that use that program so maybe check with a different visa carrier than Citibank if you have another Visa card.

The other problem I had was that even waiting one day to purchase them, the choices of times available dropped and I was not able to get the times I wanted. I went ahead and bought tix for times that weren't perfect for me but at least I know I have tickets - didn't want to risk not getting to MP after going all that way!

I've read other posts about how travel agencies are allowed to reserve blocks of tickets and then when a certain day arrives (within x number of days of trip) they have to either pay or the tickets are then released back into the system.
So, just because a certain train is not available today it may be tomorrow.

Also, if your visa doesn't work with that verification program you can order them through one of the travel agencies or even possibly your hotel and pay a small commission but at least you'd be assured you have tickets before you go.

Hope that helps.

Thank you, that was the problem. Citibank is not part of the "Visa Verification" program. We tried another card and it worked perfectly - we're going to Machu Picchu!

Thanks again
Christine

Leslie_S - I checked the visa.com site you linked ... I could not find the list of banks participating in the program ... a bit more guidance please. Thanks.

eenusa -
not sure if this link will work
https://usa.visa.com/personal/securi....html#anchor_2

If not, you go to visa.com and in the search box put "verified by visa" -- a link comes up. Then if you choose "activate now" it asks for your visa number and tells you whether or not your bank participates. The verification is a password you choose rather than a pin #.

Hope that works!

I had problems last week ordering tickets on PeruRail. At first I had problems with my bank who rejected the card due to potential fraud (using the card on the internet for an international transaction). Once I got that straightened out, I was able to book half our trains before the card was rejected by PeruRail and at that point, it didn't matter what card I used. At one point, I received a message, in Spanish, that told me I was already booked on the train I was trying to book. Calls and emails to PeruRail were no help at all. I gave up and tried a couple of days later and everything went through smoothly.

So, if you continue to have problems, wait a day and see what happens. I know it is a bit more stressful that way, but it worked for us and we have all the tickets we need now.

After all my credit cards were rejected by the website, I called the phone number in Peru given on the site. I talked to someone who spoke good English and she made my reservation, for which I received an email confirmation.

I can pay in one of two ways: In cash at the train station in Cuzco at least a day before travel day or by wiring money to PeruRail's bank account.

They don't accept credit cards for phone reservations.

Leslie_S: after you did the Visa verification was there an automatic online charge of $1 to your card? I'm curious because I did the Visa Verification yesterday and see an unauthorized $1 charge that I do not recognize. I have already alerted my bank to this and they have blocked the card, but I was curious if you might have had a similar experience.

We didn't see anything like that on our credit card but I don't think we looked at it the next day so maybe there was some kind of pre-authorization charge like you mentioned that was later deleted.

The total we were billed was accurate.

Thanks, I have my card set up for email alerts for all online charges as a means of fraud detection, which is how I found out about it.