BOOKING SNCF TRAIN TICKETS
NOTE: This is written with people in mind that reside in countries that the SNCF does not mail directly to. I have written it particularly for US residents however it should apply to any country that cannot have their tickets mailed.
Step by step booking instructions:
1. Go to http://voyages-sncf.com
2. Look for the british flag at the bottom left of the page and click on it.
3. Click %26quot;advanced Search%26quot;
4. In the %26quot;going from%26quot; enter your departure city
5. In the %26quot;going to Box%26quot; enter your destination
6. Check the direct route only box if you know that direct service is offered
7. Select single or return
8. Enter outward and return date
9. Enter departure time. If you want to see all the times for the day enter an early hour like 5 am then you can page through all of the times through out the day. This is a good idea if you are seeking out a cheap fare and will travel at any time. Otherwise put in the earliest time you are willing to travel.
10. Select class and leave reservation as yes
11. Enter who is traveling. NOTE: You may put a senior and it will offer PREMS as well as senior fares. However, if you put a child it will only offer a child fare for them and you wont be able to print at all so it is best to enter child as an adult, perform a search and look at prices. Then you can enter adults and child and see which is cheaper.
12. Enter reduced fare card info if you have one which is unlikely for a tourist as they are designed for residents.
13. Select FRANCE as the country where you will collect your tickets.
14. Click submit.
15. You will be presented with your outward journey where you may select the outbound fares. Fares with the yellow background are the cheapest, a blue background is the mid price and grey is most expensive and tends to be flexible. Green background tends to be a class upgrade suggestion.
16. If you do not like the times you may click %26quot;see the following trains%26quot; to go to the next page of trains.
17. Click on Options to select seating options for the train that you have chosen. If its an iDTGV click on ambience.
18. Once you find the fare / time you want select %26quot;choose this outward journey%26quot; located next to the choosen time/ fare.
19. You will be presented with return journey fares/ times. Repeate steps 15-18.
20. Once you find the fare / time you want select %26quot;choose this return journey%26quot; located next to the choosen time/ fare.
21. You may or may not be offered cancellation insurance. Make your selection. You may not print tickets at home if you choose cancellation insurance.
ORDER PAGE
1. possible options given to you:
Confirm your order by paying online and choose to:
Print your ticket yourself to save time
Receive your ticket free by post
Collect your ticket from an automatic ticket machine (except for business cards and the %26quot;Frequent Traveller and Flat Rate%26quot; season tickets) or from station ticket office or Boutiques (in France only).
OR
Choose a single option to be confirmed later:
You must pay and collect your ticket before the XX/XX/20XX at XXhXX sur Voyages-Sncf.com or from an automatic ticket machine (except for trade cards and %26quot;Frequent Journey and Season Ticket%26quot; rail cards) of from station ticket offices and Boutiques (in France only).
NOTE: Only certain options are available based on the fare you select or the MIX of fares you have selected.
Only PREMS fares for your entire order = Printable
PREMS plus any other fare but iDTGV or Last Minute Half Price = MAIL ONLY which is not an option so you need to go back and look for PREMS only
iDTGV = always printable, even when mixed with other fares. You should NEVER select to have tickets mailed if you live in the USA. This is a huge risk and could create massive problems if you do not get them
2. Select Print ticket if available. If not available select to collect your tickets. If you only want to make a reservation without paying then you can select to place an option that will expire if not paid for by date given.
3. Enter your surname, first name and E-mail address NOTE: This has nothing to do with the name on printed tickets. This is mearly info on the person placing the order.
4. Leave address info BLANK.
5. Check the box to accept the Conditions of Sale
6. Press confirm
7. You will be taken to a page to enter credit card info etc.
Question: Why would I want to go through all this trouble when I can just use Rail Europe?
Answer: Rail Europe does an excellent job providing train tickets to those in the US. They offer a service and their prices reflect that. There is nothing wrong with booking with them. However if you want to save money and dont mind doing it yourself, booking with the SNCF is much cheaper.
Question: Why is this darn SNCF site so hard to use!?
Answer: It is designed for people that are in the list of countries on the main page. The site simply takes the options and fares you have chosen and offers the available delivery methods. As having tickets mailed to the US is not an option, those in the US are forced to play with the booking a bit until they make the right choices allowing them to print or pickup tickets.
Question: Boy this is way too much trouble! Why cant I just call and book over the phone?!
Answer: You can book any fare over the phone with the exception of the iDTGV fares which are internet only. Here are the (untested) numbers:
33 8 92 35 35 35 (French)
33 8 92 35 35 37 (Italian)
33 8 92 35 35 38 (Spanish)
33 8 92 35 35 39 (English)
Question: I followed everything you said and it still is only offering a mail only option! What am I doing wrong?
Answer: I have heard this a couple of times and am not sure what is causing it. You can also book via the http://www.thalys.com website. Look for “EN” at the top left for English , leave country as France and then click on “more criteria”. From that point forward the instructions for the sncf website should work as the sites are identical.
Question: Okay I%26#39;ve booked my tickets and now I am trying to print but I cant put the birth dates into the form, what am I doing wrong?!
Answer: Are you on a Macintosh? You cant print via Safari. Try Firefox ( http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ )
Question: It says I have to print on A4 paper. What is that?
Answer: A4 paper is European letter paper. Just use standard US letter paper. The dimensions are not the same but close enough.
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GREAT post, MorganB! I don%26#39;t think you could have maded it any clearer.
A couple of tiny thoughts: The option of using a machine to withdraw your TX may not always work for non-Europeans, especially Americans. Many French (and other European) machines will reject American credit cards because of differences in technology.
This does not affect ATMs in my experience, though I was warned, not by a reliable source, on a brief visit to Ireland ten days ago that cards without a %26quot;smart chip%26quot; would soon be rejected for all transactions. I doubt this, since the American tourist $ is still too valuable to make it difficult for Americans to shop while in Europe, even if our technology is strangely antiquated.
Second, always remember, when entering dates, e.g. birth dates, to enter it in the form day/month/year, and not in the usual American form.
Thanks again for the splendidly detailed and clear walk-through!
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Thanks IrishRover :). Glad you think its helpful. Your additions are very good and most welcome. I thought you lived in Paris also for some reason but I see you are in Ohio. Did you move or am I just confused?
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I%26#39;ve never actually lived in Paris, though I have spent more time there over the years than in any city I have not lived in. I probably know the city better - at least the first eleven arrondissements - than any city I%26#39;ve ever been in, even some I%26#39;ve lived in for 10 years or more.
I do think, given the immense range of options the SNCF site provides, that it is really not all that complicated. It is true, however, that it is perhaps not set up to be particularly friendly to non-European users, for reasons that make perfect sense if you think about it.
One thing that I think is important is to emphasize that you should ALWAYS leave France checked as the pick-up/delivery country. I think SNCF may have some kind of agreement with its US agents not to sell tickets direct in the US. (Not sure about this.) The problem with this is that the US agents do not offer many - if any - of the vast menu of discount options available through the SNCF site.
IMHO, they offer no advantage over direct booking with SNCF, and little or nothing in the way of added convenience. But they sure do charge a lot for not doing so...
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Morgan et al., I envy your savvy about the European rail system. I am confused about the merits of purchasing a Eurail selectpass for four adjoining countries/5 days of 1st class travel, when an online fare estimator of point-to-point tickets for our trip (we are fine on 2nd class trains) from Budapest-Vienna-Salzburg-Munich-Strasbourg-Paris appears to come in cheaper. Are we really making a stupid move by waiting to buy the tickets as we go from place to place? And do we have to have reservations on all trains, or only on certain routes? THANKS for your help!
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I havent bought a pass in years because I now live here so cant really speak to the value of a pass. I can tell you for the Strasbourg-Paris leg that you can get a much better deal when booking online in advance. Sometimes as low as 20 euros per person in 2nd. I cant really help with train travel outside of France as I am not informed on that.
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Thank you so much for sharing that with us MorganB. Can you please also tell me whether I can pick up tickets in Italy?
We are going from Milan to Paris on the night train and have problem booking using the trenitalia site. So I tried your method and temporarily booked the trip, but pick up location is in France only. We shall be in Italy first before going to France. Is it possible to pick up ticket in Italy even though we selected France as the pick up point?
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Hi Sata -
I wouldn%26#39;t swear to this, but I doubt if you will be able to pick up your ticket in Italy if you booked it on the SNCF site with the pick-up specified as being in France.
I have booked tickets on trenitalia.it with no problem in the past, but I agree that it can sometimes be balky, especially when booking international tickets.
Perhaps someone in one of the Italy forums could give you a definite answer as to whether your SNCF booking will be honored in Italy - and help you navigate the Trenitalia site if you need to.
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Irish is right, if you book on the SNCF website you need to either print your tickets ( if offered) or pick them up within France ONLY.
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Excellent step-by-step for using SNCF. However, if you use a debit/credit card other than a French one the automatic machine will not allow you to draw your ticket. You have to go to the ticket window with your reference PLUS the card in which the booking has been made!
This can be time consuming so allow for the delay.
Mariepat
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I%26#39;m trying to book ticket for my teenager. An option I get for ticket is the %26quot;Discovery 12-25%26quot;. Site states this is non-refundable %26quot;after departure%26quot;. What does that mean?
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