Has anyone purchased train tickets online recently from the SNCF website? I have done so the past several years following the instructions provided at SlowTrav with no problem. The SNCF website seems to have a new interface this year, however. After clicking on the flag at the bottom on the intro screen for English, I am taken to a screen with a map, where I am asked to click on the country where I will pick up my tickets. When I click on France, I am redirected to the page to input my travel information, but it is in French. With my limited French, I think I can handle inputing my travel info, but I'm not sure my knowledge of French is sufficient for me to follow the entire transaction through in French. Is there a way I can do this in English as before?

Yes, that has always been my experience in the last few years. I purchased tickets two months ago, and the system required me to use the French page in order to print tickets in the U.S. or pick up tickets in France.

Why not give it a try up until the point you have to give a credit card? If you need help, I'm sure ST members could help if you have specific questions.

Joan

I had to purchase my tickets in French too. I had a brief moment of worry that I had perhaps made an error. The trip (which would have cost $465 with Rail Europe) only cost me $193 Canadian on my credit card for three of us on the overnight train from Nice to Venice. Picking the tickets up in Nice was a breeze. Got to love a bargain!

Sandy

It's really easy--use AltaVista's Babelfish (google it) if you need to translate phrases (just copy and paste). But there are no surprises and it really is straightforward. I've done it twice this year so if you get stuck on a particular bit just post again and we can help you figure it out. Also, if you do have a question after the transaction, you can email SNCF in english and they'll reply in english. I did that after I couldn't print one set of tickets (they told me they had a bug in the system, and to just bring the confirmation email to the station). It's such a big savings over rail europe to use the SNCF site.

Thanks to all who replied. You were right; with even a minimal amount of French, buying the tickets online was straightforward and not at all difficult. Once again, thanks to the SlowTrav community.

.... A twist on the above discussion.

I bought SNCF tickets online sometime in April for our recent (June 14-28) trip to France. Not wanting to make a mistake by using a French-only site, I said I lived in the UK (I actually live in Canada) - was able to purchase the tickets at the French rate, but NOT print them out. I had to use a kiosk at CDG to get the actual tickets.

At CDG, I typed in the code I was given, inserted the credit card I had used to make my purchase & could NOT get my tickets since my CC was not a European one. Oh! Oh!

However, when I went into the ticket office, I was able to get my tickets via an agent after giving hi my code & credit card.

Next time, I'll trust my French & use the France site.

I just tried the site www.sncf.fr. There was a British flag in the top right corner which you could click on to get English. It instantly converts to English and you click on Tickets and Timetables. It then allows you to choose your cities of departure and arrival, dates, times, class etc. and press search. Another form came up asking for the return date to be input again. "Search" again. From this point on it went to a French only site where all the information I had chosen was retained except the return date had once again to be tapped in. Now press "Rechercher". A table comes up with a choice of prices. Presumably you know the days of the week in French. The complication is in understanding the ticket restrictions. Here is a translation:

LOISIR Free exchange and reimbursement up the day before travel, and with a €10 surcharge on the day. After the train has departed no exchange or reimbursement.

NORMAL Exchangeable and reimbursable according to conditions (which are not given here)

PRO 2NDE Exchange and reimbursement free until the departrue, and according to conditions after (again, the conditions aren't given)

PREM'S Not exchangeable or reimbursable

iDTGV Exchangeable before you print it out (it saves you the booking and you can print out just before you go) on paying €10. Not reimbursable.

"Validez cet aller" means choose this outward journey. Then you go through the whole thing again to choose the "retour", the return.

There's an option for insurance that pays you €20 if the train is more than 30 mins late (even though it is their fault!), pays for taxis if you miss a connection because of this, up to €300 for stolen luggage, and transport costs back home if you are taken ill on the holiday (with certain conditions).

"Continuez votre reservation de train" Continue your reservation

"Choisissez comment retirer votre billet" Choose how to get your ticket

"Imprimez votre billet vous même" (for certain tickets only) print your own ticket

"Indiquez votre nom, prenom et addresse electronique" Give us you surname, first name and email address

You then have to tick the box at the bottom to confirm that you agree to their terms and conditions (there is nothing to be afraid of here). "Validez cet etape" Confirm this stage.

Then you select the card you want to pay with, input the details, "Confirmer et payer votre commande" Confirm and pay.

I won't go any further or I will be obliged to buy a ticket! But the only other thing to know is "Poser un simple option à confirmer ultérieurement" which is the chance to give yourself a certain number of days' grace before confirming the reservation and paying. If you don't pay by the date you lose the ticket. "Bornes libre service" are the ticket machines which are probably best avoided with foreign credit cards. Choose to collect the ticket at a ticket counter "guichet" instead.

If you change the language in the URL bar from FR to UK it will give you the options in English

After bombing out on the site this year, I ordered them over the phone and they arrived in the mail a couple of weeks later.

I just wanted to say that I successfully bought two tickets from Paris to Angouleme for October and printed them out thanks to the advice here!

It was a little nervewracking, and I had a couple of website glitches but I finally get it to work. I used the tip to change the language in the URL bar and that worked great!
I've been watching the tickets go up in price for the time/date I want from a 22 euro PREM to 41 euro pp. But tonight, I guess I just lucked out because the cheap PREM was back. I took it as a sign and decided to go for it.

One question-can I just show these print-outs on the train, or do I have to get them validated somehow?

Hi Kristina,

Just show them on the train. That was my experience last year.

quote:

Originally posted by Kristina:


One question-can I just show these print-outs on the train, or do I have to get them validated somehow?

Yes, on a recent trip from Bordeaux to Roissy/CDG I just showed my printout on the train. Sometimes a conductor checks tickets before boarding, but I haven't validated tickets in the last couple of years.

Joan

I only showed my printed copy upon entering the train. I do seem to remember in Nice, scanning my copies on a machine, before being able enter the platform area. The scan codes were on the copy.

Sandy

A controlleur will check the printout ticket either right before you board the train, or during the trip. It does not need to be validated-composté.
A regular ticket needs to be validated-composté.