European Rail Travel - Help! Confusions regarding TGV refund policies

Hi All!

I was just about to book 4 tickets for our travel in July from Paris to Karlsruhe, I read through the TGV ticket rules posted here:http://help.tgv-europe.com/en/exchange-cancellation/conditions

Per the rules posted by SNCF, a Loisirs fare on TGV would be refundable free of charge until the day before departure.

However, when I clicked through my reservation, the ticket rules on the beside the actual trip selection tells me that a Loisirs fare would be non-refundable at all. an abstract is copied as following:

LOISIR ADULTE : Can be exchanged up to the day before departure.Ticket exchangeable with a deduction of 10E the day of departure. Ticket not refundable after departure.Ticket not refundable prior to and after departure.

This is very confusing, for the very same type of tickets, there are 2 policies stated in different sections of SNCF's website, which one should I trust?

Would be appreciated if any one would tell me what to do, thanks!

Best,
Charlie

What site are you using for booking? I could imagine Rail Europe being weird about refund rules.

I always book on voyages-sncf.com, but since I know French this works for me. I'm often on Loisirs fares and have always experienced them being refundable and exchangeable for free until the day of departure.

Peace.

The OP is looking at tgv-europe.com (http://www.tgv-europe.com/), which is essentially just an internationalised, multi-language version of voyages-sncf.com aimed at the wider European market.

newflyer530 - yes, I can replicate that too and so can also see the discrepancy. I can only hazard a guess as to the explanation - perhaps the ticket rules here are a bit different as this is a Franco-German cross-border journey and the TGV service is operated in conjunction with Deutsche Bahn, or alternatively perhaps its a simple mistake in the description shown during the booking process (though the same wording appears in French on the voyages-sncf site).

You could always try asking the customer service people at TGV-europe - their contact page, with web contact forms, is here (http://help.tgv-europe.com/en/contact) - just make sure the query is in simple (English) language.

The OP is looking at tgv-europe.com (http://www.tgv-europe.com/), which is essentially just an internationalised, multi-language version of voyages-sncf.com aimed at the wider European market.

newflyer530 - yes, I can replicate that too and so can also see the discrepancy. I can only hazard a guess as to the explanation - perhaps the ticket rules here are a bit different as this is a Franco-German cross-border journey and the TGV service is operated in conjunction with Deutsche Bahn, or alternatively perhaps its a simple mistake in the description shown during the booking process (though the same wording appears in French on the voyages-sncf site).

You could always try asking the customer service people at TGV-europe - their contact page, with web contact forms, is here (http://help.tgv-europe.com/en/contact) - just make sure the query is in simple (English) language.

Thanks a lot Mizter T!

I tried to send in an inquiry and hopefully I will get a response soon.

The weird thing is when I looked up the fare a few days ago, the line "Ticket is non refundable prior to and after departure" was not there, for the very same fare type. But it just showed up when I tried to make the booking yesterday...probably they changed the ticket rules or something, but hopefully it's just a minor mistake on the website :)

What site are you using for booking? I could imagine Rail Europe being weird about refund rules.

I always book on voyages-sncf.com, but since I know French this works for me. I'm often on Loisirs fares and have always experienced them being refundable and exchangeable for free until the day of departure.

Peace.

Thanks for the input imagineertobe!

According to the rules posted by SNCF, loisir tickets should be refundable, let's hope they are not going to change the rules...

I am not aware of any fare rule discrepancies between Loisirs tickets sold on www.voyages-sncf.com and www.tgv-europe.com when it involves a journey between two French cities.

I got a reply from SNCF. The rep told me it's a glitch on their website and a Loisir fare between FR and DE is changeable and refundable free of charge before departure.