European Rail Travel - SNCF website not accepting reservations ??

I am trying to book a ticket online (Paris to Metz) - last time I used the SNCF site was perhaps a year or two ago.

Since yesterday there is a message up that booking is not currently available. It seems like a long time for an upgrade or a technical hitch.... Anybody been successful with SNCF recently ?

On the English version of the website, there is (ominously) a link to Rail Europe which as expected quotes quite high prices...

D.

L'accès au service de réservation de billets de train est actuellement indisponible.
Cette version du site vous permet de consulter les horaires, réserver un autre produit de l'agence de voyage ou imprimer vos billets de train.

Hi D, which site are you using? I just had a quick try at voyages-sncf.com, and it is working fine. It's only in French, but it sounds like that's not a problem for you.

E.

I tried both. Not working - it seems to be a push to raileurope. Tickets which can be purchased for 40 euros or so are going for 50 pounds and up....

I assume you're in France ?
I tried using a French server as a proxy and it seems to work - partially at least (takes a lot of time, not everything is passed on as is) but it seems that as soon as the site thinks you are in France - everything works.

D.

Hi D, which site are you using? I just had a quick try at voyages-sncf.com, and it is working fine. It's only in French, but it sounds like that's not a problem for you.

E.

So you've gotten something to work and have bought your tickets, then? If not, PM me...

I'm in France, although the office servers actually live in Germany; even so, it is never a problem to use voyages-sncf.com to book and buy tickets. I wonder if they've set something up to "trap" internautes from the UK? Can't imagine why they would do that, but then. Actually, I think a couple times I've gotten a pop-up saying "did you know you can buy tickets from a German site?" that I've dismissed.

I have to say, I have frequently had speed / functionality problems at the SNCF site itself. It's been more reliable in the last few months, but in the past it's been pretty uncooperative.

E.

I'll have another go working via a proxy.

I checked again and it's not a glitch - SNCF are blocking access to the French website from non-French IPs - I am consistently getting redirected to a RailEurope page and asked to choose my country (no option to choose France unless you are a French travel agent). This must have something to do with their agreements with Raileurope, which sell more expensive tickets.

This is infuriating, but - not a lot of other options out there.

That is strange.

For what it's worth, I'm in France but just tried booking on voyages-sncf.com through a proxy in New York and it worked fine--no redirection to RailEurope.

Are you by chance changing the language on the site to English? If so, that may be the trigger.

Very strange.

No, I am staying within the French interface.

With the SNCF site I get the same reservations not available messages (not even a redirection). With the voyages site I am redirected to a map of Europe asking me to choose which country I am in.

I am in Israel - I tried using a US proxy as well and yes, all OK there. Perhaps this is aimed at diverting European customers (where the SNCF has agreements with resellers) only ?

hmmmm:td:


That is strange.

For what it's worth, I'm in France but just tried booking on voyages-sncf.com through a proxy in New York and it worked fine--no redirection to RailEurope.

Are you by chance changing the language on the site to English? If so, that may be the trigger.

No, I am staying within the French interface.

With the SNCF site I get the same reservations not available messages (not even a redirection). With the voyages site I am redirected to a map of Europe asking me to choose which country I am in.

I am in Israel - I tried using a US proxy as well and yes, all OK there. Perhaps this is aimed at diverting European customers (where the SNCF has agreements with resellers) only ?

Actually, I suspect it's a fraud control issue. See the discussion in this thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/european-rail-travel/1332886-anyone-able-buy-tgv-tickets-now.html), which reports the same error message ("L'accès au service de réservation de billets de train est actuellement indisponible.") in countries such as Nigeria and Malaysia.

FWIW, I don't think RailEurope.com (http://RailEurope.com) would actually work from Israel either. It would just let you get partway through the booking process, and then crash out with no explanation. (At least - that's what www.eurostar.com and www.raileurope.co.uk do, when you try booking from such countries).

Interesting. I haven't tried to go all the way through on raileurope - will try.

However, Israel isn't exactly a hotspot of internet fraud...
Plus, there is a raileurope Israel affiliate - http://www.raileurope.co.il.


Actually, I suspect it's a fraud control issue. See the discussion in this thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/european-rail-travel/1332886-anyone-able-buy-tgv-tickets-now.html), which reports the same error message ("L'accès au service de réservation de billets de train est actuellement indisponible.") in countries such as Nigeria and Malaysia.

FWIW, I don't think RailEurope.com (http://RailEurope.com) would actually work from Israel either. It would just let you get partway through the booking process, and then crash out with no explanation. (At least - that's what www.eurostar.com and www.raileurope.co.uk do, when you try booking from such countries).

I had opposite problem over the weekend.

SNCF would initially redirect me to raileurope.co.uk after selecting English, but that website wouldn't work beyond home page in any of the browsers I have.

So, I just went back to SNCF one and bought a ticket with no problems. I can't hold a conversation in French, but can get by :)

Maybe it is the route in question? On mine [Paris-Luxembourg] it had same message [last ticket available] for about a month now, every time I checked :D
And even after I bought it, it still says the same...

I'm a TGV regular and I book from all over the world at http://www.voyages-sncf.com/ with never a re-direct problem. Maybe clear your cookies and try again.

I'm in the USA, I tried doing a "dummy" booking for Paris to Metz at www.sncf.fr, and it gives me a selection of many trains (with varying prices). I stopped at that point.