European Rail Travel - Advice to use RENFE to book Spain rail tickets

I have spent the last two days trying over twenty times to book rail tickets on RENFE.com. I need 2 tickets Madrid-Barcelona on Oct. 27. The web fare is only 35 euros each.

I followed the advice from tripadvisor and keep getting error message G001. I have tried on 4 different computers, 8 different credit/debit cards, 2 different browsers. I don't know what else to do. I tried to call them with skype from home but skype is blocking their phone number for some reason. I can try calling again tomorrow from work where I have int'l long distance.

I know about the other web site that can book tickets for you, petrabax, rumbo, raileurope, but they all charge 4 times as much. I emailed spanish-rail.uk.co but haven't had a response yet.

Are there any new tricks I can try to purchase these tickets myself from the RENFE web site and get the great discount price?

There is no doubt the error code you are quoting is for credit/debit card(s) failing. At the moment I suspect you have not followed the TA guide completely by signing up for VerifiedbyVisa or Mastercard Securecode.

There is no doubt the error code you are quoting is for credit/debit card(s) failing. At the moment I suspect you have not followed the TA guide completely by signing up for VerifiedbyVisa or Mastercard Securecode.

I followed the TA guide to the letter. I have signed up for both of these programs. I have also called the bank and credit card companies to have the charge from Spain allowed. Still no luck. I am going to try again today using a friend's computer that is newer. I may borrow my friends' credit card and pay him back if it goes through.

O.K. Couple of other thoughts.

Was there no sign of the 'pop up' or redirection to the VbyVisa or MCSecurecode page where you enter the pass letters/numbers? If not (and I am not the brightest with the PC) maybe your security settings are too high.

Last thought for the moment - you should be familiar with the site by now - try the transaction in the Spanish version.

And I know it sounds stupid - what time of the day was this/? i.e. try in Spanish working time.

O.K. Couple of other thoughts.

Was there no sign of the 'pop up' or redirection to the VbyVisa or MCSecurecode page where you enter the pass letters/numbers? If not (and I am not the brightest with the PC) maybe your security settings are too high.

Last thought for the moment - you should be familiar with the site by now - try the transaction in the Spanish version.

And I know it sounds stupid - what time of the day was this/? i.e. try in Spanish working time.

I changed the security settings. I have not seen the VISA or MC secure code page come up to enter the numbers. I have tried twice with my friends' new PC with all the latest IE software during Spanish work hours, in Spanish, and still no go. I may have to call the travel agency in London and pay the service charge and have them buy the tickets for me. Bummer.

Let me know how you fair, please.

Let me know how you fair, please.

Nothing is working still. I was on the phone with Chase while I was trying another purchase attempt. They could see the transaction attempting but it did not go through. Chase told me RENFE is a big problem for them. I have called my bank and VISA about the verification and neither can offer any help. I spoke with my sister in England who tried to use her British credit card and she hits "buy" and nothing happens. I had her log in as me and it just is not working. She's going to try again later without logging in as me and see what happens.

Sigh.

Another thought. The ability to purchase tickets for journeys greater than 60 odd days away on some routes, has only become available in the last, I think, couple of months. I am thinking there may be a glitch because of this in the eccentric RENFE site.

You are very unlucky if you have tried differing permutations of credit card and debit card from different finance houses. Usually these days, it would appear, one card or another, would get you through, but here I am in the UK and never had a problem in perhaps five years.

My only other thought is - could your sister start this as a fresh buyer, with her credit/debit card and make a note of the localiser number (and with your email address for receipt of ticket information)? You can then follow the 'guide' to print the tickets.

Sadly, if all fails, it is agencies with additional fees. However, I believe I have seen that RailEurope will provide the discounted tickets plus their fees.

I am still interested, if you would be good enough to keep this dialogue going.

Well, my sister was not able to complete a transaction. There are problems with UK bank cards too.

The man who owns the hostal we are staying at in Madrid offered to buy the tickets for us and we'll pay him back when we get there. He emailed me a copy of the tickets at the 35 eu discount rate. A shout out to Javier at Hostal Acapulco in Madrid for providing excellent service to a guest before they arrive.

Well good for you.
It would be extraordinary if this is anything to do with the country of origin of whatever cards. I also see no problems like your difficulties, at present, on the several Spain forums I contribute to.
Glad you were sorted in the end. Best wishes.

Well good for you.
It would be extraordinary if this is anything to do with the country of origin of whatever cards. I also see no problems like your difficulties, at present, on the several Spain forums I contribute to.
Glad you were sorted in the end. Best wishes.

I had a problem when I was there in 2008 where the website wouldn't take US credit cards (even though I'd previously had no problems)...so it could be country of origin. If you're going to be near a station more than 24 hours in advance of your trip, you might be able to call customer service and have them reserve the ticket, then go to a train station to complete the purchase.

I had no troubles booking Renfe Tickets on the .es website with a Canadian issued Visa Card from RBC bank.

I did this just within the 60 day window as reservation Madrid - Barcelona was not allowed until within 60 days of travel.

If you have not used the man in seat 61 website, it is a good starting point and has lots of helpful suggestions. Please find below a link which may answer your problems.
http://www.seat61.com/Spain-trains.htm#How_to_use_www.renfe.com
Good luck, Aussienanna

I went through the same agonies a few months ago trying to book an AVE ticket -did everything on the Trip Advisor site (tried multiple cards, tried credit and debit, called banks to verify Spain was not blocked,used the secure options, and still no success.

As the seat61 site notes at the bottom of its Renfe page, I ended up using Petrabax. I had my tickets (sent via e-mail in PDF format, allowing them to be printed later) ina very short time - fast, professional service.

http://petrabax.com/renfe/

Edited to add: Petrabax is a bricks and mortar company, not a web-only entity. I did my research on the Renfe site, but spoke with a nice human being (Celi) to complete the purchase. The fee was quite a bit lower than RailEurope wanted.

Disclaimer: I have no connection with Petrabax except as a satisfied customer.

I had a lot of difficulty purchasing rail tickets for my daughter for Spain and France. Finally just went with RailEurope. Might be a bit more expensive - but I could talk with a human and they were very helpful.

After reading the last few posts I no longer feel like an idiot. My wife and I tried numerous times to book tickets on line on July 10, 11 and 12 to take RENFE AVE from Madrid to Cordoba, then Cordoba to Malaga, then Malaga to Granada (with a connection). Many many many error messages. We ended up going into Madrid Atocha train station after visiting the Modern Art museum to book with humans.

I had no problem booking Madrid/Malaga on the Renfe site. As soon as seats became available (around 60 days out) I followed the instructions of seat61.com and everything went through first time using a ZA based MasterCard (which has the security feature of sending a one time password by SMS).

If it works from ZA I can't imagine it's a country thing - but I'm at a loss to explain what the cause of the booking site failure might be.

FWIW I found the whole exercise of pre-booking tickets very frustrating. Gave up in the end & just purchased when we arrived.

Sort of person that pre-books everything so leaving it to the last last (so to speak) is not in my nature....however, it all worked out fine.

Train trips for us were:-

Madrid - Toledo - Madrid (day trip)

Madrid - Sevilla

After downloading 20 pages from TripAdvisor on how to get tickets online from the Renfe site, I contacted Petrabax. With one quick phone call, Wes secured me first class tickets at a price below tourist class! Granted this was 60 days out, but what a savings in time and money. He emailed me the tickets in PDF form and they were easily scanned in Seville-Madrid route on the AVA (bullet train)

I just booked a ticket for Madrid to Cordoba in early September. It worked flawlessly, except that I needed to allow an exception for my pop-up blocker for the verified by Visa window.

I used a French VISA debit card issued by Société Générale and just needed to enter the code that was sent by SMS to my phone.

I'll be going to Spain next week and plan to take the following train segments: Malaga-Cordoba and Cordoba-Cadiz. Is it worth booking online or are prices pretty much the same at the Station? I'll be flying in to Malaga and plan to take the train the same day so I guess I could lose the ticket or pay a fee if the plane is delayed more than the buffer I'll plan on.

At Renfe's website I saw that the fares for Malaga-Cordoba were running around 25 Euro for next day departure (Jan 5) and up to the 12th when I arrive. Cordoba-Cadiz varies from 24-28 Euros.

Amexpat - for any journey, it would be very unlikely a web or estrella discount fare would be available so close to a departure, just days away. In any event, as you should be able to see, there are no discounts for booking in advance on-line for dates up to early March for these two journeys.

Amexpat - for any journey, it would be very unlikely a web or estrella discount fare would be available so close to a departure, just days away. In any event, as you should be able to see, there are no discounts for booking in advance on-line for dates up to early March for these two journeys.

OK, but is it more expensive to buy a ticket at the station right before departure than buying online a day or so in advance? If there's no real no difference, then I'm better off having the flexibility of buying a ticket at the station.

The website no longer shows what the 'walk up' price would be - only from memory - the difference was an additional €0.60

The website no longer shows what the 'walk up' price would be - only from memory - the difference was an additional €0.60

Thanks, it's worth paying up to a few euros extra for flexibility. What confused me was that some trains cost 25 Euros and others 46 from Malaga to Cordoba. I thought that there might be a special internet price on some departures. I see now that the cheaper tickets are Avant and the more expensive are AVE with only about a 5 minute difference in travel time.