Originally Posted by
estnet
Be careful about getting your reservations/tickets. I tried to buy a ticket online for a trip from Paris to Vienna - and when I could get the sncf website to actually work after many attempts I got a message that all tickets for foreigners were sold! Even tho I planned to pick the ticket up in Paris - this was 2 to 3 weeks before my planned journey on April 7
The problem is the credit card you are using.
or more to the point if you are using a US credit card.
I recently tried to purchase three tickets for relatives travelling to Lille on believe on not April 7 by using sncf.com site.
a) If you select USA you get automatically set back to Rail Europe and the fares on the very same train, very same seats
were a whopping 45% higher.
b) If you select the option to pick up your tickets in the UK or Spain (I tried both) you get an error after inserting a US credit card number.
c) I eventually purchased them by using the Banco Santander (Spain) Visa of a friend and to boot WAS ABLE TO PRINT THE TICKETS ON LINE thus avoiding the need to pick them up at a station or have them validated ( they were non-refundable tickets)
Basically any tickets bought on Rail Europe are a HUGE RIP-OFF for US credit card users.
I suggest you either wait to purchase them in France or find someone who has a non-US credit card.
mike
Note TGV tickets can be bought I believe 90 days out and in France you might get cheaper options such as the reduced cost for two or more pax travelling together.