shaggy_mutt

This sounds typical for SJ's daily limit that their one rep told me. Try it again on a new day and see if it works for your other ticket.

pseudoswede

Interesting that I haven't seen this thread before. Yes, I've also had issues using Visa or MasterCard when purchasing SJ tickets on-line, but never when using my AMEX. My transactions (all one-way tickets) have ranged between $20-50 over the years.

bunsofsteel

Same here -- I've tried
-Mastercard credit card
Mastercard debit card
visa credit card
amex credit card

and I think I'm going to try an airline next.

RichardInSF

I believe if the train is more than 30 minutes late, and you know to ask, that SJ will pay for a taxi within the arrival city. They will also give you a written excuse to show to your boss, but no one here would likely need that.

shaggy_mutt

Along those lines, I asked SJ what would happen if the night train were late enough that I would miss my connection. They said I could get a different connection, but only if the night train and the connection were on the same itinerary/receipt. Since my itin hit their daily credit card limit, it was on two itineraries and would not have been covered.

ksharpe

       

ElJoe

After spending the last 3 days failing miserably at booking rail tickets using my US credit cards, I finally had a breakthrough success... but not on the SJ.se website (which continually rejected my cards for no good reason ).

bokatag.se is the site for Veolia Transport, which seems to have access to the exact same booking engine and fares as SJ.se (and contrary to what I had read elsewhere, has the exact same booking fees as SJ's website as well). I did fail here as well with my Capital One VISA card (since they fail to participate in the Verified By Visa program), but I managed to register my mastercard from my credit union (only 1% Int'l Trans Fee) for the MasterCard SecureCode program and that allowed it to be accepted on bokatag.se's website.

As noted, I could have probably just called SJ directly, but being a 9-hour difference from the west coast where I am, it's hard to make it work during their operating hours.

For the record, the same mastercard with the SecureCode set up worked on Norway's NSB.no website for rail tickets there.

YMMV, but I thought I'd share at least one option that seems to be successful.

josh83

Same for me! I have been able to book a SJ ticket without any problem with my french mastercard yesterday, and then when I tried to book some additionnal tickets, I got kick off with the "The transaction could not be completed" message... I tried at least 10 times for 1 day now without any success... does anyone confirm there actually is a transation per card daily limit on sj.se?

About bokatag.se (proposed by ElJoe), they propose the tickets I'm looking for 90sek more expensive than on SJ.se, maybe bokatag includes automatically reservation fees (86sek if I remember well)... I dont speak swedish, do I missed somethg...?

Adrien

Pierre48

SJ must have finally fixed the bugs in their system. I have just booked tickets Malmo-Stockholm online using an Australian issued Visa card and the process went straight through without a problem.

JohnDP

deleted.

pseudoswede

I booked four X2000 tickets today using my Chase Visa card. Two and a half hour high-speed train ride for $13/person. Can't complain.

pseudoswede

SJ giveth, SJ taketh away

Tried booking train tickets in Sweden using my American Visa card with no luck. AMEX worked fine.

pseudoswede

This year, I booked SJ tickets with my Chase Visa in the US with no problems, then again in Sweden with no problems. Even got to try the X3000 train. Very nice and spacious.

Reindeerflame

I, too, can report success making a purchase on the SJ website from the U.S. with a U.S. credit card, in this case a VISA. I registered on the SJ site, and was delighted to be able to obtain seat reservations only, as I will be holding a Eurail Select Pass (which will cover the basic rail fare). The reservations went through without any problems. To minimize any complications, I booked both segments I needed in a single transaction. Bookings appear possible about 90 days in advance of the travel date.

A few days earlier, I was similarly successful in making bookings on the Norway Railway site (nsb). There, a test charge was first made to my credit card in the amount of NOK 1 (about US $0.17), which was subsequently reversed. Early NSB bookings are especially important for budget-minded passengers, as maximum discount "minipris" fares are limited and tend to sell out as the travel date gets closer. In the case of Norway, my particular rail pass will not be valid, and I purchased a minipris fare for Bergen-Oslo along with a sleeper accommodation charge (sleeper is undiscounted/flat rate of NOK 850...no variation based on distance or occupancy). One other observation: I will be able to use my rail pass, which is valid in Sweden, for the Oslo-Goteborg service, including the Norwegian portion. The same is true for Oslo-Stockholm. In both cases, the "exception" applies only to through trains that cross the border.

Both of these booking attempts are a relief after reporting on "Man in Seat 61" that the NSB and SJ websites can sometimes balk at accepting non-Scandanavian credit cards.

sprite0226

Thank you to all of you who suggested using American Express cards. I tried for an hour and a half to purchase train tickets from Copenhagen to Stockholm through the SJ website, going through various Visa cards and calling the card companies only to find out that the problem was on the SJ end. Then I found your forum and tried my Amex card (which I never use outside of Costco) and it worked like a charm!!!

THANK YOU!!!!