Booking TGV INOUI in advance

You are just to early. Tickets for the summer will be available mid March.

How far in advance do you need to book these tickets? About 5 minutes before departure at the latest.
How far in advance should you book these tickets? That depends. Once you are 100% sure of your travel you can indeed book.
How far in advance can you book these tickets? That is something the railways decide. Sometimes it is 4 months. Sometimes it is less. In general, if you are trying to book more than a week in advance and can't this means booking simply hasn't opened yet.

Trains do not sell out weeks in advance. They would be useless if they did.

I had checked the decision tree on the sncf website a while back and it said they would be on sale for July on March 6, but then I checked a few days ago and it had changed to March 13th, so it could change again between now and then!

What is the decision tree? Do you have a link I can go to to check this as well?

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You can buy tickets right now for dates in late June at www.TheTrainline.com for the Ouigo Grand Vitesse #7803 train departing @ 12:26pm from Gare d’ Lyon arriving Lyon Part Dieu at 2:22pm for $32. More trains available on some dates in late June.
Have a great trip!

Yes, I saw that. I am looking to book the TGV INOUI not the OUIGO. Do those tickets get released later?

Sorry, I conflated the two train systems.
SNCF states TGV iNOUI tix go on sale 4 months in advance of the train’s departure, but if that was always the case they would already be on sale through the end of May and up to June 20. (They haven’t even yet put tix for May 22 up for sale).
You can sign up with SNCF-connect to receive a notification e-Mail when tix for the date you want first go up for sale on its website. Look under “Ticket Sales Opening.”

Sales for Inoui tickets will open in the early AM (French time) of Wednesday 6th March.

here is the decision tree website, I will still check on the 6th and 7th (I just checked for June dates and I THINK it said the 7th?) but mine says the 13th....

https://www.sncf-connect.com/aide/l-ouverture-des-ventes

or maybe I just can't read French......I was going for the TGV options (that is the general category for the Inoui, right?)....

speaking of times on sale, is it midnight? so evening time in the US the night prior?

I swear I saw SOME ticket (for something, like an attraction or transportation, or something else I can't remember) that went on sale at 10am Paris time....any ideas?

The time they are due to go on sale would be midnight in France. For Americans, that is 6 hours earlier or 6pm EST and 3 pm PST. Move those times forward one hour ( 7 pm EST etc.). on March 10 when daylight savings begins in the U.S.

Sales for Inoui tickets will open in the early AM (French time) of Wednesday 6th March.

I got an email from SNCF with that info a few weeks ago, put the date in my calendar, but indeed SNCF now mentions 13 March on their website, so now I no longer know. Classic SNCF 😂.

Tickets don't appear at midnight French time but sometime in the wee hours.

booooo to that Bets and balso!

I had scoped out the March 6th date too and when I checked recently it had changed to March 13th and I was like "ugh another week!" haha

Bets, any ideas on which wee hours? haha With the differing reports it seems like the midnight might be a "suggestion" and they take their time getting up on the website? haha

All I know is that it's during the night, before 7 am. There are thousands of tickets released, so I wouldn't be concerned. The prems, very low price 2nd class, may go quickly, but there will be plenty more 1st and 2nd class at reasonable prices.

It's never at midnight like the Eiffel Tower tickets.

oof, ok, I will cross my fingers and hope I will be awake when I can buy them....

I think it's partially me wanting to get them done, partially knowing that going TO Paris in the end of July will be busy, and partially sticker shock for the prices of the trips I DO see available in May (when you are comparing the "cheapest these tickets can be" price on the sncf website with the current price with an 80 euro difference) are all stressing me out.....but also when I have been "planning" this trip for 2 years, every little bit taking of the list of "to dos" is a big accomplishment :)

Is March 6th/13th for tickets in late June as well as July and August? My tickets will be for late June and early July? Also, how do I book bus tickets? Is there a website for that? Thanks.

I don't know why google translate won't do that page, but from my limited French, if you go through those decision tree choices, the dates of TGV and Intercities trains from July 6 to Sept 1 open on the 13th....but May 23 to July 5 is on the 7th.....but it also depends on the type of train, as all the decision tree types may have different answers (I didn't do them all) , so you will have to go through it yourself according to which trains you want to utilize...

You do not need to camp on the ticket release date to buy train tickets. Unless you want to be the first one by a several weeks wide margin that books a particular train.
Trains are not like planes. You will get cheap tickets even just weeks before travel. No need to get all stressed out for a train in June.