Doesn"t the French SNCF Train Website accept Canadian Credit Cards

On the credit card question -- this can be frustrating and without an obvious solution, especially if (as in your case) the bank or card issuer is not the one blocking the transaction.

If you really cannot get it to work on SNCF's website, you could always use Trainline -- they do charge a 3% fee on all tickets, but aside from the fee they should have the same fares that are available on SNCF's website, and if you really just get stuck on SNCF's site you may want to try a different one.

On the schedule availability -- are you sure the train schedule is fully loaded? Early October is four months out and SNCF may not have uploaded the full train schedule yet. What do schedules for the same routes on the same day of the week look like several weeks prior? If they look substantially fuller it may just be that the full schedule is not loaded for your dates yet.

Your issue trying to book with a non-European credit card is probably caused by a security protocol used in Europe called "3-D Secure" (the problem is not just with Canadian cards, most US cards get the same bum's rush). You can read more about it in this old thread here:

3-D Secure credit card payments - wha???

You can try another form of payment, maybe Palpal.

Can't speak to the lack of train availability.

Hope this helps.

Hello Andrew and David
Thank you both for your insight. Canadian credit cards have used PINS for a long time but the 3-D secure thing may be another layer of security which could be problematic. Trainline will allow me to pay via Paypal as well which should work fine.

You may be right about the schedule. The weekend before my departure shows all the available trains. However Monday Oct. 10 is sketchier. Only 2 first class tickets listed on two trains. More 2nd class seats/trains listed but fewer of them (not all are direct lines either).
Trainline listed the Oct 8 train with a confirmed seat on the upper deck. Just read that minor schedule changes occur mid-June which may also gum up the works. May have to wait a bit longer if I don't see the trains listed on SNCP October 8 weekend.
Coming back from Arles, I definitely will wait until the 22nd before checking the schedule. I looked up Saturday Sept 25 and sure enough they have the InOui trains direct to Paris Gare de Lyon listed not just the cheaper OUIGO trains.

Thanks again for your help

Be careful with PayPal. I've just been using it myself to buy Norwegian train tickets, and it default to charging me in US dollars (at a bad exchange rate, naturally). There's a link you can click to change the currency before completing the transaction.

Good to know - i'll make sure to check off Euros...

I tried using Trainline back in December in my Paris hotel room to buy tickets and it would let me get all the way through to the pay screen and then ... nada. Wouldn't accept my American credit cards or my Paypal. When I finally got through to them the next day, they shrugged and said it's past and there is nothing we can do. Thanks guys!

So I ended up going to a train station the day before and buying them with a human. I did the deed on a tablet in the ticket office while she stood next to me, I recognized it immediately since it mirrored the Trainline site and I breezed through the purchase. She was very impressed. Not.

I recall running into that problem in 2019 and I remember finding a solution, but I can't recall what it was. I'm writing this unhelpful post to remind myself to look at my notes from that trip and reply again. I may have used Trainline.

I've checked. The SNCF website wouldn't accept my card. I had to go to the Oui.SNCF website, which is now SNCF Connect. Not sure which one you tried but hopefully this helps.

I used Trainline on a recent trip to Spain and didn't have any problems whatsoever. I may well use that for any trips to Europe in the future, instead of navigating each country's national train website. Yes, you pay a small surcharge for each ticket, but it was totally worth it. Never had the opportunity to travel on SNCF yet, but Spain's operator Renfe's website can be very finicky to use at times, so I was glad to use Trainline.

Carol, both my Canadian MasterCard and Visa have the 3D extra security layer in place so not sure why yours wouldn’t have given you that option. We did it several years ago and continue to use the same password. It only comes up when we are booking transportation on European sites.

Hello Everyone

Well had a bit of wrangle with my Capital One credit card of all things to find out if it had the 3D Secure protection or not. Their rep had to go through 2 supervisors before they confirmed it does have that added layer of protection. Why the hassel?!
My other card is a bank issue so will check with them later. I expect this will have the extra protection though - newer card.

Yes I was on the SNCF Connect website when it continually rejected my card. I did check their schedule to see if the Oct 8 dates are now listed - they were. The schedules must be "very precise" date wise. That's a relief - way less stress (running around between stations - Nord and Lyon) and besides I wanted to check out dinner at "Train Bleu" at Gare de Lyon the night before I leave for Nice. The Belle Epoque decor is something else - expensive but hey haven't been anywhere for 3 years ;) so splurging...

Booked through Trainline without a hitch. Paris-Nice - 1st Class Seat for 51 euros and the surcharge was 1.55 euros (cheap)
From now on I will use Trainline for all the French trains. FYI - did not use Paypal - wanted to make sure my credit card was going to go through without a hassel and charging it in euros.

My last trip was in April 2019 to Spain and never had an issue with booking trains from Renfe's website then.

Thanks to all of you for the helpful information. I really appreciate it.

Forgot to mention. Trainline has an app for your phone which I downloaded and created an account so I can see my e-ticket. I can add all my other French train tickets as I book them. I got an immediate e-mail from Trainline after my credit card was charged and I have the print-out of my e-ticket as well for back-up.

Hope this helps other people as well.

Classic tickets (inoui) are sold only 4 months before the trip (with some exceptions). Now it should be possible to buy them.

Ran into same issue with Costco Visa card. SNCF-Connect would take me all the way through to payment; then error message that bank did not accept transaction. Tried Trainline with same result.
Contacted Customer Service - they assured me that it was not on the US side as no transactions had come through.
Tried Trainline again and used PayPal; went through without a glitch.
So must be some blocking at the European bank that processes the transactions for train companies.
Annoying as charges for other services have completed without any errors.

I know this is an old thread, and I didn't have any issues buying tickets on the SNCF website with my Chase Visa. But you could also try the SNCF app - especially if you have Apple Pay. You can pay with credit cards or Apple Pay in the app.

You might try the SNCF app. I find that I have no trouble paying for tickets on the train apps but the websites are sometimes funky.