My wife and I are taking a train from Paris to Quimper and have 2 options – TGV or OIGO, which is about $80 cheaper for the 2 of us combined and arguably a better time. OIGO is 45 minutes longer - 4 hours 15 min.
Read different things about how bad OIGO is so interested in further feedback. The one additional caveat on my end is that I am inclined to motion sickness so am wondering if would be more likely to happen with OIGO. Thank you!
Be very careful with Ouigo booking conditions. Luggage, seat allocation, cost of wifi, cost of electric socket by seat, exchange conditions. Otherwise the ride should be pretty much the same but slightly slower in the older Ouigo trains. There was a point when they offered zero service on the ground, everything had to be done online even when stood next to a cancelled train, not sure whether they have improved on that.
If you are motion sickness prone, you should consider first class TGV only because I’ve found a lot of out-of-order toilets in OUIGOs. Recently our two-hour Paris-Strasbourg OUIGO ride was four hours late due to an incident on the tracks. No food or water to buy, broken toilet. The TGV got preference for the tracks once the line reopened. Our son had bought all our tickets and the schedule was better…until the incident.
You probably won’t get sick because trains are very smooth, but why put yourself in that situation no matter the difference in price.
I’ve only taken ouigo once, from Bordeaux to Gare Montparnasse . No problems boarding or on the train but I found the information about bags/seat assignments/etc. confusing. I think we finally did it correctly, at least we were not challenged. We did the enhanced version ( I can’t remember what it’s called) which seemed to give us the ability to bring on two full-size suitcases. Also seat assignments.
I was happy with the experience and very happy to save the money that it would’ve cost otherwise. I figure there are always uses for saved money, like a nice dinner perhaps. That said,I would strongly advise bringing a board water, sandwiches, and maybe even a bottle of wine (with opener) and paper cups. Very true that there are no services or conveniences on board.
I've taken a few OUIGO trains and never regretted it (nor have I regretted the money I saved!). I know some folks on the forum aren't fans but for me, they have been just fine. I would happily book one again. May I suggest booking the OUIGO PLUS fare, which gives you a greater luggage allowance (I always travel carry-on but not worrying about whether my bag will be a problem is worth it), and even more importantly, advance seat selection. Yes, you will need to bring your own food and drink, but that's half the fun in France! A baguette, some cheese, a sausage and some wine.......how could this not be better than whatever food they might sell you on the train? As a Canadian with little to no access to train service, my bar is pretty low so I am always delighted to travel by train (any train!) when in Europe. I imagine that Europeans likely have higher standards and expectations of their trains but for this Canadian, OUIGO is all good.
Thank you everyone for the feedback. The incident with the broken toilets seems quite annoying. Has it happened to anyone else? How are the seats - are they basically the same as TGV or less comfortable?
Ouigo seats don't recline and many don't have armrests. I spent 3 hours on a train that was like riding a metro seat -- metro is fine for a 15 minute trip -- but 3 hours on this long trip, upright, hard seat, no recline. Not at all like TGV seats which are comfortable in both first and second class. I think there are better seats with armrests -- but the focus is not on comfort. I would never take a 4 hour trip on a Ouigo.
We were knee-capped by Ouigo last June - their short notice cancellation ruined a planned birthday celebration in Paris. They cancelled our train from Rennes to Paris with only two hours notice. Only offer at first was to give us equal credit on some later train. (They did finally issue a refund a few days later.) We had to scramble to find replacement tickets and those tickets cost us about four times what the Ouigo price was. IMHO. You get what you pay for.
I often travel to Quimper for work and refuse to use the Ouigo, I find it too uncomfortable for this long ride. It's fine for up to 3 hours no more, I'd say, and the lack of any catering is annoying - not even water!
@Cynthia: To be fair to OUIGO, I’ve had TGV, Intercites, and TER cancelled at the last minute for a variety of reasons, particularly during heat waves because the rails bend or accidents or lack of functioning engines or crew. Yes, the replacements were costly.
We were refunded 100% by OUIGO when our train was delayed for four hours last month. It says “click here” and I followed the prompts to get the refund. It fact the little insurance policy refunded us too, double refund.
It would not be so obvious to someone who doesn’t read French, and I understand your frustration.
OP:
Due to your motion sickness, my suggestion is 1st class TGV face-to-face solo seats. It will be just the two of you facing each other with a little table between you, and you can switch seats so you are in the direction the train is going. In second class TGV, you can’t choose your seat.
However, If you buy the higher level OUIGO tickets, you are able to choose your seats and do have a few solo face-to-face seats in a couple of the train cars.
There are many Youtube videos about OUIGO, check them out.
If you ever have issues with a train, just file a dispute with your credit card company and let them deal with it.
We have taken trains all over western and central Europe over many years. Because of an unexpected health issue affecting our scheduled train trip from Aix en Provence to Paris last October, we had to change our regular train and book a Ouigo train. We didn’t quite realize how barebones it was until we boarded. Never again. The seats and aisles are cramped, the luggage storage area is small because there is also a garbage bin in the space, there is limited to no service. While we had bought something to eat and drink on the train, our train kept being delayed by short periods of time because of a security issue in Marseille (unattended package) so we ended up not having enough water and no availability on the train. Never again.
We had to scramble to find replacement tickets and those tickets cost
us about four times what the Ouigo price was
That is a mistake, which I would attribute to inexperience. SNCF when they cancel a train will tell you that you can cancel the ticket and get a full refund. This is a trick. SNCF cannot in fact cancel the ticket, so they trick you in to doing that. That is however not what you should do. You should in stead tell SNCF: "We have a contract where you committed to transporting us to ..., how are you planning on upholding your end of the contract". They should rebook you on other trains at their own expense.
WengenK The tickets I had purchased were from OUIGO, not from SNCF. After OUIGO cancelled with little advance notice, we had to buy tickets from SNCF and pay the walk-up price. OUIGO, for several days, only offered us replacement vouchers which were of little use since we were flying home to Seattle in three days. They did FINALLY issue a refund.
whatever they claim, Ouigo is a brand name of SNCF https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouigo And the contract rules apply to all operators, they entered into a contract to get you there. But as I said, offline means of contact are pretty much zero and when 500 people are arguing with them it could take days for everyone to have a go.
WengenK The tickets I had purchased were from OUIGO, not from SNCF.
After OUIGO cancelled with little advance notice, we had to buy
tickets from SNCF and pay the walk-up price.
OUiGO is an SNCF brand, it is not a separate company. So in this case SNCF had to get you on another service, not you.
When a train gets cancelled, or a delay makes you miss a connection that these are your rights:
a) You can choose not to travel, in which case you get a refund. If the interruption happens on route you can decide to go back to where you started from free of charge, and claim a refund.
b) Or you continue your trip on another service in comparable circumstances. This may be even a service on another company if it is the only one available.
If the railway does not provide you with an alternative within 100 minutes you can make your own arrangements, and reclaim the costs, as long as the means used to get you to your destination are reasonable. So another train is perfectly fine. Chartering a private helicopter is not.
These regulations are set in law. Unfortunately the law does not require SNCF to inform you of these, and they do take advantage of that. Remember that SNCF considers passengers an unfortunately unavoidable nuisance. So you do have to stand on your rights at times. So in this case if indeed they did not rebook you what you should have done is request they pay you your new tickets back, not the original ones.
It is important to be aware that a cancellation of a train does not mean your ticket is cancelled. The railway cannot cancel your ticket at their own discretion. So the important thing is that you yourself do not get tricked in to cancelling.
The moment you cancel and accept a refund for the original tickert you lose your right to alternative routing. However from mine and other's experience if you show that you actually know what you are entitled to they will comply.
actually I would say SNCF has made major attempts to avoid the passengers! Like the lack of face to face service at stations when Ouigo goes wrong
