First Class France Rail Pass, No First Class Reservations Available.

Unfortunately not a question of luck , In general ( there are exceptions ) rail passes are a poor value and don't work the way most travelers expect . Seats available to pass holders are usually limited ( particularly in France ) and the seat you wanted is probably gone . Advance tickets at deep discounts work much better . With rail tickets priced airline style , the days of all you can eat travel with a pass are essentially a thing of the past , like travelers checks . for more details and potential solutions , start by studying this extremely helpful , well known , and often mentioned here , website --http://www.seat61.com/ Best wishes !

A bit more info, please.

When is the trip? Are the pass-holder reservations all gone, or is it too soon for them?

Or do you mean that the trains you want at the moment are all Second Class only trains?

Can you help, please?

Are there second class seat reservations available? There is nothing that says you have to ride in 1st class just because you have a first class railpass?

France limits seats for pass holders on trains requiring reservation (TGV) to less than the seats available on a given train. There are probably seats available, but just for full price tickets.

BTW, regional trains don't have seat reservations. Are you possibly trying to get reservations on these trains?

This is for the TGV, Paris to Perpignon, in June. Yes, there are second class reservations available. I had the choice of purchasing a first class or second class pass. Now I thinking the first class pass was a waste of money.

Well, the pass may not have been a good idea in the first place because of the issues mentioned in the first response, but I hope that you can get first class reservations on your other trips using the pass. In 2011, I learned the hard way about the limited number of seats for pass holders when my family missed the train on which we had reservations. No more passholder seats were available on the next several trains and we bought full fare tickets and then we got on the second train and it was only about half full.

I suggest trying again or telling me your travel date. For a test date of June 15 at https://ricksteves.raileurope.com/us/rail/point_to_point/triprequest.htm, I see both 1st (Comfort) and 2nd class (Economy) seat reservations available for $12 each on direct trains such as the 7:15 and 10:07 departures, while the 14:07 must be fuller, since the reservation fee has gone up to $24. Ignore the "Premier" column; there is no such class and for point-to-point tickets it tends to just indicate flexible, full fare rates. The connecting trains also have places available. Be sure to check 1st class on the first page of the ticket search.

Last year I travelled around France on a first class pass and found a quirk in the reservation procedure. If any segment of your journey is on a train that has no 1st class cars, your entire journey is booked as 2nd class. This happened to me on a loooong trip from Toulouse to Paris to Saint Brieuc to Dinan. Since the SB>Dinan segment had no 1st class, it was 2nd class all the way which wasn't bad. If you bought your pass through Raileurope, call them because there is a workaround. I believe the trick is to book each segment individually. Had I reserved Toulouse to Saint Brieuc, I would have paid one reservation fee with no reservation needed for the trip to Dinan. if I were to get a rail pass again, I'd buy a second class pass and invest the savings in better wine at dinner.

Dear RS,

Thanks for your help. I see there are slots if I want to buy a point to point ticket, but when I check "traveling with a pass", the choices are limited. There are first class reservations available for the 7:15 TGV, Paris to Perpignon, only. Maybe it's because I have a France Promotion Pass? Anyway, even second class on the TGV is fine. (and the pass was really cheap).

The promotion doesn't matter in this case, so you can just say you have the regular France Rail Pass. But in my June 15 test above, it wasn't an issue. Splitting up any connections and requesting them separately is often a solution in Rail Europe's search engine, but again did not appear to be the issue in my test. The results that I see today for travel on Friday, June 3 are the same as previous.

Did you try again and confirm that you checked the box for first class? What is your travel date?

Hi,

I've been in exactly the same fix in France. No big thing, a little inconvenient, and I did that last minute there at the station for a departure in the next few days. If that happens, ask about 2nd class class reservations for that departure time, or take another departure time, see if 1st and 2nd class reservations are available. Back in Dec 2015 two days before the absolute deadline, I bought a Pass, got the special extra day promotion (certainly helps) and will activate it the end of May. That same Pass now is $35 more than the price paid in Dec. True, if you're on a TGV and the ride is more than one hour, 1st class is admittedly much better in comfort.

The Ihaveapassbutcan'tgetaseatreservation is quite frustrating.

Keep in mind that on some TGV legs you might get a meal, which is always nice and a good use of time. We got lunch from Lausaunne to Dijon. We also got fed on the Thalys once.

Hi,

Yes, one advantage of sitting in 1st class on the TGV and ICE is having that meal served to you in your seat even when using a rail pass. I have had that twice...a pleasant surprise