For Canadians: You cannot travel on OUIGO trains

This was reported by someone on TA last year. I'm curious whether anyone has any definitive information on why OUIGO doesn't accept Canadian credit cards. On the TA forum it was reported that they were able to buy the tickets on Trainline.com using their Canadian credit card. Which doesn't help the OP since they already purchased TGV tickets but may help someone else with the problem.

I tried with the SNCF , OUIGO and TrainLine websites, and tried all three mobile apps as well.
Total of 10 failures over 2 days. Apparently regardless of the site, they still authorize through OUIGO.

Some of the wated time was because the SNCF site complains about the required mobile phone number..
Turns out you have to use '+01' and not '+1' to get past that. The TrainLine site did not mind normal phone numbers.
That is a good tip for Americans, because it just about drove me around the bend trying to figure out the deal with
the mobile number

I know there have sometimes been issues with Amercan CCs on various european rail sites, too. Seat 61.com often recommends other sources, such as the mentioned Trainline.com and Loco2.com. I have used both with no issues, but trainline seems to have started adding additional fees.

I have used both with no issues, but trainline seems to have started adding additional fees.

Yes I had heard that. LOCO2 is still free I understand but they don't cover OUIGO tickets.

Is PayPsl an option?

Ouigo is a tricky thing...

Because it's heavily subsidised by taxes, the French Government would ideally like it to be for French taxpayers only. Under EU rules this is illegal, so they had to make it so that people from member states EU/EEC can book. Why people from the USA can also book I am not sure.

It's not just Canadians who can't buy tickets - anyone from Asia, Oceania, South America or Africa is also disadvantaged (if you want to look at it that way) Personally, the check in and luggage rules make OUIGO too much of a PITA unless I am travelling alone and with no luggage.

Paris to Bordeaux TGV tickets are about 30€ - you will pay half that much getting too/from the various airports to the town centres

See for yourself, from the Ouigo website:

https://www.ouigo.com/faq?question=63721-modes-paiement-autorises

I am startled. For two decades I have been using a Canadian credit card to buy SNCF transport with rarely if ever a problem, and no credit card resistance. For most of that time I have felt smug as Americans complained about credit card rejections, many caused by their own banks. Now flyspeck territories are acceptable but my money is no good despite a famously secure banking system. St Pierre and Miquelon, in Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence, has a population of under 7,000 people but they can buy tickets? Or does SNCF simply assume that those of us on the mainland, are Americans? Wow.

Now flyspeck territories are acceptable but my money is no good
despite a famously secure banking system.

This only applies to ouigo, not all other SNCF purchases as far as I understand, so Canadian (and other) cards should still be good for the majority of SNCF trains.

Still, it is a bit of an odd list, as it appears to be comprised of:

• France and its various overseas departments and territories (as for St Pierre and Miquelon, given that it's a part of France and uses the euro, one can hardly expect them to be excluded)
• All other EU states except Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania (these are all non-Schengen EU states, but so are Cyprus, the UK and Ireland, which are all on the "approved" list)
• A smattering of non-EU European states: Andorra, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Switzerland -- but note Norway and Iceland are excluded
• The United States

I can't make out a very clear rationale -- it feels like a "almost there" kind of list.

Flyspeck they may be, but Saint Pierre and Miquelon are part of France, the country with more time zones than any other.

Am I missing something with this post? I'm a Canadian with a Canadian credit card living in Canada and had no problems with the website and buying my ticket. Bought in March and traveled last Sunday from Nice to Paris.

Am I missing something with this post? I'm a Canadian with a Canadian
credit card living in Canada and had no problems with the website and
buying my ticket. Bought in March and traveled last Sunday from Nice to Paris.

Ouigo are specific trains on the SNCF network, designed to compete with low-cost airlines, along with all the annoying restrictions thereof (30-minute check in, luggage restrictions, etc.). The majority of trains are still "normal" Intercité, TGV, TER, etc. trains that aren't subject to this restriction.

For example, taking a look at the direct Nice to Paris trains on Monday 17 June:

• 05:57-11:48 - ouigo
• 10:00-16:15 - normal TGV
• 10:57-16:53 - normal TGV
• 13:57-19:46 - ouigo
• 15:51-21:45- normal TGV
• 16:57-22:53 - normal TGV

If you have a Canadian card you wouldn't be able to purchase tickets for the 05:57 or 13:57 departures, because these are ouigo trains, but the other four departures would work for you.

(Personally, I agree with the man in seat 61 and think that ouigo is a downgrade in train service, especially now that they're replacing previously "normal" TGVs with ouigo service. But that's neither here nor there...)

I wanted to add this:

Although I am highly annoyed that Americans can buy OUIGO tickets and Canadians cannot, my primary complaint is that the website(s) are poorly designed - they do not tell you up front about the limitation or prevent you from trying to order the tickets. They are relying on their payment processor to reject the transaction, and even then only one of 10 failures indicated the reason why, buried in a 'refund' email.

This caused me to waste an inordinate amount of time chasing down the problem, including calls to my credit card company to find out why they were rejecting the transaction. They weren't of course, it was never even received.

The SNCF website has a lot if other problems too. I am astounded that they gave such a poorly implemented website. I have had some minor issues booking trains in Italy and Spain, but nothing like this.

I assume they still accept cash? Given their inability to accept some foreign credit cards, I'd probably just buy tickets at the station.

Ken - nope. Ouigo can only be prebooked, and paid for by credit card. It's no loss, it's not much of a service except if youre travelling ultra-light, and 10euros will break the bank

They are no big loss now but when they push out alternative trains on the routes, suddenly they will be.