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Price Checking the Carte Advantage - Man in Seat 61 Advice

Posted by (Colorado) on

Hi All,

Question - has anyone tried to price a SNCF trip using the Carte Advantage via SNCF-connect website recently? I'm trying and it looks like I have to enter the actual Carte Advantage number, which defeats the purpose of the advice (below) to try it both ways to see what is more expensive. Or, it allows a blank entry and there's no cost differential (I can't tell which).

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience!

Man in Seat 61's top tip: You can read the small print until you're
blue in the face, but the only way you can be really sure what the
benefit of a Carte Avantage is by running a specific enquiry and
seeing what effect adding the card has. So before buying a Carte
Avantage, run an enquiry for the journeys you actually plan to make,
on the same days of the week, using www.thetrainline.com or
www.sncf-connect.com (a) without a Carte Avantage and (b) with a Carte
Avantage discount added. See what that does to prices in reality. If
you see no difference, the discount may not apply to your particular
journey. If you see a difference, do the savings justify the cost of
the card?

Posted by
10621 posts

Senior card?
If so, either post the day and one route or send it in a private message, and I’ll look it up later today so you can evaluate the difference with full fare. I can look up one, but don’t have time for several..

Posted by
388 posts

Hi Bets - no the Carte Advantage Adult (two adults and two teens traveling). I'll just try the thetrainline.com and see if the pricing there is different. But thank you!

Posted by
7837 posts

I looked on SNCF connect earlier and you can price check with the Carte Avantage by just leaving the number field blank- and it did work.
Try having two windows open at the same time- one for fares without the Carte and one for fares with.

Some of the messages about availability were in French, but that may have been because I was using the translated French language website, not the true English language website. But even my rudimentary schoolboy French capability could do the translation.

Posted by
388 posts

Thanks isn31c - I tried leaving it blank and it "went" but reflected "no discounts applied" so I couldn't tell if it was calculating or not. I'm also going to be taking the TGV from Brussels to Paris (as you may know from the other post), so maybe I WILL read the fine print! See if it will help for either the trips.

Posted by
388 posts

OK, fine print defines children as ages 4 - 11. So my children, 13 and 17 will not have the discount applied. Bummer.

Posted by
388 posts

Other fine print...which means I could buy, price the two trips using the actual Card number and then cancel. Seems like SCNF would be better off letting folks price without a card number than handling cancellations. Course, I'm not French and I'm not caring about the discount that much. Just annoying that you can't see if it applies in real time.

The right of withdrawal specified in Articles L.221-18 to L.221-28 of
the French Consumer Code allows customers to change their minds about
the purchase of the card within 14 days of its purchase date, as long
as they have not already travelled for the discounted price offered by
the carte Avantage. After this 14-day period, the right to withdrawal
is no longer admissible and the purchase of the card can no longer be
refunded, even if its start date has not yet begun.

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