SNCF TGV baggage size

No. You’re good.

Are you perhaps on a OUIGO service? That is a train that is intended to offer as bad an experience as air travel, just a bit slower. So yes, you could get an excess luggage fee if you encounter an SNCF staff member who is fresh from the "how to mistreat customers" course.

But on normal tains is measuring your luggage. There is no excess baggage fee. The rules just exist so that people don't take everything and the kitchen sink along.

I regularly travel with a suitcase that is 83x47x28. No issue. But I avoid the abomination that is OUIGO as the plague.

WengenK, this is interesting. I bought both tickets on the SNCF website.

The first trip confirmation email says
Votre e-billet pour la référence ...

The second trip confirmation email says
Mon billet OUIGO pour la référence ...

I don't remember selecting OUIGO as an option, and I didn't know that OUIGO was the voyage from "h-e-double hockey sticks" LOL. The ticket is nonrefundable, so it looks like I will just have to live with it.

you are probably okay on the Ouigo per your luggage and if they get sticky -- well pay the fee. I never book Ouigo for a long haul train as the seats in my experience are miserable. It is like traveling on the metro for 4 hours -- those seats are fine for 15 minutes in Paris but rigid, non reclining seats with little or no padding and often without armrests 3 across are not something I volunteer for for 4 hours.

Thanks for the reassurance, Janettravels44. The OUIGO ticket is for a 3-hour ride (oh dear), but I will have two nights in Paris to recover before I fly home on American Airlines. I expect to be well rested before I get on that train, as I'll be staying for a week with friends in a large house with a pool, not traipsing around on a busy tourist itinerary.

The excess baggage fee is still less than the additional I would be paying for a better class of SNCF travel, I think. And, as others have said, my bag may not get nicked as being too large. Or, I may decide to manage with a smaller bag for the entire vacation.

Some people are more fragile than others. You’ll be fine.

If OUIGO has the train at the best time for us, we just take it, even the four-hour ride from our city to the airport. There are bigger problems in this world. I book the higher priced option and choose face-to-face seats for the two of us. In January, the OUIGO toilets were less than ideal, but we lived. No restaurant car, but we always pack our own food. Taking it again in April.

Otherwise, most of our bookings are the regular TGV in 1st…downstairs.

I think you will be just fine. We take the OUIGO TGV when necessary vs. the InOui TGV. From my experience bags are more scrutinized on the OUIGO than on the InOui. However, I have never had any problems with my Costco roller bag. Not sure of the exact measurements but it fits in airline overhead bins and is my carryon. The only time I add on additional baggage for the OUIGO is if I have my costco roller bag AND my large checked roller bag. Oh! And you will need to get a tag at the train station to put on your luggage with your contact info, even back packs. It's like the airline tags you can plop on your luggage handle. During the past 3 years, the train stewards check luggage for those on the OUIGO trains (not so much on the InOui.)

KimberlySEA, thanks for the heads-up "you will need to get a tag at the train station to put on your luggage."

I take it that my own luggage tag, which already has my name and home address, isn't acceptable for them?

Your own luggage tag is acceptable.

Balso, thank you for the info that my own luggage tag is OK with them. I don't mind adding another tag if that's what SNCF prefers. I will play it by ear in the station for the first leg of my train travels. That station will be Massy TGV, outside of Paris in Ile-de-France.