TGV from CDG

Why would the downloaded paperticket not work. It's still a ticket. Does it have a barcode on it? Did you purchase through SNCF? You can download the app, and it will be on there.

Yes I do have a barcode on the ticket. I assumed the turnstiles only operated on a ticket

The turnstiles only have readers -- not a place to feed in a paper ticket . You place your phone -- or your printed paper copy of your ticket - face down on the reader on the turnstile.

If using your phone, make sure you have the brightness on your phone display way up when you do this !

There are no métro style turnstiles for TGV departures. I don't remember ever seeing any, which is why composting your ticket was necessary. My last trip to Bordeaux a few months ago, there were staff on the quai, checking tickets as people boarded the train. Many people just used the OR code on their phones. You should be ready to go.

I have been on a few TGVs the past few years with turnstile-type entries where one places one's ticket face down on the reader to enter.

I don't know about the station at CDG in particular as it's been 14 years since I took a TGV from there.

I am 95% sure the CDG TGV station now has platform gates/turnstiles. The QR code on your ticket will open them, a phone is fine - no need to print. The gates are a bit fickle but they always work eventually.

FWIW. I find that when I use a ticket for the train on my phone, the reader somehow reaches past the ticket barcode to my credit card and then doesn't work. I have had to find a person with a reader to let me into the platform several times trying to use the ticket on the phone. A paper ticket reads fine on the reader as long as it has a clearly printed bar code.

I have no idea why this happens with the phone or how to fix it.

I do this route often. You just place your ticket (either paper or electronic) with the bar code facing down on the reader. It scans then the gate opens. Easy peasy. Often I am also asked to show it on the way down to Bordeaux by the train stewards (not always but often) so have it available if they do come through the car.

Many thanks all for reassuring information.