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TGV Paris-Barcelona on Strike Day

Posted by on

Hi everyone. My husband and I leave next week for our honeymoon in Paris and Barcelona. Months ago we purchased first-class seats on a TGV train from Paris to Barcelona, but now it appears it's scheduled to be a strike day. Are the TGV trains even affected? If so, we understand we may not know until the day before whether our train is running, and that we may request a refund for our tickets. I assume if our train is not cancelled, we have no guarantee of being in first class - can anyone confirm this?

If we opt to get a refund, we figure the flight will take more or less the same amount of time, so should we go ahead and book the flight and get the train tickets refunded? We're starting to run out of time here and we can't really move travel dates to a non-strike day at this point as our hotels in both cities also have been booked for months.

I guess I'm hoping to figure out what our best option would be, or if we should just wait it out. And if we do wait it out and end up standing room on a train, are we at least able to get refunded the difference between a first class ticket and a second class ticket?

Thanks in advance!

Posted by
5697 posts

Yes, TGV trains can be affected by the strike -- but it's not a sure thing. We had a Paris-Strasbourg TGV last week that was cancelled BUT the train an hour later was still running so we just exchanged the tickets. If your train is not cancelled, your specific first class tickets will still apply, same seat reservations. When is your train ? SNCF seems to be pretty sure about trains through May 17.

Posted by
4 posts

Hi Laura, many thanks for your reply. That is helpful to know. Was your later train also a TGV? Our train is for Sunday May 13.

Posted by
16893 posts

See https://en.oui.sncf/en/train/strike and follow links from there to see whether they're still selling tickets for your scheduled train. If so, then it's promised to run. That much has been decided for departures through May 17. If you bought your ticket through another agency, they should have the same info.

If it's not currently for sale, then your other options are described on the link. You can change your reserved ticket in advance to get a seat assignment, or you can use it on any operating train but without guarantee of a seat.

Posted by
4 posts

Laura, thank you. I did notice yesterday someone had suggested that on a different query, so I tested it out and it appears they are still selling tickets for our train (albeit at a much higher price than what we paid, thank goodness we planned early). Sounds like that settles it then?

Thanks again!!

Posted by
16893 posts

Yes, I think that settles it. You might be able to take your seats 20 or 30 minutes before departure, if the train is waiting there.

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