train pass or pt-to-pt ticket ? need some advice

so why should I even book through SNCF? are they different? any pro or con?

They are different in that Eurail is just a ticketing consortium of European railways that puts together a "pass".
SNCF actually owns and operates the trains in France.

What you are not seeing is that you will have to buy expensive seat reservations, and you may not even get on a train for days, as the number of passholder reservations is limited, even if there are still empty seats on the train. If you are looking at August, every one (it seems) in France is on vacation, and they booked up all the discount seats a long time ago. You are going through Paris, and guess where a lot of Parisians like to spend their holiday.

So it might be a good deal, but have very flexible plans. You might want to go to Rail Europe and find out if any reservations are available and how much for the train to Nice. Nice to Monaco is just a commuter train that is frequent, cheap, not reserved, and maybe you'll have to stand.

thanks Sam on your reply. If I understand your reply correctly, getting the Eurail France Pass does not reserve a seat for my trip. I will only get a seat if there is space available ( no standing ). Am I correct?

If I want want reserve a seat, with the Eurail France Pass, I still need to pay extra to reserve the seaat in SNCF site. am I correct?

If my understanding is corrected, may I ask this... I went to SNCF, try to see how much I need to pay to reserve the seat if I have Eurail France Pass. should I select the "Pass Interail" > "One country France"? Is that the right name for the Eurail France Pass?

These passes became obsolete about the same time traveler's checks did. You don't get to just hop on a train if they have a seat available; you have to have a reservation and reservations for passholders are limited. If others have booked them up you are out of luck. What do you do if the trains you want to ride have two passholder seats available and there are 4 of you wanting to travel. And the reservation often costs more than just buying tickets well in advance. (although you are too late to buy 'well in advance' for August. Passes are almost never cost savers and they can leave you having to buy full price tickets last minute to get on a train.

what do you mean"if others have booked them up you are out of look"? Are you telling me even I go to SNCF or https://www.raileurope.com to paid and reserved my seat ( with Eurrail France pass, it cost $80USD for all of us . Without Eurrail France Pass, it cost $400 for 4 of us ), it does not mean I will for sure to have the seat for that train? ONLY buying a ticket without the pass in SNCF is the only way I have for sure to get on that train? I really don't understand these....

Here is I just check, For 4 of us
Eurail France pass : $270 USD - 1 day
book ticket from Caen to Nice on the day I want with NO pass in https://www.raileurope.com : $460 USD
book same ticket with Eurail France pass in https://www.raileurope.com : $80 USD ... it even ask everyone name and which country from. I just did not confirm it

so please someone explain to me why the pass is useless??? I know I am missing something here.

Hi everyone. I finally decide not to get the Eurail France pass. due to the fine print that I cannot use it. At the end, I bought the Enfact+ card from SNCF for 75 Euro ( since my son is under 12 ). With this pass, within 1 year, everyone tickets gets 25% off if we travel together up to 4 people ( include the child ) for all the train ( include other Europe country?? not sure ?? ) . Still require buy ticket and reserve the seat in France but pay 25% less than the point-to-point ticket. It also give me a flexible schedule to take any train later.

I hope I make a good choice. Let me know if I am not!!!

I got a private email to ask me where I find the $263 Eurail France pass because it should be cost $376 from the https://www.raileurope.com web site. The reason is because I checked the box "Adult traveling as a group". Remember we are family so we travel together all the time. so it allows to pay the pass a lot cheaper

However, not everyone can use this pass. I just read the fine print and here it said

"Any person living in a non-European country can use a pass. However the person should be a resident, i.e. she/he must be living more than 6 months in Africa, Oceania, Asia and Middle East or America (south). Please note that residents of Russia and Turkey are not eligible for a Pass."

Sorry for myself and American resident! However, the pass is a good deal only if ""Adult traveling as a group" and satisfy the fine print, even you have to pay for the seat reservation.

So many pass in Europe.. so lost. But I appreciate everyone help in here. It has been very helpful