I am looking for train tickets from Colmar to CDG on a Friday. I have checked OUI, Trainline, and RailEurope in early October. Rick Steves recommends RailEurope, but the ticket from this site is significantly higher than the others. ($60 higher) Does anyone know why that is? What am I missing?
Thanks!
What am I missing?
You left at an important detail that would enable others to help you: what exact date are you traveling from Colmar to CDG
Rail Europe (ironically owned by the Swiss and French rail OUI-SNCF) is a 3rd party reseller of tickets meaning they mark the tickets up that is why a ticket is higher compared to buying it directly from OUI
Rick Steves recommends RailEurope,
You will be hard pressed to find knowledgeable travelers recommending you to buy from Rail Europe
I am seeing trains available on every Friday in early October
Oui,sncf
https://en.oui.sncf/en/results/outward/train?wishId=5d44fb9538138d0f1578b325
and Trainline
Exact date is oct 11 in the afternoon. So rail Europe marks up by 40 percent.? Wow!
You might want to use thetrainline.com as you credit card may not work on ouisncf
Rail Europe has to pay the rent; they have an office in the uSA
Rail Europe sometimes has a problem where a route that includes a Regional train ticket (such as Colmar to Strasbourg) forces the system to show you only full fares, instead of the advance-discount rates available on the faster leg of your route.
However, if you search just for the reserved TGV from Strasbourg to CDG at 9:59, for instance, Rail Europe has it for $62 per person and TrainLine has it for $63.50 or 54 euros. Booking fee about $8 per booking/group from RailEurope or $2 per ticket from TrainLine.
Yes, RailEurope has to pay rent, and the customers are paying it for them. SNCF direct sales for two months from now shows a late-morning ticket as low as $50.
For years another question about RailEurope has been whether it shows all options. It certainly fell short when I tested it a few years ago. Even if it has become more thorough, I prefer to buy directly from the railroad, which accepts Canadian credit cards without question. But I do wonder why the Steves' operation, so valuable otherwise, sticks with RailEurope.
Trainline was recently purchased and no longer has the lowest fares. You might check with www.loco2.com
For best pricing and a full listing of schedules, including PREMs and the Ouigo discount trains, use www.oui.sncf the official French rail website. Strasbourg to CDG on 11 October are currently available at 49€.
I avoid Raileurope.
But I do wonder why the Steves' operation, so valuable otherwise, sticks with RailEurope.
Once upon a time, before the internet, European railways, like airlines, relied on travel agents to sell tickets. Rail Europe was the the travel agent's travel agent for securing tickets, as well as those Eurail passes that the boomers traveled with in their younger days. Eurail passes are commissionable products, and commissions are the travel agent's life blood. Time passed, airlines began selling tickets direct to customers over the internet and eliminating travel agent commissions. European railways, which compete with airlines, had to alter their pricing models in order to stay up with the airlines, also selling tickets direct over the internet.
So time and technology have passed Rail Europe by. The railways new pricing models, and all-reserved high speed trains have destroyed the advantages of railpasses. But they hang on, based on boomers' fond memories of past times, and the legacy business models of travel operators.
If Rick parted ways with Rail Europe, not only would he reduce his own income, it would force him to lay off employees in the office dedicated to servicing the Rail Europe account. That is something that I am sure a bighearted guy like Rick would like to avoid. Thus the status quo remains.
So for a TGV Paris to Strasbourg or Colmar who do you all use rather than Rail Europe?
