AVE Train Booking Help - Barcelona to Madrid

Rail Europe is a reseller that does not provide the discounts available by purchasing direct from RENFE. They may also not provide every available train. So yes, avoid them.

The discounted tickets don't tend to disappear in hours or minutes. Just keep checking RENFE until they post that date and then get your tickets. A few cautions: There are two main classes of discounts. The cheapest are non-refundable/changeable tickets. Slightly more expensive tickets allow you to change them to a different train if needed. Always know that non-refundable means just that, no matter the good reason. Also, it helps to register with the website and pay for your tickets using the Paypal option (their credit card processing is notorious for not working with US cards).

And yes, the highspeed AVE is the way to go between Barcelona and Madrid.

There are many weird and wonderful seat/pricing options available through RENFE. The best instructions I've seen about the ins and outs of their online site is here: http://goo.gl/sWI7f5. Most of the options don't apply to me most of the time, or are undesirable, I find. Plus, waiting doesn't always mean you'll save money. Sometimes they just run out of seats at the time you want, or run out of the more affordable seats, so you end up paying more. For instance, they sometimes sell 'flexible' tickets that cost more than normal ones, and sometimes these are the only ones left. The reasons why they sometimes have these options on some trains and/or some dates or times remain obscure. Add to this the fact that my credit card sometimes works on their site and sometimes doesn't, seemingly at random, and I have at times found it best to pay a couple of Euros to a travel agent to book the ride for me in Spain upon my arrival! :-) RON

Since a change in the Spanish booking system, Rail Europe has not been able to sell the discount fares online. When you book through Renfe, plan to pay using PayPal, which is more reliable than credit card approval. Some countries aren't loading in tickets for sale yet past June 13 as that is a schedule change date. Renfe has traditionally been slow to publish summer schedules but is likely to put their fast trains up sooner. If Renfe and PayPal don't work for you, then www.petrabax.com is another US agent.

awesome! Thank you all for your help! I'll just patiently wait until it's published on the site.

By the way, I followed Douglas' advice (Oak Park, Illinois), using PayPal (with the same credit card that RENFE kept rejecting), and it worked like a charm1

I used a Visa card that has the Verified by Visa option enabled & it worked first time when I used the Renfe site. I think Mastercard has a similar program.

Thanks for the advice re PayPal as I have previously had trouble when attempting payment on renfe.com with an Australian card.

I just received an email response from Renfe, as I could not get any info for a ticket between Madrid and Ferrol departing on June 14. The email said that since the summer schedule was set to commence on June 14, it will not be up on the site until then. I am going to keep checking just in case, but since the schedule is not supposed to change drastically, I will plan on going direct to the station on the day of travel and obtaining my ticket...

Unless a more veteran member/traveler has any other insights, advice??? Thanks in advance!!!

RENFE may very well update their website prior to 14 June. I would keep checking every few days. And if they don't make the update before then, just buy your tickets at the station.