I just wanted to let everyone know about how I successfully booked tickets on the Thalys website. For hours my transaction was declined, probably because I was using a US credit card.
Finally, I was able to book on the English version of the German website with an American Express. I saved hundreds of dollars by not using Rail Europe and booking directly on Thalys website.
Hope this helps someone else!!
I had a similar problem last year. One of my credit cards got rejected. I just used to a different one, and it went through. Both cards were Mastercard.
Yes, I tried several combinations of Mastercard, Visa and AE, and different version of the site, hence "hours of declined transactions". It's odd how sporadic the site is.
First things first....
Some banks (my bank) have your card blocked to international transactions until you call the number on the back of the card and have the blocks removed. After that it works just fine.
