On page 891 of his "Spain" book, RS says that successfully fighting with the Renfe web site could net one an online discount of 60%. On the same page, RS mentions the web site of a travel agencey rumbo which also sells discounted tkts for a fee of E5.
Can one obtain the same 60% discount through this agency or should one persist with the Renfe fight?
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17433 posts
Rumbo.es does offer the discounted fares ( now called Promo fares) if they are available in Renfe for the same train. So does the agency Petrabax, billed as the " official" agency for Renfe. Before attempting any purchase of train tickets,I read up and learned two things. Mone is that you should register your card with Verified by Visa before attempting the purchase, as the Renfe site will lookmformthat when it says " contacting your bank." If you are not registered,math at may cause immediate rejection of your card. The other tip was that you can get Renfe to recognize and accept your card if you first make a purchase from Rumbo.es. SomImtried that and avoided any " battle" with Renfe. After purchasing one pair of tickets to Toledo on Rumbo, I was able to buy six more pairs of tickets for travel from Barcelona to Madrid, to Cordoba, Sevilla, all at the discounted price, and all without a hitch. The ticket from Rumbo was charged as two separate transactions, the ticket fee charged to Renfe, and the agency fee charged to Rumbo. (It may be more than 5€, depending in the cost of the ticket). I received the same printable ticket that I got with my successive purchases on Renfe. So I recommend a couple of tries on Renfe, but if that doesn't work, done transaction with Rumbo.es, and then try Renfe again ( assuming you have registered with VbyV). In either case you must call your bank first to advise you will be making a purchase in Spain so they don't reject it as fraud.