Buying Train Tickets: better to buy from son in France or here in US

Depends on where you are planning to get your ticket over here. If you were going to go through RailEurope or another travel agency, he can to better. If you are going to use French Rail online, you can get as good prices for advance purchase, but you have to be careful they don't switch you to RailEurope.

Thanks so much! I will pass on the information to him and we will go from there.

Who told you that? He'd be using the same website you'd use here... As Lee said, you DO have to avoid a mine or two...But if you use tgv-europe.com and choose 'Great Britain' as your 'home country', you're good to go. Here's a great, hand-holding website to walk you through ordering (and MANY other things concerning Paris - and France): http://parisbytrain.com/tgv-tickets/

Thanks Sally for posting this question and Eileen for the great link - that's exactly what I was looking for. Sally, the reason people would encourage your son to get the tickets is that for those of us in the U.S., it easy to get directed to the wrong website. You have to make sure you're on the French TGV website, not the American version. The American version charges more. Also, some people have had trouble accessing their tickets at the kiosks in France if they have an U.S. credit
card without the European chip & pin feature. Generally, the ticket agents are helpful if you have a problem. But, this link from Eileen should make it easy.

Thanks to those of you who have helped with this. However, i have run into a brick wall! For the past week, I have been getting a message that says: It is currently not possible to book a train on this route. Please try again later. It doesn't matter whether it's TGV with europe.com or the french TGV website. (My son, living in france, is getting the same note.) i'm about to try rail europe even if i have to pay the $18 extra per ticket price because i'm getting nervous about being able to get a ticket for our upcoming travel. Is anyone else encountering this? Any solutions?
Thanks very mcuh

Sally, is your Paris to Barcelona trip more than 92 days out?

May 5. I'm experiencing that i can't get international tickets on line!( so, i tried paris to figueres vilafant and was almost successful. but, when i input my son's bday (for his 12-25 ticket) site keeps saying that the birth date is incorrect!
ideas?

For your son's birth date are you using the European way using the day/month/year instead of the US way using month/day/year?

ok! Here's what I found out, and as it might be useful to others, i'm going to post this! Using sncf.com was no problem. i didn't have to access it via any other web site and i didn't have to say what country i was from! And, I got a nice rate of 109 E for two of us. What i learned (after hours of work!) was that the train from Paris to Barca stops and ENDS on the Spanish side in a town called Figueres Vilafant. There, I leave sncf and switch to the spanish renfe.com train system for the final leg to Barca! So, I could buy the leg to Figures V but then had to switch to renfe to buy the final leg... which i'm trying to complete now. FYI, on renfe, my bank was contacted in the purchase process and kicked me out, thinking it was fraudulent activity. I've corrected that, but i guess renfe still is hooked somehow. Another day, another try! THANKS SO MUCH ALL FOR YOUR HELP

and, "yes" to an earlier question about my incorrect use of my son's birth date! Thanks for that.