For the first time making reservations (or not) using the Rail Europe France Rail Pass for my trip

Barbara, You have my sympathies. But I am afraid I can offer little advice other than to phone up the company who sold you the pass.

To everybody else, do not buy a rail pass until you have read this: http://seat61.com/Railpass-and-Eurail-pass-guide.htm#railpass-or-point-to-point-tickets

Barbara - what trips are you trying to book? for what dates? the reservations for pass holder may be all gone.

If it's for next month, it may too late rather than too soon. As is often posted here, France restricts the number of passholder reservations, so these can be sold out even when there are lots of free seats on the train. One of the "gotchas" of using a rail pass.

Call Rail Europe directly; since they sold you the pass, they should help you with the reservations.

You can get 85% of your money back if you turn it in. Think about cutting your losses and writing off to experience.

Have you called Rail Europe? They helped us get any reservations we needed.

Depending on your planned routes reservations may not always be necessary.

How long will people continue buying railpasses for places like France and Italy??? Just DON'T do it. They're overpriced for what you get and a pain in the butt to try and use.

Thanks to all who took the time to reply to my frustrated plea. I am reserving for at least six or seven weeks ahead and with a more careful reading of the websites - including Chris' info and Rick's as well discovered that some of the trains (TGV) are cannot be reserved until three days before the day I want to go so I will hope for the best at that time. Since I am older, I got a deal. So I hope all this pays off - next time I may travel another way. Barbara

Barbara, there are not trains that can't be reserved until three days ahead. You're reading that backward. In the past, TGV reservations were not available less than three days ahead. The situation may have improved, but it's not well documented.

Since TGV changed all of their fare structures on May 1, Rail Europe's booking engine was not yet working last week for international TGV passholder reservations (phone agents had a manual work-around), although I thought domestic reservations were working better.

To be sure which legs of your trip actually require seat reservations, see schedules through the DB link at How to Look Up Train Schedules and Routes Online. I recommend only booking those portions that say "subject to compulsory reservation." If two connecting legs both need reservations, it may still help to enter those request separately in RE's booking engine: https://ricksteves.raileurope.com/us/rail/point_to_point/triprequest.htm.

I think Paris-Rouen is one of your destinations and that example does not need a seat assignment in either direction. For a TGV route like from Paris' Gare de Lyon to Aix-en-Provence TGV station, I do find pass holder reservations available two weeks from now, but you must specify the TGV station.

So much for a closer reading. Thanks Laura. Have appreciated all the help. Barbara