Need help making TGV reservations.

Use tgv-europe.com to save money as well as for convenience. If you can't print out the tickets you have bought, you will get a receipt with an order number with which to retrieve your tickets from any SNCF office in France. If you have paid for the ticket on-line, possession of the credit card is mostly to confirm the order and your identity. If your new chip card won't satisfy the ticket machine about an older order, go to a clerk with both cards in hand as well as your reservation.

Jeanine, first, list Great Britain or Canada as your Ticket Collection Country instead of USA. Picking USA gets you transferred to RailEurope which you do not want. Don't worry, you will not have to go to these countries to pick up your tickets. The journey you want involves a TGV and a Regionale train to get to Annecy. You can buy these tickets online but you will not be able to print them out as your TGV train is coupled with a Regional train. If this run were TGV only, you could buy and print out your tickets at home. But, since its coupled with a regional train, you must either pick up the tickets at a train station in France or have the tickets mailed to you. As for the credit card, you show it for ID in France to get your tickets. With your non-chip and pin card, this will need to be a staffed train station with an agent as you card will not work in the ticket machines. It's supposed to be the credit card that you used for purchase but mainly, they just want good ID that you are the person who bought the ticket. You don't have to wait for your chip and pin card to move ahead with purchasing your tickets.

Jeanine, I did as Larry suggested - I used Great Britain as my country. It doesn't matter because as he said you will have to print the receipt and get your tickets at a manned ticket counter. You can pick them up in Aix when you are ready to board your train (be sure to come early as there may be a line at the ticket windows) or you can pick them up at any station before then. My trip was from Avignon to Annecy and the TGV went to Lyon and then regional train to Annecy. I honestly don't remember them asking for my credit card, I thought I just showed them my passport as ID, although I did have the correct credit card with me, so you will have to have that with you. If you can't wait until you get your c&p card, then just take your regular credit card with you, just carry it in your money belt or some other safe place.

Yes, you MUST show the credit card you used for purchasing the ticket, even if it's expired in the meantime! Is there a reason you and Ray don't want to simply pick up the tickets when you arrive for your train? It's really easy to do! You'll have a printout of your itinerary with you...

A related question--I purchased TGV tickets 3 months ago for pick up at the station with the credit card. Since then, my credit card number has been stolen and I had to cancel the card. I still have the card. Can I still use it to pick up my tickets?

Shirley, the answer just above your question applies. Yes you must.

You MUST bring the card you used to buy the ticket, even if it's expired or cancelled. Our travel partners no longer had the card they used, just their printed reservations. They were politely told they must buy new tickets, but SNCF would honor their original fare. They were told to submit a form for a refund on the original ticket. their refund came almost to the date promised -I think it was 3 months.