ever notice that Rail Europe sells Premier (1st) class tickets non-refundable at half the price of refundable first class (with alleged meal) with "lounge" access (why anyone would want to sit in these lounges for hundreds of Euro is beyond my comprehension.All this is designed to suck you in to the first class ticket.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
Well, first, Mark, you might want to eliminate your double posting so we can keep this on one thread.
As far as sucking you into first class, that's not just Rail Europe, but Eurail in general.
I have two problems with RailEurope. First, they charge more for the same trains you can get in Europe. On German Rail trains that seems to be about $15 per connection. That might not be too bad considering they are in this country and have their website in English. You should pay something for the service. You can get better prices from the national rail websites, but that requires more knowledge, maybe more work.
Secondly, they don't have a very good selection, and that usually results in your paying more between two points.
But my big problem with Rail Europe, and maybe this is more with French Rail (or should I call it "Freedom Rail") is that their website is set up to make it difficult for you to go to French Rail and get the European "counter price", the same price for which they sell tickets to almost anyone in the rest of the world. They try to force you to go to RailEurope, at their less efficient and higher prices. I consider this to be the ultimate in unethical business practices.
Posted by
OP
los angeles, ca, usa
3 posts
I think by going to voyage-scnf.com you can get those rates. Also, yes I do agree that something should be paid for service. However, I do not agree that they should be selling pushing you to buy tickets with meals when the meals do not exist for certain trains. I was in Paris three weeks ago and took the TGV to cannes. Imagine my surprise when I was told that my voucher for the meal would not be honored. Also, when you go on the site, you are not told the cost of the meal voucher, just that your ticket price includes a meal. Then you get the breakdown and find that you just paid 28 dollars for a meal you could buy on the train for 12 Euro or less. Theydon't even take the voucher. how many others have been denied this meal? I want to hear from them. I just checked their site and even after I advised them they were selling worthless vouchers, they are still selling them for these trains. Even if you could get the meal, the price of a first class non-refundable is HALF of a refundable with "meal and lounge access". if that's not a rip, nothing is.