renfe issues - Barcelona to Madrid. Help!

Renfe posts its fares 62 1/2 days in advance. (The 1/2 day is due to the time difference between Spain and the USA). So, check later in the week for July 4 if my math is right.

Patience !!!! Wait a couple days. The is little need to purchase tickets far in advance.

I just checked Renfe and it appears they are not showing complete schedules for Jult yey. Only a couple trains, none of them AVE trains, appear even for July 1. June 30 has the complete schedule but no discounts. People have been commenting on TA that no Web fares have been offered on this route for June travel. Keep checking but it is possible the Web fares won't ever appear. If not, there is no reason to buy way in advance.

Thanks. That's what I thought. There were no July train prices even though it's at the cusp of 62 days. Also, I did not see online web fares for June like you said. This train travel costs more than zurich-Paris and Paris-Amsterdam, even though it's the shortest. Ridiculous!!

It may be the shortest in time ( under 3 hours), but that is because the train travels at 300 km per hour for much of the way. We rode that train 2 days ago and it was amazing. Regular fare for turista class is 117 euro for most of the AVE trains. Watch the fares closely until they are posted. It may be that they never offer a Web fare in tourist class, but perhaps they will in Preferente. That is what we found for our train. We went Preferente for less than the tourist class fare.

You can also check rumbo.es if you can translate the Spanish. I had to buy my ticket for Barcelona-Madrid on rumbo.es as I could never get the renfe site to work.

I've found web fare prices on Renfe for late June but have been unable to purchase them with a US charge card. An error G001 keeps appearing. Trip Advisor newsletter has said this could happen. I've also looked at Rumbo.es but that fare is more than the Renfe web fare. Has anyone had success with a visa or mastercard charge card for Renfe?

For the others having issues with purchase, follow the directions on this TripAdvisor post exactly and you should improve your odds of a successful purchase: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g187514-c80518/Madrid:Spain:Buying.Renfe.Tickets.Online..html

I have had the same problem with the G001 error and other similar problems with Renfe. I have tried many times and with several different times. My bank says that they are not declining the transaction. I also heard about Rumbo and tried them. Their fares were close to those of Renfe but when I indicate that I an purchasing the tickets from USA then I get redirected to RailEurope where the price is almost twice as much. I also tried to purchase the tickets at Rumbo by indicating that I was in Canada but that purchase did get declined by my bank. Possibly because the address did not match their records?

I've been able to find travel info on Renfe.es website and I have tried Trip Advisor information on the newsletter but have been unable to purchase tickets. I spoke to a Renfe representative who said many people who are out of the country have had problems purchasing tickets and they are working on it. It seems it may be related to certain banks since some USA purchases are going through. Right now he referred me to Petrabax 1-800-634-1188 and their prices are higher but not as high as Rumbo.

Some US credit cards will not work on Renfe no matter what you do. But many are successful. I found the crucial thing was to sign up with Verified by VISA in addition to notifying my bank. I was able to buy many tickets at web prices for our current trip with no difficulty-but only after I first purchased from Rumbo es. I never saw prices on Rumbo that were higher than Renfe. They offer the same tickets and web discounts. In fact the base price of the ticket is lower than Renfe, but then they add a handling fee that brings the cost up, ending a few euros higher than Renfe. The Rumbo site is arranged differently than the Renfe one, and only in Spanish, but easy to use. Just make sure you reject the insurance offer or it will cost an additional amount.

Correction! I just checked a particular date in June, and Rumbo.es is not offering the Web fares that one can get on Renfe. Not sure what is going, as they were available every previous time I checked. Keepmtrying on Renfe; some people have had better luck using their debit card.

Thank you all for the advice. Certain days in July do seem discounted, so I am going to try this weekend to purchase the tickets using the methods outlined above.

Everyone else's success stories gave me confidence that I, too, would be able to purchase tickets on the Renfe website. I was prepared. I followed the instructions on Tripadvisor and Seat61 to the T. I was persistent. I tried numerous times over the course of 3 days and during different times in the day and night. Was I successful? NO!!! The entire process was extremely frustrating. I have a Chase Visa credit card and also a Chase Visa debit card (both are Verified by Visa). Both were declined. I called and spoke with Chase 4 times, and each time the rep I spoke with claimed to release the hold on my account. One rep even waited on the phone with me while I tried to complete the transaction, but he said he wasn't seeing the transaction on his end. I also tried to contact Petrabax, but never received a response from them. I then decided to do what a few others resorted to, which was to purchase 2 preferente tickets from rumbo.es. This purchase was also initially declined, but it took just 1 call to release the hold for the transaction to go through. Although I spent an additional $10 EUR ($14 USD) for 2 tickets, it was well worth it to finally have confirmed tickets in my possession...and I saved $135 over RailEurope's fares! BTW, rumbo does offer estrella and web fares. I am just happy that I don't have to deal with the Renfe website anymore!!! Good luck to everyone else!

Michelle, you story is similar to mine. And after making that purchase on rumbo.es, I found that Renfe would accept my card (Chase) and I bought 4 more sets of tickets with no trouble at all. You'll enjoy the ride in "preferente". Those AVE trains are amazing.

I have been struggling for over 24 hours to buy tickets on Renfe following all the instructions and changing things up to see if it helped with no luck and absolute frustration!! I have checked RailEurope and the fares are double the web discount Madrid to Barcelona so I tried the Rumbo site and there was a 17 Euro upcharge from the discount price... with all this hassle, why don't more people pay the less expensive option and take Ryanair? It's 40 Euro rt plus the 21 Euro rt transport to Gerona (from Barcelona) but it's still less expensive than a ow train fare. Please help me understand why I need to keep being frustrated with trying to book rail??

Airplanes are a hassle for such short distances and end up taking more time. Factoring in the cost of transportation to and from the airport, it isn't much cheaper (if at all). Try a few credit cards, it ended up working for me using verified by VISA.

Grace, did you register your card with Verified by Visa, and also call you bank to advise of the foreign purchase? These two steps are crucial. If you do that, keep trying. Many have reported success after multiple attempts. If you have to purchase on Rumbo it is not so bad. The handling charge is minimal compared to paying full price, for a ticket between Madrid and Barcelona.