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SNCF or Trainline?

Posted by (El Dorado Hills, California) on

When I book tickets or reservations, I usually try to book directly with the service provider. So I'm looking to purchase train tickets for September travel for Avignon, France to Nice from SNCF, if available. Now that's just over 6 months from now, so I know many tickets are not offered that far in advance. But SNCF is showing me a few trains, but only after 5:20 pm. Do they typically add more trains later? Additionally, the SNCF site tells me this: "Urban transport timetables may not be available more than 30 days in advance." 30 days? That seems a bit late.

On the other hand, Trainline is showing plenty of trains beginning early in the morning. So should I wait for SNCF to show more trains at some later date, or nail down a ticket through Trainline now? Does Trainline always show tickets long before SNCF? Any pros or cons I should be aware of?

Posted by
23352 posts

SNCF uses a software program that automatically adjusted the time for where your computer is located. For me, that time difference is 7 hours, so if I ask for a train at 10 am, the first train it will show me is 5 pm. The solution, of course, is to ask for a train at 2 am, then it will show trains beginning at 9 am.

At the top of the page, you can also click on "Display previous journeys" to get earlier trains.

Also, there is note on the SNCF site that says more trains will be loaded on the schedule at a later date. Trainline sometimes lists trains that are not officially scheduled yet. The travel version of "vapor ware".

Posted by
930 posts

What Sam says regarding the times shown does not appear to fit what I can see on the SNCF app on my iphone. I didnt check the website.

Jeffrey: When I tried a couple random days in September, the SNCF app shows me a good number of morning trains at various prices. It shows 7 choices between 7:40 am and 11:55 am from Avignon TGV station to Nice. There are also 6 options before noon from the Avignon center station but with Avignon city as the departure it does say that more will be posted later. fyi: Avignon has 2 train stations; the TGV (fast train) station is outside the city center.

Posted by
7226 posts

It may make a difference which departure station you input on SNCF. But whether I used Avignon, Avignon TGV, or Avignon Center, on a random mid September date, I can get trains starting in very early morning til mid afternoon (when I stopped looking). As noted, if the first train that pops up is late morning, then just hit the 'see previous journies' tab at tye top of the page. Regardless, I dont see any point in booking trains 6 months out, when you have no idea if future events will make that train trip problematic. Wait.

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