Sncf train : Carte Avantage Senior - Discount not applied constitently for same search

The card won’t pay for itself with these itineraries. It’s not valid inside Germany. Strasbourg to Colmar is a local train and not all local train companies apply the discount. For example mine in Occitanie doesn’t. Finally, your one trip to Paris won’t amortise the price of the card.

Wow, thanks Elizabeth for such a quick reply. I tried to do a sample trip to determine if there was a benefit. It looked like I was saving

16 Euro - Stuttgart to Strasbourg
11 Euro - Strasbourg to Colmar (but couldn't tell if that was each way)
76 Euro - Strasbourg to Paris

Admittedly, the net savings (+3 Euro) was minimal. However, I thought if I returned to France in the summer, it might be worth it. Any idea why the discount would not always appear on the Stuttgart to Strasbourg leg of the trip?

Because sometimes Deutsche Bahn is running the trains, not SNCF.

I do have a senior advantage card, so I'm checking the prices instead of my earlier guesstimate, and being sure to use SNCF trains for the German portion:
Stuttgart to Strasbourg using SNCF train: 29 reduced from 35 euros, savings 6 euros
Strasbourg to Colmar return: 11.70 reduced from 15.60, savings 3.90 each way,
Strasbourg to Paris: 56 reduced from 81, saving 25 euro
Total savings: 38.80

I chose the highest price tickets for January 25th for all the routes. The least expensive ticket to Paris is a OUIGO budget train at 25 euros with no discount available. There's also a TGV INOUI to Paris at 32 reduced from 46, saving 14 euros.

My conclusion is that if you buy well in advance, you won't break even. However, if you can't buy very long in advance, you will have higher priced tickets and you will come closer to breaking even.

In my experience, which may be somewhat dated, you got senior discounts on the TER's between Strasbourg and Colmar automatically when rode off-peak trains. You just buy a senor priced ticket and confirmed your right to the discount with your passport if the ticket inspector checked you. You paid full price regardless of age when at riding peak times, which were basically commuter times.

It is a bit dated, Sam, the old red, blue and white travel periods and times of day. Here in Occitanie I did see two TER trains higher priced on a route during evening rush hour last week but not morning. That was a surprise. On the OP's Grand East route, the TER trains were consistently the same price when I priced it for the OP using my senior discout car.

I'm flying in next week so the week for the Christmas Markets and taking 1st class trains so the pricing is much higher. Stuttgart to Strasbourg was 110 Euros for two people and dropped to 70 Euros with the Carte Advantage Senior when I was finally able to get it to re-appear.

thanks for the additional critical info

I think you have gotten very lucky because the Strasbourg to Paris trains are showing huge discounts for card holders in 1st class for next week, in the 20€- 35€ range.

That makes perfect sense.

The ticket prices are sky high - so the discount, which is a percentage of the ticket price, is concomitantly more sizable than in many other instances.

(As Nigel points out, this information - that you are buying tickets last-minute, and for some of the most expensive trains of the year -- makes a huge difference.)

Thanks to everyone for all of your advice.

Yes, the tickets are sky high and even more so I you want to take first class. Not sure if the difference between first and second makes it worth the increase (not quite double but still ) and when want early non-stop tickets, but I tried to find the most cost effective ticketing strategy under the circumstances. I have purchased the following tickets

(1) one way trip to Stuttgart to Strasbourg;
(2) one way trip to Strasbourg to Paris

I haven't yet purchased round trip from Strasbourg to Colmar because I don't know how long we want to stay there. I want to go in the day and leave after dark, but I am not sure if it is best to simply buy tickets that day or purchase in advance due to need for flexibility. I see the trains are frequent.