In April I booked tickets from Paris to Amsterdam to Paris in July on the Thalys site. I have a copy of the page where we ordered the tickets that says our booking is now complete ( confirmation of your order) which includes a "file reference", a transaction number and that we have "chosen to collect tickets from the ticket machine". It also states we are going to be receiving an email in confirmation but we have still not received it, nor do I get any response to requests for it. Should I be worried?? Thx
Posted by
Alabama
108 posts
The same thing happened to me for the Paris to Brussels route on the Thalys.com website. However, I did elect to print the tickets at home, which indicated that they were generated by Voyages..SNCF.
I emailed the Thalys.com customer service and was told that they had tracked down the transaction at Voyages..SNCF. I was told not to worry, that everything "should" be fine, since I was able to print the tickets. (It was a few days before I got a response to my initial email. There was still no explanation as to why I didn't receive an email confirmation, as it was stated when I purchased the tickets.) Maybe some of our train experts out there can enlighten us.
Posted by
Ottawa, Canada
4555 posts
If you have your file reference number, you should be OK, altho you can e-mail Thalys for clarification. Your reference number should be all you need, although you may have to go to a ticket window to pick up your tickets, since the machines usually require the credit card you paid with, and I don't believe those machines will handle credit cards without the NIP chip now in European credit cards. Thalys actually acts only as a "front end" for the rail systems in France, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands, and when you book, you go to the national rail website of the country where you indication you'll be picking up your tickets. So if you had said you'd pick up your tickets in Amsterdam, you would have been shuttled over to the Dutch rail system website to purchase....which is in Dutch! Since SNCF just revamped its entire website, maybe it's Thalys "confirmation e-mail" function has been disabled.
Posted by
Alabama
108 posts
Thanks, Norm...Sounds logical to me. You would think that Thalys would delete the "email confirmation" statement from their site, so as not to mislead consumers, and have them anxiously awaiting the email which never comes. Unlike Sylvia, I did get a reply to my email, and already have the tickets, so it wasn't as much of a concern to me. Sylvia, I wouldn't worry too much as long as you have that file reference number, as Norm mentioned.