To receive a Eurail Pass discount, the Thalys website says I have to phone a French telephone number. You dial the number and everything is in French. No help to a monolingual English speaker. I then tried to purchase the ticket from Eurorailways.com and was refused because I didn't buy the Eurail pass from them! Is anyone else having problems buying a Thalys ticket from the USA? I'd buy it in Europe, but apparently the discount is very hard to get and may be sold out on the day of travel.
Posted by
Texan in CA
4415 posts
I have a wacky question for you...bear with me... Would you give me your departure city, arrival city, and the date? Because you may be able to get an online discount ticket that's LESS than the passholder fare. Crazy, huh?
Posted by
OP
Anchorage, AK, USA
3 posts
O/W dep. 16 May 11 AMS (Schiphol) to Paris (Nord). 10:31 a.m. departure
Posted by
Texan in CA
4415 posts
I forgot to ask if you have a "Global" pass that covers all 3 countries, and if you needed a 1st class or 2nd class passholder fare...oops. I don't see a 10:31 dp from Amsterdam Schipol; Thalys shows an 11:31 (and a 9:31)...Passholder fares: All 3 countries covered on pass: €62 1stcl, €39 2ndcl Pass partially covers countries: €103 1stcl, €65 2ndcl 'Regular', advance-purchase tickets: €98 2ndcl 11:31dp, €78 2ndcl 13:31dp, €65 2ndcl the rest of the day... To buy the passholder fares here, you'll have to go to Rail Europe Or, suffer through French...This is a new service; Thalys didn't used to offer access to purchasing passholder fares at all, so perhaps English-speaking operators are coming...(fingers crossed). Their prices are in DOLLARS! Don't get confused: Rail Europe 2ndcl: $60 (~€42), 1stcl: $94 (~€65); very comparable to the Thalys prices of €39 and €62, but I didn't investigate if there are any S&H or processing fees...If your pass doesn't cover all 3 countries, RE can't help. What I'm reading these days is that these passholder fares are more available than they had been; there'd been a crunch for the last few years (I'd always just gotten them immediately before my train). So, depending on your situation, you may or may not still want the passholder fare. If you want to purchase a ticket, however, do that ASAP because those are discount prices!
Posted by
OP
Anchorage, AK, USA
3 posts
Thanks for the information. (That took some time to research, for which I am very grateful.) I have forwarded the information to the folks who were having the difficulty. Your reply was very detailed and easy to follow. i'm sure they'll have no trouble buying the tickets. There is a delivery fee of $18 but these folks will pay it just to have the security of having the tickets before they travel. Like you, I'd just wait and buy the tickets there; however, there's always that risk that the passholder fare will be sold out that day. I appreciate your advice. Duane
Posted by
Texan in CA
4415 posts
Considering the highest walk-up, full-fare tickets are €130,00...IF there were no passholder fares, that could get pretty expensive. Sometimes, you just have to spend the money - something I HATE doing LOL! Part of the traveling budget...And I believe the $18 is for the entire order, so divide that by the number of people...not as bad. Plus, now they have all they need to go directly from airplane to train - priceless.