Hi all! This will be my first time in France (Sept-Oct) and wanted to purchase my tickets with TVG Europe as it is cheaper than Rail Europe. I have read many recent posts on here and Trip Advisor about people having problems with booking online with multiple US credit cards. My questions are: 1) Has anybody used their website to successfully book their trip? What worked for you to have the reservation go through (people mentioned clearing their cookies, using Amex)? 2) When you book your tickets and print them out online, do the conductors check your passport/credit cards to verify your country of purchase (does that even print out on your ticket?) 3) How do you go about validating the printed tickets on those machines at the stations? Thanks ahead of time for your help!
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23268 posts
1. Pass. We rarely buy tickets in advance. 2. Yes, often the credit card used to purchase the ticket must be presented with the ticket and the conductor runs it through his hand held machine to check. There was no other id check. 3. You don't have to validate a ticket that is train/seat specific because it is only good that train and seat. An open ticket on a train not requiring reservations have to be validated.
Posted by
Orange Park, Fl, USA
12 posts
1) I used the TGV website to book several tickets for our upcoming trip even our Thalys tickets from Amsterdam to Paris. I didn't have any trouble with the transaction with Capital One credit card. The tickets I printed from home have no information on them that indicates which country you purchased them from. I used Great Britain in the country field.
Posted by
Texan in CA
4407 posts
1) YES! You can save lots of money, but start trying at 90 days out; some routes are very popular. Some routes offer NO savings, though (some regional trains), but those are typically very inexpensive anyway. 2)Yes and/or no - depending on exactly what kind of ticket you have...but Be Prepared with your passport and the credit card used for purchase. Guard that credit card like gold - again, depending on the type of ticket purchased (eticket, paper ticket, etc.) your ticket IS NO GOOD without the card used to purchase it. 3) If you have a reserved seat, you don't need to 'composter' your ticket. Any ticket you print at home can't be 'validated'; it'll be an 8x11 sheet of paper. It gets scanned using a hand-held scanner. Read The Instructions Very Carefully concerning the type of ticket you purchase online. The main problem I've had with tgv-europe.com is that sometimes the site just conks out - doesn't want to work. I've personally never had trouble with using the site with my credit card, though. HEY - new today tgv-europe.com is announcing new features and a new look - Just for Lisa ;-) Read carefully 'Phase 2'... and as has been mentioned, choose 'Great Britain' as your 'Ticket Collection Country'(that keeps you from being bumped to Rail Europe): http://www.tgv-europe.com/en/launch