SNCF booking websites

[Theo Markettos]

Are there alternative websites that can book SNCF tickets? I know about
voyages-sncf.com (SNCF themselves) and RailEurope (SNCF subsidiary). The
voyages-sncf engine is rather keen on minimising changes - I've never seen
it offer more than two. On a long trip (eg London to south of France) it
sometimes means that you're restricted to only a few trains when in fact
there are more options if you change (especially onto TER). If there are
more than two changes it offers no trains at all (eg Roscoff to Pau which
can be found by splitting at Morlaix).

RailEurope seems to have a different booking engine which is slightly more
willing to offer changes. But I tried to book Paris to Hendaye the other
day - it offered me a price and I selected 'collect from machine', then it
told me it couldn't find any fares and went back to the fares screen with
the price increased. Repeat a few times as the price ratcheted up the fare
levels, until I gave up.

In the end I couldn't make SNCF put me on the cheaper train with change (RE
offering £45 with TER for the last 20 mins, against £95 on through TGV) so I
split at Biarritz - same through TGV, EUR30 saved.

So I'm very interested if there's a site which has more flexibility to rejig
the train allocation. I've tried
https://www.capitainetrain.com/
https://loco2.com/
but these also fail at Roscoff to Pau.

Theo

[Erwan David]

Post by Theo Markettos
Are there alternative websites that can book SNCF tickets? I know about
voyages-sncf.com (SNCF themselves) and RailEurope (SNCF subsidiary). The
voyages-sncf engine is rather keen on minimising changes - I've never seen
it offer more than two. On a long trip (eg London to south of France) it
sometimes means that you're restricted to only a few trains when in fact
there are more options if you change (especially onto TER). If there are
more than two changes it offers no trains at all (eg Roscoff to Pau which
can be found by splitting at Morlaix).
RailEurope seems to have a different booking engine which is slightly more
willing to offer changes. But I tried to book Paris to Hendaye the other
day - it offered me a price and I selected 'collect from machine', then it
told me it couldn't find any fares and went back to the fares screen with
the price increased. Repeat a few times as the price ratcheted up the fare
levels, until I gave up.
In the end I couldn't make SNCF put me on the cheaper train with change (RE
offering £45 with TER for the last 20 mins, against £95 on through TGV) so I
split at Biarritz - same through TGV, EUR30 saved.
So I'm very interested if there's a site which has more flexibility to rejig
the train allocation. I've tried
https://www.capitainetrain.com/
https://loco2.com/
but these also fail at Roscoff to Pau.

Did you try the DB web site ? I usually set up my trip on this site
(www.bahn.de, there are frencch and english versions) then go to the
station to buy the ticket, but it is easier for me who lives in France.

[Theo Markettos]

Post by Erwan David
Did you try the DB web site ? I usually set up my trip on this site
(www.bahn.de, there are frencch and english versions) then go to the
station to buy the ticket, but it is easier for me who lives in France.

DB will book things that touch Germany, but not otherwise. It either
complains 'Tariff abroad' or 'Fares not available'. It also won't cope with
things 'too much' in France - Koeln to Paris is fine, Koeln to Marne la
Vallee isn't.

When you book at the station, do you get to specify trains in more detail
than the websites can? Perhaps increasing connection times (so you
have 4 hours in Paris not 1, for example)?

Theo

[Erwan David]

Post by Theo Markettos

Post by Erwan David
Did you try the DB web site ? I usually set up my trip on this site
(www.bahn.de, there are frencch and english versions) then go to the
station to buy the ticket, but it is easier for me who lives in France.

DB will book things that touch Germany, but not otherwise. It either
complains 'Tariff abroad' or 'Fares not available'. It also won't cope with
things 'too much' in France - Koeln to Paris is fine, Koeln to Marne la
Vallee isn't.
When you book at the station, do you get to specify trains in more detail
than the websites can? Perhaps increasing connection times (so you
have 4 hours in Paris not 1, for example)?

Yes, I give them the number of the train, and I get what I want.

[Graham Harrison]

Post by Theo Markettos
Are there alternative websites that can book SNCF tickets? I know about
voyages-sncf.com (SNCF themselves) and RailEurope (SNCF subsidiary). The
voyages-sncf engine is rather keen on minimising changes - I've never seen
it offer more than two. On a long trip (eg London to south of France) it
sometimes means that you're restricted to only a few trains when in fact
there are more options if you change (especially onto TER). If there are
more than two changes it offers no trains at all (eg Roscoff to Pau which
can be found by splitting at Morlaix).
RailEurope seems to have a different booking engine which is slightly more
willing to offer changes. But I tried to book Paris to Hendaye the other
day - it offered me a price and I selected 'collect from machine', then it
told me it couldn't find any fares and went back to the fares screen with
the price increased. Repeat a few times as the price ratcheted up the fare
levels, until I gave up.
In the end I couldn't make SNCF put me on the cheaper train with change (RE
offering £45 with TER for the last 20 mins, against £95 on through TGV) so I
split at Biarritz - same through TGV, EUR30 saved.
So I'm very interested if there's a site which has more flexibility to rejig
the train allocation. I've tried
https://www.capitainetrain.com/
https://loco2.com/
but these also fail at Roscoff to Pau.
Theo

Have you thought of using a bricks and mortar booking agent like Ffestiniog
Travel?

[r***@gmail.com]

Post by Theo Markettos
Are there alternative websites that can book SNCF tickets? I know about
voyages-sncf.com (SNCF themselves) and RailEurope (SNCF subsidiary). The
voyages-sncf engine is rather keen on minimising changes - I've never seen
it offer more than two. On a long trip (eg London to south of France) it
sometimes means that you're restricted to only a few trains when in fact
there are more options if you change (especially onto TER). If there are
more than two changes it offers no trains at all (eg Roscoff to Pau which
can be found by splitting at Morlaix).
RailEurope seems to have a different booking engine which is slightly more
willing to offer changes. But I tried to book Paris to Hendaye the other
day - it offered me a price and I selected 'collect from machine', then it
told me it couldn't find any fares and went back to the fares screen with
the price increased. Repeat a few times as the price ratcheted up the fare
levels, until I gave up.
In the end I couldn't make SNCF put me on the cheaper train with change (RE
offering £45 with TER for the last 20 mins, against £95 on through TGV) so I
split at Biarritz - same through TGV, EUR30 saved.
So I'm very interested if there's a site which has more flexibility to rejig
the train allocation. I've tried
https://www.capitainetrain.com/
https://loco2.com/
but these also fail at Roscoff to Pau.

The only way I have manged to make the SNCF booking engine sell me what I want is to feed it separate legs of my journey, and "add another booking" to cobble together the whole journey (having first identified the trains I want from another website, eg DB). This will allow you to identify the cheapest train between a set of stations (eg if a TGV an hour later is much cheaper), but is probably not so handy at finding cheaper tickets by splitting at an intermediate location. At least by splitting the booking either side of Paris, where you almost certainly have to change anyway, you can get it to be a little more flexible on the other side of Paris. More of a work-around than a solution, and may not prove helpful for your particular journey, but SNCF has never managed to get online booking right, in my experience.

Robin

[TimB]

Post by r***@gmail.com

Post by Theo Markettos
Are there alternative websites that can book SNCF tickets? I know about
voyages-sncf.com (SNCF themselves) and RailEurope (SNCF subsidiary). The
voyages-sncf engine is rather keen on minimising changes - I've never seen
it offer more than two. On a long trip (eg London to south of France) it
sometimes means that you're restricted to only a few trains when in fact
there are more options if you change (especially onto TER). If there are
more than two changes it offers no trains at all (eg Roscoff to Pau which
can be found by splitting at Morlaix).
RailEurope seems to have a different booking engine which is slightly more
willing to offer changes. But I tried to book Paris to Hendaye the other
day - it offered me a price and I selected 'collect from machine', then it
told me it couldn't find any fares and went back to the fares screen with
the price increased. Repeat a few times as the price ratcheted up the fare
levels, until I gave up.
In the end I couldn't make SNCF put me on the cheaper train with change (RE
offering £45 with TER for the last 20 mins, against £95 on through TGV) so I
split at Biarritz - same through TGV, EUR30 saved.
So I'm very interested if there's a site which has more flexibility to rejig
the train allocation. I've tried
https://www.capitainetrain.com/
https://loco2.com/
but these also fail at Roscoff to Pau.

The only way I have manged to make the SNCF booking engine sell me what I want is to feed it separate legs of my journey, and "add another booking" to cobble together the whole journey (having first identified the trains I want from another website, eg DB). This will allow you to identify the cheapest train between a set of stations (eg if a TGV an hour later is much cheaper), but is probably not so handy at finding cheaper tickets by splitting at an intermediate location. At least by splitting the booking either side of Paris, where you almost certainly have to change anyway, you can get it to be a little more flexible on the other side of Paris. More of a work-around than a solution, and may not prove helpful for your particular journey, but SNCF has never managed to get online booking right, in my experience.
Robin

Yes - I knew Geneva-Pau would be faster/easier via Montpellier, but SNCF wanted me to cross Paris It worked if I booked Geneve-Montpellier and then Montpellier-Pau. Just last night, as it happens.
Tim

[Theo Markettos]

Post by r***@gmail.com
The only way I have manged to make the SNCF booking engine sell me what I
want is to feed it separate legs of my journey, and "add another booking"
to cobble together the whole journey (having first identified the trains I
want from another website, eg DB).

That's what I've essentially done. But on SNCF there's a fairly hefty
discount for a return (30%?), and it gets awkward if you have to book
singles because you need to split at A on the outward and at B on the
return. On my outward I don't actually need to split at all, so I'm having
to split into two returns, rather than an outward and a split return. Cost
was about EUR25 more than RailEurope which offered me the right combination
but refused to sell it to me.

Theo

[Nick]

Post by Theo Markettos

Post by r***@gmail.com
The only way I have manged to make the SNCF booking engine sell me what I
want is to feed it separate legs of my journey, and "add another booking"
to cobble together the whole journey (having first identified the trains I
want from another website, eg DB).

That's what I've essentially done. But on SNCF there's a fairly hefty
discount for a return (30%?), and it gets awkward if you have to book
singles because you need to split at A on the outward and at B on the
return. On my outward I don't actually need to split at all, so I'm having
to split into two returns, rather than an outward and a split return. Cost
was about EUR25 more than RailEurope which offered me the right combination
but refused to sell it to me.
Theo

I've noticed both raileurope and even Eurostar behave rather randomly before when trying to book tickets to a French destination from the UK. This time last year I tried to book London to Nice and each time I tried (looking for different trains at different times of day) the fares went up and down, or occasionally reported "no trains/fares to that destination". It didn't simply seem to be that all the trains were fully booked, as if you waited a while it came back with a sensible fare again (and I did book successfully).

When I booked London to Lourdes in April the whole system seemed much more stable.

Does it do something bizarre like increase fares simply if people *search* for a destination?

Nick