Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

SNCF

SNCF opens ticket sales for Christmas train journeys in France

You may think it’s early, but there’s less than three months to the holidays.

Published: 6 October 2021 13:50 CEST

Train tickets for the Christmas period are now on sale in France

Train tickets for the Christmas period are now on sale in France. Photo: Miguel Medina / AFP

Just over a month since children went back to school after the summer holidays, and a few weeks out from the Toussaint (All Saints) break, France’s rail operator SNCF has opened ticket sales for those planning a trip for Christmas.

SNCF has timed the launch of its Christmas ticket sale carefully, using a study that suggests 65 percent of French people are planning their seasonal breaks now.

The study also found that 43 percent of those who travel in December will use the train.

It has opened sales for tickets from Sunday, December 12th, to Sunday January 2nd, 2022, on TGV Inoui and Intercités – while Ouigo tickets are available up to and including Friday, July 1st, 2022.

“The opening of ticket sales for the holidays is always a moment particularly awaited by the French who wish to … spend time with their relatives,” Anne Pruvot, managing director of e.Voyageurs SNCF, said in a statement.

During the holiday season, SNCF has reactivated its free exchanges and refunds policy, which it had ended in September.

It also revealed that holders of its Advantage card can benefit from capped prices, such as €39 for trains between Paris and Rennes, €59 from Paris to Lyon or Bordeaux, and €79 for Paris to Marseille.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Revealed: The '15-minute rule' on French trains

“Failure to claim a reserved seat within 15 minutes of the train’s departure from the station indicated on the ticket may result in the loss of the reserved seat and, more generally, of any seat,” reads a September update of the general terms and conditions of sale.

Consumer watchdog UFC Que Choisir spotted the update to SNCF’s T&Cs earlier this month.

Its meaning is clear. If your seat is left vacant during this period – for example if you have decided to head for a coffee in the buffet car before finding your seat – it can potentially be reallocated to another passenger.

But, it turns out, it’s all a bit of a storm in a teacup. The intention, according to SNCF Voyageurs, is not to catch out unwitting customers. It told BFM TV that it was intended to “facilitate the repositioning of customers on board in the event of a passenger’s absence”.

And it has its origins in a 2021 European regulation that allows passengers travelling without a reserved seat to claim one if it is free, or considered to be free.

In truth, not many passengers board TGVs without a reserved seat – when you book your ticket you are usually allocated a number ticket. When booking online you can select whether you want to be upstairs or downstairs, in a window or aisle seat or choose to request a seat next to a friend. If you are travelling in first class you can select the precise seat you would like.

But it can happen – for example, if a traveller has missed a connection, they will be invited to board the next train in that case will not have a reserved seat. Likewise if a train has been cancelled, passengers will usually be invited to take the next one.

Equally, the vast majority of TGV users find their seats as a matter of priority, rather than heading immediately for the buffet car. Furthermore, SNCF Voyageurs said that the rule has been in place for some time, and that staff on the train would seek to find a solution in cases of conflict.

“No new instructions have been given to train managers, and the inclusion of this practice in the T&Cs is for information purposes only.”

The rule applies only to the high-speed TGV trains – both InOui and the budget OuiGo lines – but not the InterCité or local TER lines. On TER trains seats are usually not reserved so are allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis (or possibly on a ‘standing in the corridor’ basis if you are on an especially busy train).

Url copied to clipboard!