Voyages-SNCF website

[JDW]

I menationed in another thread yesterday I was having trouble booking train tickets online via the Voyages-SNCF website.  Is it just me?  I've been trying for the last 2 days to book a ticket from Barcelona to London.  After a bit of digging, I decided best value was to book Barcelona - Paris first class at £109.50, and Paris - London standard class on Eurostar for £75.  But as I was concerned that by booking separately, I might not be able to take the next available Eurostar if the TGV was delayed, I phoned them.  It shouldn't be a worry, they said, and if you book by phone you have to pay a booking fee.  So I thanked them and went off to book online.  But all I got was "Your basket is empty, select journey options", in an endless loop of selecting journey options and being taken to an empty basket, or occasionally "the fare is no longer available", despite it still being offered next time I searched.  I tried again today, by which time the fare had risen from £109 to £125.50.  But still couldn't be booked online.  So I called them again.  After much to-ing and fro-ing with the Italian woman on the end of the phone, she agreed that my choice was the best option and I agreed to book.  By which time, "that fare is no longer available", and it had risen to over £180!  I didn't want to travel second class, but agreed to see what the fare was - £78 - but lo and behold, by the time we got to paying, that had also gone up. 

 

Now, I'm not a newbie to online booking, nor to how fares are calculated, and appreciate there could be other people trying to buy the same ticket at the same time.  But twice...?  Seems a bit odd.  And now, 8 hours later, the original fares - £78 and £125.50 - are still showing on the website... Not that I can book them, as I have an empty basket.  Is Voyages always this bad?  I've never used it before, as although I travel a lot, its rare that I have the time to go by train, and that its a practical option, I usually fly or drive.  So I was looking forward to a long pan-European train ride, with a couple of hours in Paris in between trains.  Sadly, it looks like I'll be flying home instead...

 

Yours frustratedly...

[EddieB]

At least one of the budget did (probably still does) use cookies or some other means to increase fares upon return to the same flight/date.  Access the same flight from a different computer and up pops the original price.

[JDW]

Yeah I've seen that happen before too, clearing cookies can reduce fares if you click back later or frequently.  Its still showing the lower fare (that their call centre said had sold out) when I look online though!

[w124bob]

Let these do the work http://www.rail-canterbury.co.uk/index.html couple of colleagues have used them with excellent service, very knowledgeable about  rail staff travel too. I don't know if they charge an admin fee but they sorted a colleague out with multiple journeys around Europe where some of the party had rail staff discounts/free and others didn't. Rail staff had to pay reservation fees for some SNCF services but not the full ticket.

[Neil]

These days I usually book through Loco 2 as their website is easy to use. It's worth trying split ticketing at Perpignan, you will have to move seats but you can sometimes save a bundle. A couple of years ago we got first class tickets for less than the second class fare doing it this way.

[JohnDMJ]

Both SNCF and Eurostar (not sure about Spanish operators) are members of Railteam. This basically means that they are duty bound, in the case of a late arriving train, to get you on the next available onward train.

 

Also, if you travel to St Pancras by train, show your Eurostar tickets to the guy in the ticket office (if you are still lucky enough to have one!) and ask for a return to London St. Pancras International CIV.

 

That ticket is valid at any time of day (no peak restrictions), valid (open return) for 2 months and, being CIV,  has the same effect on Eurostar as does their membership of Railteam. It will also carry the curciform indicating that it covers the Underground as well!