PLANNING ahead and making the most of reduction schemes can result in considerable savings on rail travel.
Early booking advantages and special discount cards are among the options.
Prem’s tickets
TGV Prem’s, available in first and second class, gives you the cheapest TGV (high-speed inter-city trains) fares for a limited issue of single tickets that are booked from 90 - 14 days before travel or for journeys outside peak times.
They are cheaper the earlier you book, with prices starting at €22 - for example you may get that rate for a trip from Paris to Marseille booked six weeks before (full price, around €80). They are not exchangeable or refundable.
A similar option is TGV Prem’s Flash, which is for special one-off offers, while TGV Prem’s Week End gives you cheaper tickets for weekend travel between Paris and various provincial cities if you agree to travel a bit later than usual, arriving at your destination at about midnight on a Friday or Saturday night.
The weekend tickets are at €25 or €45 in second class.
Even more savings can be made if you are travelling as a group with the mini-groupe offer, “voyagez à 4 et payez pour 3” (travel as four and pay for three).
Prem’s Dernière Minute are cheap last-minute tickets sold just a few days before travel, only on the internet at www.voyages-sncf.com or at selected online travel agencies.
These are on TGVs and on Lunéa and Téoz (these are also long-distance trains, Lunéa being night-time ones).
Reductions can be as much as 60% off the standard price.
Other low-priced tickets
iDTGV tickets are available between certain popular city destinations with tickets from €19 for a single.
Reservation is open at least 4-6 months before travel and these tickets can only be booked online at www.idtgv.com. One novelty is that you can choose the “atmosphere” of the carriage - iDzap for a lively, entertaining one (you can hire Play Stations, for example) and iDzen to relax. A new service iDNIGHT offers overnight journeys from just €15 and a “party” atmosphere, with a DJ on board.
For the lowest prices on ordinary (loisirs) tickets - exchangeable and reimbursable - book well-ahead as they get more expensive the later you leave them. There are also a limited number of low “week-end” rates if you book returns including staying away for the Saturday night or there and back on Saturday or Sunday.
Discount cards
If you use a “commercial” discount card you are guaranteed a lower price than if you paid at standard rate at the same time before travel.
They are also linked to fidelity reward systems, whereby you can accumulate S’Miles reward points towards free tickets.
Depending on the card, you can also get reductions on journeys elsewhere in Europe and on combined services like a train trip plus car hire, a train plus a hotel, delivery of baggage to your home etc.
Tickets can be exchanged or refunded up to the day before travel and on the day itself there is just a €3 penalty.
The cards last a year and are for “obligatory reservation” journeys - that is TGV, Téoz, Lunéa and Corail de Nuit.
The Carte 12-25 is for young people, costs €49 and allows a limited number of tickets per train at up to 60% off TGV and Téoz and Lunéa tickets, and a minimum of 25% off.
The Carte Escapades is for 26-59-year-olds, and is the same apart from it costs €85, and its limited reductions are up to 40%.
The Carte Sénior for over-60s, costs €56 limited discounts go to 50%.
The Carte Enfant+ is for families with at least one child under 12 and is €70. The card is in a child’s name and up to four adult and/or child companions can get the same benefits as with the Carte Sénior. The cardholder pays only half the reduced price of accompanying adults or they travel free if they are aged under four.
Carte Famille Nombreuse
This is for families with at least three children under 18 and applies to both local and long-distance trains. It also gives discounts off a range of other tariffs - museums, some local authority sports centres, cinemas etc. The reductions range from 30 - 70% depending on how many children you have and they are applied to the full-price charge for a second-class ticket. Each family member has their own card.
It costs €18 and lasts three years. You can request an application pack here: : www.voyages-sncf.com/guide/famille_nombreuse/demande_de_kit/
Foreign residents need to provide proof of identity and residence.
The Carte Enfant Famille
This new offer is similar to the above, but is available to families with only one or two children, but who have means below certain thresholds (€22,321 with one child or €27,472 with two.
It costs €15 and offers reductions from 25 - 50%, but only on trains for which reservation is required (TGV, Téoz, Lunéa and Corail de Nuit).
Though every family member gets a card, parents can only get reductions when travelling with their child. You have to apply to your caisse d'allocations familiales (or caisse de la mutualité sociale agricole). It lasts a year.
Second-hand tickets
Various sites offer the chance to exchange second-hand tickets at a discount. www.zepass.com and www.kelbillet.com are popular.
To make use of reduction cards when booking online on the SNCF site you have to click recherche avancée when making your booking.
Further information on some of the schemes we have mentioned can be found under bons plans on the homepage.
Remember: You can board a train without a ticket but you must immediately try to find the guard and buy one (though it is too late to benefit from reductions). If you did not and you are caught out, you risk being fined.
