Just boarded a train for my first trip from Paris to Lyon. Was advised by the website that I should activate my pass just before boarding my first train. Proceed through the gate to be told it needs to be activated 1 hour beforehand and that I had to pay 50 euros to be able to board the train. The train officer was extremely rude at the time and said I should have read the T&C's...
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There is no such thing as a “1 hour rule” but you will have had to have the pass activated and the train you were taking added before proceeding through any pre-boarding check.
At that point as you haven’t actually travelled there would be nothing to be fined for, all that should be required would be to correctly set up the pass and then show it to enter the platform.
As French high-speed trains all require separate seat reservations, had you gotten these and showed them to the checker?
There is no such thing as a “1 hour rule” but you will have had to have the pass activated and the train you were taking added before proceeding through any pre-boarding check.
At that point as you haven’t actually travelled there would be nothing to be fined for, all that should be required would be to correctly set up the pass and then show it to enter the platform.
As French high-speed trains all require separate seat reservations, had you gotten these and showed them to the checker?
Yes! I had the seat reservations all set so that was fine. I don't even think it was a fine technically he just said I had to buy a ticket because Eurail does not pay SNCF if I activate within 1 hour of the trip. I had both the seat reservation and the QR code for the pass it was just that it was activated 10 minutes before the train was to leave which he said was too late and that the only way I could get on the train was if I paid him the 50 Euros. I asked to speak to a manager or something and he got hostile and said we needed to read the T&C's of the pass.
There is no such thing as a “1 hour rule” but you will have had to have the pass activated and the train you were taking added before proceeding through any pre-boarding check.
At that point as you haven’t actually travelled there would be nothing to be fined for, all that should be required would be to correctly set up the pass and then show it to enter the platform.
As French high-speed trains all require separate seat reservations, had you gotten these and showed them to the checker?
Yes! I had the seat reservations all set so that was fine. I don't even think it was a fine technically he just said I had to buy a ticket because Eurail does not pay SNCF if I activate within 1 hour of the trip. I had both the seat reservation and the QR code for the pass it was just that it was activated 10 minutes before the train was to leave which he said was too late and that the only way I could get on the train was if I paid him the 50 Euros. I asked to speak to a manager or something and he got hostile and said we needed to read the T&C's of the pass.
That is a complete lie, there is no other way to explain this, there is no such requirement, you are only required to activate and populate before boarding, not 1 hour before.
This is utterly unacceptable behaviour, it is not normal, however there are occasionally reports of checkers trying it on with passholders claiming passes not to be valid for various specious reasons and France would be one of the countries that has come up in.
You will need to contact eurail directly and possibly SNCF about this so keep both your original reservation and whatever this person gave you.
contact eurail customer service here https://eurail.zendesk.com/hc/en-001/requests/new
There is no such thing as a “1 hour rule” but you will have had to have the pass activated and the train you were taking added before proceeding through any pre-boarding check.
At that point as you haven’t actually travelled there would be nothing to be fined for, all that should be required would be to correctly set up the pass and then show it to enter the platform.
As French high-speed trains all require separate seat reservations, had you gotten these and showed them to the checker?
Yes! I had the seat reservations all set so that was fine. I don't even think it was a fine technically he just said I had to buy a ticket because Eurail does not pay SNCF if I activate within 1 hour of the trip. I had both the seat reservation and the QR code for the pass it was just that it was activated 10 minutes before the train was to leave which he said was too late and that the only way I could get on the train was if I paid him the 50 Euros. I asked to speak to a manager or something and he got hostile and said we needed to read the T&C's of the pass.
That is a complete lie, there is no other way to explain this, there is no such requirement, you are only required to activate and populate before boarding, not 1 hour before.
This is utterly unacceptable behaviour, it is not normal, however there are occasionally reports of checkers trying it on with passholders claiming passes not to be valid for various specious reasons and France would be one of the countries that has come up in.
You will need to contact eurail directly and possibly SNCF about this so keep both your original reservation and whatever this person gave you.
contact eurail customer service here https://eurail.zendesk.com/hc/en-001/requests/new
I have tried to get on to SNCF, its quite tough to get in touch with them as the website it directs me to for customer service is down so I can't seem to find an email. I contacted Eurail twice now, both responses have not been fantastic but will keep enduring to see whats possible.
Since it was my first trip I just decided to believe the guy but something did seem off as he was so rude. He just kept pushing saying that Eurail will not pay SNCF because I activated too late, which thinking now makes no sense since the activation was done anyway. I doubt Eurail will reimburse cash maybe the travel day at the very best... not that I needed the travel day though as I only planned on using 9 days of my 10 day pass, no need for the extra obviously.
Just a real disapppointing experience to start this with!
Hey guys,
Thanks for the replies appreciate it! We ended up speaking to the staff at Lyon station SNCF and they were stunned. They promptly provided me a refund which was great, guess this can serve as a bit of a warning though.
Thanks again!
Did this guy give you any sort of receipt or anything, or just pocket the cash?
As everyone has said above, there’s no such rule so he can only have been trying a wheeze to extract money.
Did this guy give you any sort of receipt or anything, or just pocket the cash?
As everyone has said above, there’s no such rule so he can only have been trying a wheeze to extract money.
Yeah I got a receipt/ticket which is what allowed me to get a refund in the end. Funnily enough I paid on card so unsure if he was trying to pocket the cash or purely just a bit of a dodgy person...
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