I purchased seat reservations on the Avignon Barcelona Service for 21 October. These were ordered and confirmed by Eurail who said paper tickets would be posted out. I paid £70. The tickets have never been sent. There is no phone number for Eurail. Repeated emails have been ignored. We are now left with no reservations for this train but have seats on trains just before and after. I am very disappointed with this service and especially the fact that Eurail just can’t be contacted.
Answer
Failure to supply reservations
Best answer by Al_G
Unfortunately there is a high failure rate for these postal reservations made from interrail for a number of reasons.
You can contact customer services here https://eurail.zendesk.com/hc/en-001/requests/new
At this stage it is unlikely you will get those reservations or a replacement at short enough time before your journey. It will probably be a case of getting a refund for the failed delivery of the reservations.
You have 2 options for the journey, try to get alternative reservations or use different trains.
To get reservations, best option would be in person at a French ticket office, other methods are listed on this thread.
Be aware there are quotas on France-Spain TGV for passholders so you may not be able to get reservations at this point.
The second option is to use regional trains from Avignon to Cerbere/Port Bou and Spanish local train from there to Barcelona. Neither require or even allow reservation so no extra to pay but journey time will be longer.
Trains to Port Bou are listed in normal planners but the Spanish Local routes are usually absent. The Port Bou to Barcelona timetable is here https://rodalies.gencat.cat/web/.content/02_Horaris/horaris/R2-NORD_R11_PAT-SAGRERA_Web.pdf
Unfortunately there is a high failure rate for these postal reservations made from interrail for a number of reasons.
You can contact customer services here https://eurail.zendesk.com/hc/en-001/requests/new
At this stage it is unlikely you will get those reservations or a replacement at short enough time before your journey. It will probably be a case of getting a refund for the failed delivery of the reservations.
You have 2 options for the journey, try to get alternative reservations or use different trains.
To get reservations, best option would be in person at a French ticket office, other methods are listed on this thread.
Be aware there are quotas on France-Spain TGV for passholders so you may not be able to get reservations at this point.
The second option is to use regional trains from Avignon to Cerbere/Port Bou and Spanish local train from there to Barcelona. Neither require or even allow reservation so no extra to pay but journey time will be longer.
Trains to Port Bou are listed in normal planners but the Spanish Local routes are usually absent. The Port Bou to Barcelona timetable is here https://rodalies.gencat.cat/web/.content/02_Horaris/horaris/R2-NORD_R11_PAT-SAGRERA_Web.pdf
Thanks for that. Local trains aren’t an option because we have onward reservations for Barcelona to Madrid. I think our only option is to try and buy reservations or even new seats in France. Failing that my plan is just to board the train and though ourselves at the mercy of the train manager. We will have our Interrail tickets and the emails from Eurail confirming the reservations.
I can understand that sometimes bookings fail but Eurail crime is not picking this up and then being totally incommunicado.
Thanks again for help
Does that mail tell you also which car/seat? In that case you have a very good chance of just showing it. Do also note that due to again works the last part of the RENFE/rodalies into Barca is bus-or more likely (payable for you) metro
RES via online is in fact a fairly new thing and to exclude fraud (which was rampant if anyone could just order a Seat without paying for the ticket) many additional measures have to be applied. IN the not even that distant past-when it was all still on paper, it was obvious for anyone one had to visit a counter and arrange it there-so they could also check the underlying ticket. I am aware USAers are always very quick to point fingers and shout nasty things, but I also remember using an AmTrakPass long ago which would also work that way.
Thanks for that. Local trains aren’t an option because we have onward reservations for Barcelona to Madrid. I think our only option is to try and buy reservations or even new seats in France. Failing that my plan is just to board the train and though ourselves at the mercy of the train manager. We will have our Interrail tickets and the emails from Eurail confirming the reservations.
If you're not in France yet, you could call SNCF to check if you can book new reservations. Press #85 for English, no booking fees and reservations are sent via email.
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