TrainsTransport

Solved! The Problems with SNCF Connect and Ouigo Websites — and How We Buy French Train Tickets in Spite of Them

Mose Hayward, Lead Vagabond

Last Updated: 2022-08-01Published: 2022-07-22

Given the frequent errors and lack of usability of the SNCF's ticketing websites, we're assuming this their main server. As captured by David Hellmann.
Presumably the main server for the error-ridden SNCF Connect website presumbably looks something like this. Photo by David Hellmann.

If you are blocked by error messages on the SNCF Connect or on Ouigo.com, you’re not alone. The websites and apps have lots of redirects and undergo constant updates that can render them in some cases nearly unusable. In particular, the transition to the new SNCF Connect website has been very rough and disabled a number of features.

Fortunately, there are easy solutions as well: options for buying French train tickets from separate booking websites. You can get the same tickets at the same prices without the hassle of the SNCF’s — how shall we put this? — highly “varied” levels of website usability and customer service.

The private portals are also a good way to get cheaper train tickets in France because they often come up with smarter routing options than the SNCF’s own websites. And ultimately due to the website errors and redirects this is for many of us the only option.

Solutions for the SNCF Connect website errors

The easiest solution is to avoid SNCF sites entirely. The best train ticketing portal for France (and much of Western Europe) is Trainline. Its pricing follows the dynamic rates offered by the SNCF itself, and sometimes Trainline finds even better routes, saving you a bit of money. The only catch is that there is a small booking fee (usually about 3%) tacked on at the end. We’re happy to pay it to avoid the aggravation of SNCF website errors, plus have better customer support and on occasion find a faster and cheaper route.

Another decent alternative is RailEurope (formerly Loco2), which is also quite user-friendly and error-free. However, it doesn’t offer the complete range of French train tickets including the low-cost Ouigo routes, and the booking fee tends to work out just a bit higher.

There are other solutions that sometimes work for SNCF Connect app and website errors. If your ticket purchase is not urgent, you can clear your browser cache and try back later. You can use a VPN that allows you to pretend that you’re in France. And finally, if you are already in France, you can go to an SNCF office or train station to purchase tickets the old fashioned way, with lines and cash.

Search Trainline for French train tickets

Update History of This Article

This article was published on March 22, 2018. It underwent a major rewrite on September 19, 2018. It was updated concerning Trainline fees on April 22, 2019. It was given a thorough update on November 15, 2019. On July 28, 2022, have done another thorough update looking at the somehow even worse SNCF Connect website after its transition from OUI.sncf.

The Frequent Complaints About the SNCF Websites and App for Buying Train Tickets

Any recent Twitter search or review of travel forums and blogs shows vast swaths of the French and foreign train-travelling public griping about the site errors that prevent them from getting information and the tickets that they want.

For example, a problem I had:

But there was no “prolonged inactivity”! This error message from the SNCF’s website forced me to start all over when I went to the purchase page, even though less than a few seconds had passed. It was possible in contrast to buy the ticket from Trainline as discussed below.

Even French people themselves have lots of trouble with the site and complain about it constantly, which is why we think our main pick above is now a better option even for them. When the changeover happened from the old dysfunctional OUI.sncf to the new and even more dysfunctional SNCF Connect in its current form, the French press recounted the lack of usability and constant promises of improvements.

I myself have frequently traveled on French trains over the past decade, and just as frequently been appalled by the problems with the SNCF websites and apps as they have gone through their various versions.

Credit card problems with SNCF Connect

Latin American, USA, Australian, Canadian and other international credit cards are often rejected by SNCF sites; see that article for more on those issues. And even Trainline has been obligated by Ouigo to reject certain countries’ cards for its tickets. In fact, for Ouigo tickets certain countries’ credit cards are banned entirely from purchasing tickets; the only way to get tickets if that’s the case for you is to purchase via Trainline using the Paypal payment option.

The New SNCF Connect App Doesn’t Work

As reported here in Le Monde, since the introduction of the new SNCF Connect app and website, the errors have simply multiplied. If you can’t get these to work in English, don’t feel bad, the French social media and press are full of complaints about not being able to get the new versions to work either. Reportedly Trainline has seen a 50% boost in its French users in the immediate aftermath of the change.

Geographical Redirects on SNCF Connect to More Expensive Websites

Previously the SNCF’s ticket portal directed some users based on their IP locations to the much more expensive and less complete websites run by the SNCF for other countries. At last check it no longer seems to do this; one less thing to worry about. (If you do notice such an issue please let us know in the comments.) Also the SNCF’s Eurostar site was caught vastly overcharging senior citizens and young people for tickets.

Handling the Error Messages on SNCF Connect

There are error messages that pop up in French (no matter that you’re using the site in English), like “L’accès au service de réservation de billets de train est actuellement indisponible.” (“The access to train ticketing reservations is currently unavailable.”) Usually any trips that you have saved are then lost and you have to start over.

Google Translate offers browser extensions that can help you with reading untranslated portions of the site, and sometimes its machine translations can even be more comprehensible than the SNCF’s supposedly human-translated English version.

Here are some more error messages in English we got during our annual survey of prices of European rail booking options:

OUI.sncf error message: Oops! A technical error occurred. Please try again or choose another train.
SNCF Connect error message: “Oops! A technical error occurred.” This error forced us to input all of our trip info over again.

 

OUI.sncf error message: Some of your requests cannot be satisfied.
“Some of your requests for seats cannot be satisfied.” Without explanation, SNCF was often unable to actually sell the tickets that show up in searches that cross a border, and you only find this out once you’ve put the ticket in your basket.

 

OUI.sncf error message: "Your request cannot be completed. Please renew shortly. For more information, our advisors are available. Thank you for your understanding."
“Your request cannot be completed. Please renew shortly.” We frequently had error messages like these when searching for complex and international trips from SNCF. There was no problem buying these same trips (and for cheaper prices) from the private platforms we tried.

There are many other error messages, often containing no explanations, or infuriatingly vague or useless instructions.

SNCF is infamous for not providing any useful response to such customer inquiries via their website support. The only option when these things happen is generally to try back later, or, as we said up top, the private booking sites that offer the same rates.

Some of my Own Horror Stories with SNCF Booking

I speak fluent French so the language oddities of the SNCF’s sites haven’t been a problem. But I still have had plenty of issues.

I once ended up with a ticket purchased from the SNCF website that said that it had to be withdrawn from a ticket machine in a station. But when I went, the ticket machine produced an error and was unable to print my ticket and said to see station staff. The staff was also unable to produce my ticket and said that I would have to come to the station in Nantes at 6am the next morning to speak to a manager. The manager was not to be found the next morning, and so I was issued a ticket at the counter for the non-existent train car. It was a valid ticket so I was still allowed to board the train, but this caused quite a bit of confusion for the ticket inspectors, who photographed my ticket and sent it in to the station.

On a separate incident, I was once promised at a train station that a full refund for a mistaken credit card charge from the SNCF site would be mailed to me. Instead, however, I received coupons for future train trips. I was unable to use most of them before they expired, and the so the SNCF still owes me about €160. Dearest SNCF, if you’re reading this website and you don’t like it, how about refunding me some cash? And taking care of your countless other customer complaints on Twitter and other sites?

Conclusion: Our Favorite Alternative to the Error-Ridden SNCF websites

The view crossing from Italy into France on a fast train, as I write for this site

I’ve been personally much happier since I switched to Trainline, which isn’t perfect but avoids all of the problems above, and has relatively great customer service. Their main issue is couple-of-euros booking fee they now add on to most tickets. (But see also our general tips for cheap French train tickets.)

Once you board a French train, though, and get a croissant and café in the bar car, all the hassle seems worth it as the beautiful countryside slips past your window.