RENFE tickets vía Trainline et al

[henrythedog]

I customarily use Trainline or Rail Europe to book train tickets in Spain. There is a slight premium over using RENFE direct, but I find it easier.

Historically a potential downside was that the train operator could not notify the customer of changes and disruption.

That has now changed for the better. I’ve just had direct notification from RENFE of a change to my journey booked for tomorrow (predictably they’re not offering an upgrade and a free puppy; they’ve thrown the towel in, but I’ve got a bus ticket also)

 

[nilesite]

My only issue with Trainline was when I wanted to get on an earlier train, the station staff said they couldn’t transfer the ticket or offer me a refund to travel at a different time. If I’d bought through Renfe, I could do it, but not through Trainline. I like Trainline too, but that day, it was a pain.

 

[Liltravlr]

Anyone use Omio? I am trying to book Renfe tix for June but doesn’t come up, though it does on Omio.

 

[BarbaraW]

Renfe is notorious for opening bookings late: often less that 60 days ahead. More on this at https://www.seat61.com/european-train-booking-horizons.htm

I normally book European journeys through Rail Europe who were very helpful when I stupidly managed to book trips from A to B and B to C for the same day, instead of consecutive days. I've just been trying to book Badajoz to Tomar through Omio, but it tells me there are no trains because the journey involves a change, and their site doesn't do journeys involving connections. So it's not as useful for longer trips.

 

[SuefromVegas]

I booked a Santiago to Madrid ticket through Trainline last October. The train left a few hours earlier than originally scheduled and I was not notified. Unfortunately there no tickets available the entire day. I had to get to Madrid for a flight the following day so I had to fly. I think booking directly with Renfe is better.

 

[danielle aird]

I customarily use Trainline or Rail Europe to book train tickets in Spain. There is a slight premium over using RENFE direct, but I find it easier.

Historically a potential downside was that the train operator could not notify the customer of changes and disruption.

That has now changed for the better. I’ve just had direct notification from RENFE of a change to my journey booked for tomorrow (predictably they’re not offering an upgrade and a free puppy; they’ve thrown the towel in, but I’ve got a bus ticket also)

beware of train strikes and France! Right now there is only a garbage collector strike, but it is one strike after another...

 

[Goyo]

beware of train strikes and France! Right now there is only a garbage collector strike, but it is one strike after another...

Beware of more than train and garbage strikes in France right now…

Macron insists pension reform is necessary as protests, strikes press on

France braced for a new round of protests against a plan to overhaul the pension system on Saturday. More than a million demonstrators marched in cities across France this week in open-ended strikes…

www.france24.com