Until last June, people traveling with an animal had to spend seven euros if it weighed less than six kilos or 50% of the price of a full-fare second-class ticket if it weighed more. So when the SNCF announced the establishment of a single price of seven euros, regardless of the weight of the animal, the owners of dogs and cats applauded. But that was without counting on the new match rule, as Capital reported on Wednesday, July 27.
“I was so happy when I heard the news, but I changed my mood when I had to buy my ticket…”, confided the owner of a small Cavalier King Charles to our colleagues. When she wanted to book her train tickets to go to her daughter’s house, she had a bad surprise. She was asked to pay 21 euros for her little dog, when she expected to have to pay seven euros. Thinking of an error, she therefore contacted the SNCF.
It was there that he was told that the rules regarding matches had also been changed. Due to two connections, this traveler had to take three different trains. Until then, she only took one ticket for her little dog, no matter how many connections. From now on, she must buy a ticket from him for each train. That is, for this trip, three tickets at seven euros.
A blow noted by other travelers. On Twitter, many are surprised by these new rules. “I have just booked my tickets for the holidays and I see that for the transport of my animal, I have to pay a ticket for each connecting train. Is this normal?” Asks one of them, then that another deplores having seen the price of tickets for his cats go from 28 to 56 euros.
To justify this rule change, the SNCF explained to our colleagues at Capital that it had been forced to associate each animal ticket with a specific train, “due to the dematerialization of animal transport tickets”. She also mentioned “a counterpart to the standardization of tariffs” while ensuring that users remained winners overall.
“If we compare to what we lost by lowering the price for the biggest dogs, the accounts do not balance out,” she assured. The solution therefore seems clear: limit connections as much as possible when transporting an animal.