Are you struggling to find a train ticket for your summer vacation? It’s normal. For several weeks, reservations have been taken by storm and the price of places on board has reached new heights.
So much so that many trains for July-August would already be full in mid-June.
However, it is estimated that around 10% of Ouigo travelers do not end up taking their train, although the ticket is neither exchangeable nor refundable.
From the end of the month, the SNCF will thus offer a “waiting list” to its users, so that they can, ultimately, recover these places.
We have a lot of trains that are full, especially in the summer, almost 40% (…) But we know that we have additional customers who would like to travel with us”, explained Florian Etchanchu, head of strategy at offer at Ouigo, during a presentation.
Thus, to be able to benefit from this system, all you have to do is tick a specific box on the Ouigo application, when you search for tickets, in order to be informed if a place becomes available. Travelers who have given up on their trip can, for their part, register and offer their ticket. If these are sold, they will then recover 80% of their purchase price.
What will be the price of its abandoned seats? “A normal price,” said Florian Etchanchu.
Even if Ouigo trains are generally much cheaper than standard TGVs, the prices recently charged by the railway company have been debated lately.
In May, INSEE announced a 15% increase in the price of train tickets over three months. A figure that the SNCF hastened to deny, explaining that the prices had rather fallen by 7%.
