Frustrated TGV Lyria experience

score:2

Accepted answer

In my experience, you are unlikely to get anything for the trains you missed. I know people who got lucky by pleading their case with a Thalys employee on the platform but this all seems in line with SNCF rules and practices.

Note that if you were able to pay for a ticket on the train, the train guard was in fact showing some understanding for your situation. If they didn't, they can impose a €50 fine on top of the regular fare (more if they suspect deliberate fraud). Legally, this €50 fee is an actual fine (contravention in French), which can be collected by the French tax office (unlike, e.g., fees imposed by banks or utilities).

It's true that it can be frustrating and that train travel works differently in different European countries (or even between different operators or different types of trains) but that's not going to change the outcome.

Upvote:6

When it comes to train travel France is different from Switzerland. In Switzerland it is perfectly Ok to be on the platform 1 second before the doors close. The conductor will even hold the train a few seconds so you can still get on. And it is normal that tickets can be used on the next train when you miss one. And there are no gates to slow you down from the street to the train.

Buy a TGV ticket in France however, and the ticket says clearly that you have to be on the platform at least three minutes before the train leaves. And Gare de Lyon has gates. And these close a few minutes before departure. So planning to be at the station at the last moment is in France never a good idea.

The railway did not do anything wrong here. This is just a case of certain expectations not being met by reality.

Upvote:7

What went wrong here is you bought "the cheap seats" and did not read or understand the terms and conditions, aka the "fine print", or think all that much about what makes them the "cheap seats".

a fully flexible ticket is 50 euro more and the only thing it does it's that you can exchange free 2 hours after it departs...

That feature is specifically for people who like to "shave it really close" on arriving at the station. And it doesn't take a whole lot of introspection to realize that's definitely you - I bet you do that all the time, have honed it to a fine art, and are even a bit proud of the skill!

Believe me, I know how that can be - so many lovely things to do near train stations in places that are not Ohio, and smart-phone clocks are so accurate that you know exactly the time you have to spare.

So it sounds to me like you were caught off-guard by the early-arrival requirements, and the existence of that flexible ticket didn't sufficiently clue you into the use-case for it.

Upvote:10

Sorry, I understand your frustration but I don't see what the train company has done wrong.

  1. You were late. If you are not at the boarding gate at the gate closing time or on the platform at departure time there is no obligation to wait.
  2. If you have a fixed time ticket and you don't show the ticket is invalidated as spelled out in the terms on conditions that you signed and agreed to when you bought the ticket. If you don't like this terms, you need to buy a flex ticket. Yes, it's substantially more expensive, but it also represents more value.
  3. You cancelled and refunded the wrong ticket.

What exactly do you think the train company did wrong here? Do you feel that there are any rules or terms of the contract that they didn't adhere to?

but I would try to reach out to the custom service team to see what would happen.

In all likelihood nothing would happen. They will simply ignore it or maybe send you an automatic form letter along the lines "we are sorry you had a bad experience, we'll try to do better next time".

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