We will not have to hang out. This Wednesday, January 22, the SNCF opens the sale of unhealthy TGV and intercités in circulation from March 31 to May 11 inclusive. A strategic period, since it includes all spring holidays, staggered between April 5 and May 5 depending on the areas. It also includes the Easter weekend and the very popular bridges of May 1 and 8. These two holidays, falling from Thursdays in 2025, suggests a high demand for transport for prolonged weekends. Sales on which the price increase of 1.5 % on average, acted on January 7 by the railway company, applies.
Reservations for classic Ouigo, low -cost trains of the SNCF, are excluded since their tickets are on sale 45 days before the departure date.
International trips, already on sale, are not understood. With the exception of the classic Ouigo train between Paris and Brussels, the sale of which will be open Wednesday for journeys between April 1 and July 4.
One million tickets sold in one day in 2024
The TGV Ouigo ticket office, on the other hand, is already open for rolling trains until July 4. Be careful however, this range of the SNCF does not offer the same possibilities of cancellation and exchange at no cost as the incredible and intercity. Among them, the incredible between Paris and Lyon (Rhône), Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) and Montpellier (Hérault) have already been available since November 13 for circulation from January 9 to July 4. SNCF Travelers experiments on these lines an opening of sales over six months, in order to allow their customers to book their trains as soon as possible.
With travelers experienced in the exercise, sales openings break all records. During the openings last year, the SNCF sold more than a million tickets in the space of twenty-four hours. The openings for the summer and Christmas holidays even exceeded 1.7 million tickets over a day.
For comparison, only one opening of sale had crossed the million million milestone in 2023. This confirms, at the same time, “the appetite of the French train”, according to the formula hammered by the leaders of the company, and especially the ‘Usually taken by customers to reserve their trip as soon as possible, to benefit from low prices. It is not surprising either to see travelers moaning in front of the high prices displayed a few days after the opening of sales, given the mass of tickets at low prices sold from the first day.