Advantage card holders were surprised to see the prices of their train tickets increase on certain destinations. At issue: a new method of calculation linked to travel time. Explanations.
As its name suggests, the SNCF Advantage card has many advantages, particularly on the price of train tickets. For those who travel regularly, this option is quite interesting for saving money. It costs 49 euros for the year and can be profitable from the third journey, thanks to a 30% reduction on TGV Inoui, Intercités, and Ter train tickets in France and Europe. Another positive point: the Avantage card allows you to benefit from capped prices on train tickets, whether they are booked at the last minute, or during high attendance.
Thus, the railway company guarantees a price (in second class) which cannot exceed a certain amount, depending on the journey time: 49 euros for a journey of less than 1h30, 69 euros for a journey lasting between 1h30 and 3h , and tickets at 89 euros maximum for journeys lasting more than three hours. The amount of these ceilings already increased last August by around 10 euros, but subscribers had another surprise: the calculation method has recently changed.
Since the beginning of the year, the SNCF has taken into account “the average travel time observed on a journey without a connection”. Which automatically increases the price of train tickets. Because for the same journey, like Lyon (Part Dieu)-Lille (Europe) for example, you can find tickets lasting 2h58, 3h01, 3h06 or even 3h28. Therefore, it is in your best interest to take a direct ticket on your next train trips if you do not want to change the ceiling. In a case like this, the train ticket can go from 69 euros (journey of less than three hours) to 89 euros for a few minutes more. “The capped prices of the Avantage card are now calculated based on the average travel time observed on a non-connecting journey (in accordance with the general conditions of sale), in order to better reflect the reality of traveler travel times,” explains the SNCF from BFM Business.
The company specifies that five destinations are concerned, namely: Paris-Rennes, Paris-Lorient, Paris-Poitiers, Lille-Lyon and Lille-Strasbourg. In addition, only travelers who book a train ticket at the last minute should be affected by this increase of around twenty euros. “The modified capped prices for these five destinations only concern the highest 2nd class price levels. The majority of travelers with the Advantage Card travel at a price lower than the capped price. These capped prices are in fact reached when TGVs are in high demand as during peak periods,” she explains.