Interrail now OK on Ouigo

[eastwestdivide]

Seat 61 reports that you can now use Interrail and Eurail on Ouigo services, just pay for reservations.
Top of the July news page

The Man in Seat 61: What's new on the site

News page on the Man in Seat 61 website

www.seat61.com

And on the Ouigo page at

How to make reservations with an Interrail pass

A practical guide to making seat, couchette or sleeper reservations to go with an Interrail or Eurail pass.

www.seat61.com

Ouigo high-speed: Reservation €10 until a limited quota runs out, then reservations cost €20.

Ouigo Classique: Reservation €5 until a limited quota runs out, then reservations cost €10.

 

[Peterthegreat]

The Interrail App is still saying not valid on Ouigo.

 

[eastwestdivide]

When did they last update the app?

 

[Peterthegreat]

When did they last update the app?

Don't know. I've just updated mine and it's still not showing.

 

[rvdborgt]

The Interrail App is still saying not valid on Ouigo.

Do you have an example (route, date, departure time)? I just tried Ouigo Brussels-Paris and Lille-Marseille but they were both displayed normally with reservations from €12.

 

[Peterthegreat]

Do you have an example (route, date, departure time)? I just tried Ouigo Brussels-Paris and Lille-Marseille but they were both displayed normally with reservations from €12.

I was actually quoting from the Benefits (France) page on the app.

 

[rvdborgt]

I was actually quoting from the Benefits (France) page on the app.

In my app (version 52.2.0) all Ouigo trains are listed as included in the Rail network guides (I suppose you meant that section).

 

[Farigiraf]

Seat 61 reports that you can now use Interrail and Eurail on Ouigo services, just pay for reservations.
Top of the July news page

The Man in Seat 61: What's new on the site

News page on the Man in Seat 61 website

www.seat61.com

And on the Ouigo page at

How to make reservations with an Interrail pass

A practical guide to making seat, couchette or sleeper reservations to go with an Interrail or Eurail pass.

www.seat61.com

This is obviously an excellent development, but it's certainly more of a greatly overdue necessity rather than a helpful bonus. French rail is notoriously hostile to travellers wanting to travel flexibly, and I can only see it heading further down the deep end (full dynamic pricing on almost all lines).

There's a lot of bad things that can be said about Ouigo, and french long-distance rail pricing strategies in general, but I'd rather take the barebones service with low-quality seats and no food service over a TGV service that may only depart 1-2 hours later - although a €20 reservation for Ouigo's service offering is pushing it a bit when DB's best quality ICE services are at most €7 per reservation. A number of French destinations are now reachable 1-2 hours earlier from London, if you value time over comfort - this includes Valence, Nice, Strasbourg and Metz.

I wonder how Ouigo Plus will work with Interrail - this lets you take more luggage with you, allows access to the free wifi, plus allows you to actually select which seat you want to sit in. I could see them either restricting it to 1st class passes, or automatically counting any interrail reservation as 'Plus', or not bothering at all with allowing interrailers a way to upgrade. Not upgrading to 1st on TGV InOui is one thing, but no wifi and no seat selection for 2h+ rides (when the scenery out the window is fairly mediocre) isn't an experience I'd want to try.

 

[signed]

With the assumed goal of having OUIGO be 30% of all TGV services, it was inevitable that Ouigo would arrive on Interrail sooner or later

but I'd rather take the barebones service with low-quality seats

They are miles better than the extreme disappointment you can get on Océane train sets on the major routes on the western side

 

[AdamWW]

Does this include the services to Belgium? That's potentially quite useful.

With the assumed goal of having OUIGO be 30% of all TGV services, it was inevitable that Ouigo would arrive on Interrail sooner or later

I'm curious why you say that. I was under the impression that Interrail acceptance for any new operations, including those run by existing state operators, was entirely voluntary.

 

[signed]

Does this include the services to Belgium? That's potentially quite useful.

Yes

I'm curious why you say that. I was under the impression that Interrail acceptance for any new operations, including those run by existing state operators, was entirely voluntary.

Yes it's entirely voluntary, but what I mean is that with 30% of TGV services being ouigo (which is not inconsequential), you wall off a lot of trains from passholders, and likely (I don't know how revenue sharing on Interrail works though) loose a sizeable amount of revenue-share and lost reservation fees from people being steered off using the TGV services with a pass due to patchy schedules.

 

[rvdborgt]

(I don't know how revenue sharing on Interrail works though)

I don't know details, but the size of an operator's network is a factor in the revenue sharing, so I expect this to make a difference for SNCF.