Due to the controllers' strike, a thousand trains were canceled between this Friday and this Sunday, out of the 2000 planned by the SNCF, in the middle of the winter holiday weekend.
Enough to leave many travelers behind, out of the million who were expected at the stations.
Everyone who had planned to take a train this weekend must have (or will) receive an SMS and/or an email telling them whether their train is maintained or canceled.
In the event that your train ultimately does not run, two options are available to you: you can either benefit
from “a free exchange in all TGVs where there is space until Monday February 19”
, indicates the SNCF.
Second possibility: you can obtain
“a 100% refund of the ticket price, if you cancel your trip planned between Friday February 16 and Monday February 19 inclusive”
.
Like the strike which disrupted holiday departures at Christmas in December 2022, the SNCF has also decided to make an exceptional commercial gesture for injured travelers - whether they have had their ticket refunded or whether they have exchanged their ticket for another trip this weekend.
It takes the form of a 50% reduction on a future trip on the TGV Inoui or Intercités.
The passengers concerned must automatically receive by email, within one month, a code giving entitlement to this reduction.
Also read: BlaBlaCar, FlixBus, Trenitalia... The SNCF strike benefits its competitors
Discount valid on a journey “until the end of summer”
But be careful, you will only have 30 days to take advantage of this code, for a trip
“any day, (on) any train, until the end of the summer
,” said the boss. by SNCF Voyageurs Christophe Fanichet on France 2 on Thursday.
“No additional steps are required”
to receive this code, says SNCF.
However, we are far from the 200% compensation of the price of the canceled ticket offered by the SNCF after the Christmas 2022 strikes.
Small specifics for passengers on a Ouigo train canceled this weekend: the reimbursement of the ticket is done
“in the form of a re-creditable voucher”
and the commercial gesture is
“an additional voucher of 50% of the amount of the initial ticket, non-recreditable, valid for 6 months and to be used on a future trip on OUIGO,”
explains the SNCF on its SNCF Connect website.
On the other hand, if you have to give up on a winter vacation rental because of a canceled train, don't expect to get a refund from the SNCF.
“SNCF is responsible for the transport contract, not the rental contract.
Renting accommodation for travelers is an external element, there is no direct harm
,” explains Elsa Raiteberger, consumer law lawyer,
to
actu.fr.
You must therefore turn instead to your host.
But no miracle to expect: benefiting from a full refund seems like a pipe dream...