Can you book by phone anymore?

Booking train tickets to the Alps (and to many parts of Europe, for that matter) has never been as easy as it should be.

You may have experienced the frustration*/uncertainty*/confusion*/red mist* of trying to book tickets online - and having a question that 'online' doesn't answer.  And you wanted to pick up the phone and talk to a human. A human who knew.  A human who could help.

That's a normal, reasonable thing to want to do.

But there is a trend in travel, as in many industries, for companies to try to get their customers to do everything online. And when it comes to booking travel, that isn't always sensible or right.

Recently, OUI.sncf (which is the new brand for Voyages SNCF), the company closed it's UK call centre, meaning that you can no longer book tickets with SNCF by phone. They do have a helpline, but it is hugely expensive to call.   So I though it might be useful if I wrote an article summarising what you can and can't do by phone, when you want to buy a train ticket to a ski resort. Here are the various train companies that you can contact.

Eurostar
Tel: 03432 186 186
Mon-Fri 8am - 7pm;   Sat-Sun 9am - 5pm.
Booking fee: £10 per booking (not per person)
Eurostar's reservation centre can not only book the Eurostar Ski Train for you.  They can also book indirect Eurostar + TGV journeys to quite a few French destinations.

OUI.sncf (formerly Voyages SNCF)
When it comes to making bookings by phone, OUI unfortunately says no. They do have a helpline, and say that staff can help you with the online booking process - but you still have to do the actual booking yourself.  This is particularly annoying when you want to break the journey with a stopover in Paris, whch can't be booked online in the most effective way.

1. Information line: +33 8 92 35 35 35
Mon-Sat 8 am to 6 pm, closed on Sunday (French time)
Calls cost around £1.50 per minute from UK mobile and about £2.50 per minute from a UK landline (cheap overseas call options don't work on these numbers).

2. Online helpdesk (to help you with online bookings) +33 9 70 60 99 70,
Monday to Saturday 9 a.m.-7 p.m (French time), closed on Sunday.
OUI.sncf says: "Our advisors are here to help and accompany our customers during their online experience on OUI.sncf." - while you get more and more wound up by the cost of the call...
Calls cost around £1.50 per minute from UK mobile and about £2.50 per minute from a UK landline (cheap overseas call options don't work on these numbers).

Switzerland Travel Centre
The name suggests only travel to Switzerland, but Switzerland Travel Centre can book almost all journeys into European destinations.
Tel: 0207 420 4934
Mon-Fri 9am - 5pm: Saturdays 9am - 1pm