Rail Europe Site Rip Off

Been busy booking rail tickets for upcoming trip to Europe. I'm noticing what a big ripoff raileurope.com is. TGV Lyria, I saved about 20% by booking directly through SNCF. Just booked ticket from Oxford to London Paddington for 4 people for less than the price of 1 person quoted by rail europe. Through First Great Western, I was able to get 4 people for little over $50.00 but if I were to go to rail europe, its like $48.00. Who in their right mind would use raileurope.com? If you do select that your in the USA on SNCF's site, they will send you to the raileurope.com but there is nothing stopping you from saying your in France and buying it directly through them.

Its the old "All Americans are rich, soak 'em for every buck possible!" SOP!

Luckily the internet is allowing us to check for deals worldwide!

Rail Europe is good for buying rail passes, not for individual reservations. In some cases like getting reservations on international trains without buying the transport too say between Germany and Poland, Rail Europe comes in handy, but not otherwise. I always compare various options and fares from various sources before buying anything.

For my upcoming trip to the UK, since I want to ride a whole bunch of random trains without worrying about buying tickets, I am going to get a 4 day Britrail Pass, and then just travel. Usually I don't worry about reservations in Britain except on the ECML and WCML trains, which get rather crowded at least in Standard Class.

It is not about rich Americans, you can be sure I won't buy any tickets from rail Europe. I think the problem is that they don't seem to link into any discounted ticket offers, so you will almost always be offered the full price...

A couple of good sites are Capitain Train for Mainland Europe : https://www.capitainetrain.com which I have used with a print at home ticket, and also

The Train Line, for UK. You can book online, and pick up your Trainline tickets at the station from "quicktrak" type machines.

http://www.thetrainline.com/

Cheers,

Ed.