Since July, these ceilings have increased on several destinations due to the change in the method of calculating travel time.
The SNCF has once again discreetly increased the fare ceilings on certain lines for Avantage card holders.
Remember that this card, which costs 49 euros for one year, allows you to have 30% reductions on TGV Inoui and Intercités tickets. In the event of high traffic on a journey, the price increases but cannot exceed a certain ceiling.
The SNCF therefore offers levels and guarantees a price of 49 euros for a journey that lasts less than 1h30, 69 euros for a journey between 1h30 and 3h and 89 euros for a journey lasting more than 3 hours even at the last minute.
Average travel time versus shortest travel time
But the SNCF changed its calculation without warning its users. Last February, five connections (Paris to Rennes, Lorient, Poitiers and Lille-Lyon and Strasbourg) saw their ceilings increase by one level because the operator changed its method.
“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”, explained to us at the time the company.
Translation, these journeys are therefore officially considered longer by the SNCF which no longer takes into account the shortest journey time but the average time which includes any stops.
Paris-Angers, Paris-Morlaix…
Since July, according to Libération, this principle has been applied again to several lines such as Paris-Angers, Paris-Mâcon, Paris-Aix-les-Bains, Paris-Morlaix, Marne-la-Vallée-Chambéry and Paris-Chambéry.
The Advantage card ceilings on these lines therefore increase from 49 to 69 euros.
“SNCF Voyageurs has had to adjust the capped prices on ten journeys since the start of the year, which did not correspond to the average journey time observed. All of the necessary adjustments were made (one part in February the other in July ) to take this calculation method into account, there is no other method planned,” a company spokesperson told BFM Business.
“The modified ceilings for these 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,” he continues.
However, these are potential additional increases for customers and Advantage card holders. Increases which risk going badly as the SNCF is once again under fire after the opening of the Christmas ticket office.
Remember that the SNCF applies dynamic pricing to the letter: the more a place is requested (date, destination, etc.), the faster the prices increase and as the number of TGVs is limited, the trains fill up very quickly, increasing the same rate of prices.
Without forgetting the average increase of 2.6% applied to TGV Inoui in 2024 after an average increase of 5% in 2023.
Olivier Chicheportiche Journalist BFM Business
