Air France frequent-flyers to get discounted French train tickets
Members of the Air France Flying Blue loyalty programme can now use their Miles to gain ticket vouchers for French national rail services, French news outlet BFMTV reported.
The vouchers will range from a €25 to €100 discount on your SNCF high-speed TGV train journey, but the amount of the discount will depend on the number of Miles you hold as an Air France Flying Blue client.
The system will be tiered;
With 7,500 'Miles' you can get an SNCF voucher worth €25
With 15,400 Miles you can get a €50 voucher
With 30,000 Miles you can get a €100 voucher
The standard is that four miles are accrued for every one euro spent via Air France's Flying Blue programme - more information on their website.
Which train journeys qualify?
Currently, the discounts will only apply to high-speed inOui train journeys.
However, SNCF and Air France hope to include the budget Ouigo trains into the programme by the summer, and they are also looking into opening it up to Transavia budget flights as well.
Any other benefits?
SNCF and Air France have - for the last 30 years - allowed customers to book a bundled train and plane ticket together.
The benefit to the bundled ticket offering is that users are assured that if they miss their plane due to a train delay, they will be rebooked on the next flight. This is not entirely guaranteed if you book your tickets separately.
The Air France and SNCF partnership also allow people to book train journeys up to a year in advance, which is exceptional considering the fact that SNCF rail tickets are usually only available four months before the departure date. The one downside is that you would choose the train trip that matches your flight time best, instead of choosing based on the price of the train ticket.
The two companies estimate that 300,000 people use the 'Train+Air' programme every year, but they hope to increase this figure tenfold with the new voucher offering.
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