by Brenda Murray

When is the best time to buy your connecting European train tickets? 

Until recently I would've said as far in advance as possible. But I've had to rethink that position.

Last year I purchased connecting train tickets for a train going from the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris to Avignon for about $150. I gave myself a couple of hours to account for a late flight and the time it takes to clear customs and get to the train terminal in the airport.

Unfortunately my 10 pm flight out of Toronto was late arriving and would take time for the crew to clean the plane and restock the meal service. It would be landing a couple of hours late and I realized I would miss my train. 

So I changed my train to one leaving 2 hours later. There was a penalty for changing the train ticket at the last minute of about $100. because I did not buy the cancellation insurance on that train ticket. I thought a 2 hour buffer was plenty of time--what could go wrong?

But the airline was having trouble restocking the hot meal on the plane and as we all stood there in the line up for a total of 5 hours I realized I would miss this later train as well. 

In the end I just left it and bought a train ticket on site in Paris when I arrived. All those train tickets added up to about $400 one way!

So here's my advice...

1. Buy cancellation insurance on your train ticket.
2. If you are catching a train that only departs once or twice a day and tickets sell out, you'd better buy it in advance online. How do you know if tickets sell out? Ask Google or Ai. Buy cancellation insurance on your train ticket.
3. If the train is a regular route and runs every couple of hours and is unlikely to sell out, buy it in person or on the train app just before boarding your plane and (you guessed it) buy cancellation insurance on your train ticket.