Sncb/Thalys

What is the difference or is SNCB a travel/Train agent. It seems as though I can purchase tickets either way. Can I get ticketless on SNCB or just Thalys. I would like to do this but I don%26#39;t want to go as far as purchase with SNCB if I can%26#39;t get a ticketless voucher. I have some time as I can%26#39;t get them for another month as we are traveling in DEC. Thanks again for all the previous help and look forward to the above.

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SNCB is Belgian national railways if you are flying in you can buy their special ticket, 11 euros single to %26quot;any%26quot; desination within Belgium, Thayls are an iternational company their trains are generally a bit faster but they are more expensive, you can buy your tickets online with both.

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Also depends where you want to go, you would only buy Thalys tickets if you want to go to Paris or Amsterdam. Within Belgium no need to purchase tickets in advance, no advantage really, just buy them on the day.

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SNCB is Belgian Railways, the national train operator which operates both national and some international trains, e.g. Intercity to Amsterdam, in partnership with Dutch Railways. Thalys is a private consortium (albeit formed by a number of national railway companies) that ONLY operates international trains, between Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and some German destinations.

IF your trip includes a Thalys train, you can buy tickets from Thalys itself or from Belgian, French, etc. railways, and in that case you can include onward travel on e.g. SNCB. On the other hand, if you wanted ONLY to travel from Brussels to Brugge, you couldn%26#39;t buy your ticket from Thalys.

Another alternative you have in the U.S. with respect to premium international trains like Thalys is to purchase from an agency like Rail Europe, Eurorail etc., who can deliver in your country and which won%26#39;t cause you problems with non-European credit cards. However if you want tickets on normal domestic trains, you should avoid these agencies and buy direct from the train operator when you get here, because the agencies charge more. On Thalys etc., however, it seems they may sometimes charge less.

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Just as a footnote, i am flying into Eindhoven in November and out of Charleroi a few days later, i found out that buying a combo of 2nd class train tickets :- Einhoven - Masstrict, then 2 days later Masstricht-Liege, then Liege - Charleroi with the special 11 euro deal including my tec bus to Charleroi Airport, all worked out a few euros cheaper than the getting a straight 2nd class ticket from Eindhoven - Charleroi strange but there you go.

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Yes but the special airport fare (€11 single, €22 return to/from BRU or CRL airport from/to anywhere in Belgium) applies only for trips entirely within Belgium. Since OP is asking about Thalys (if it wold be possible to buy from either Thalys or SNCB it can only be for a Thalys train), and these cannot be used for a journey entirely within Belgium, I don%26#39;t quite see how they could find any use for the special airport fare.

In fact the main question being asked here is, is it possible for a U.S.-based purchaser to buy an e-ticket (home-printed) on Thalys from either Thalys or SNCB? From previous questions, I%26#39;m not even sure OP will get that far, as it seems it is not easy to pay on either site with foreign credit cards: but some people seem to have resolved the problem by e-mailing SNCB. The issue is dealt with extensively in previous questions in this forum about Thalys to Paris/Amsterdam, I can only suggest looking at those.

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I booked recently on the Thalys site going from Brussels to Paris. I applied for a Ticketless account, they sent me an email with my account number and then I used the number and a United States credit card. to reserve. If you have more than one passenger, you must apply separately for a Ticketless account for each passenger using a different e-mail address. But then when you book the tickets you can do just one transaction. Be sure to do this at least 30 days before for the maximum discount and 15 days out for a lesser discount. For example, 30 days out it was 25E, 15 days out it was 29E, now it is 43E. Only certain trains during the day have the deepest discount but there are lots of trains each day!(PS. If you need to use a local train, to get to Bruxelles-Midi, you can add a one-time local train ride for 1E!)