The passenger, who had a season ticket on the TGV Sud-Est line, simply wanted to arrange for another passenger to sit next to his son. He condemns the captain’s unfriendly behavior.
A new surge of enthusiasm from the SNCF controller? This Tuesday, Hugues, a TGV subscription holder, takes a seat in second class on his train, after another passenger offers to change his seat to 1 to sit next to his son.
The former readily accepts but later attracts the ire of the captain while checking the tickets. The latter speculates that Hughes is traveling without a ticket, resulting in a hefty fine of 270 euros (if paid immediately).
The tone is obviously rising. “They threatened to cancel my subscription and call the police,” says Hughes on X (ex-Twitter).
The implausibility is complete: “No one is wronged in the story, all the seats are paid for but because of two cowboys who believe they are in the wild west, the SNCF is being hated even more,” he continues.
Especially since Hughes received the support of a passenger with whom he exchanged places, “something that was completely ignored by the controllers”.
“Two Cowboys Who Think They’re in the Wild West”
This penalty is more peculiar because normally, occupying a seat in 1st class when your ticket is in 2nd is punishable by “fare adjustment” but not by sanction for not having a ticket. This adjustment is made up of the price difference and penalty for the upgrade.
This possible permission to change class is often announced by the conductor over the microphone while boarding the train.
In his thread, Hughes does not detail the fines imposed. But apparently, he received almost the maximum provided by SNCF, i.e. 100 euros + ticket price (for journeys over 150 euros).
However, the problem probably comes from the approved traveler subscription which offers a nominally low price, and only in seconds.
SNCF’s Southeast Axis Director intervenes
One thing is for sure, Hughes refused to pay the fine immediately, filed a complaint and will approach the transport mediator.
Facing a new and numerous “bad buzz” for SNCF on social networks (more than 5 million views for his tweet), the director of Southeast TGV axis Benjamin Hurteau called the passenger directly this Wednesday to offer help for him.
This Wednesday, SNCF Voyageurs also contacted Hugues to try to resolve the situation. We do not yet know what was offered to the traveler.
Contacted by us, SNCF Voyageurs has not yet returned our requests for comments.
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