Is the SNCF Advantage card truly worth it? We conducted a price comparison.

During the 2023 Christmas period, we wondered if it was cheaper to book your train well in advance. This time, we’re heading to the “big bridge” of May. This year 2024, only Monday, Tuesday and Friday are worked during the week of May 6. It is therefore possible to end your week on Tuesday evening, if you take Friday off, which many French people have decided to do.

Some and some are, de facto, are rushing for train tickets. We recorded the prices of 20 journeys, round trip, over this period from May 8 to 12, 2024. The results can be read here in the first part of our survey.

Does the SNCF Avantage card really grant a 30% reduction on each journey?

Thanks to a comparative statement between journeys with or without an Avantage card, we are able to verify whether the SNCF’s assertion (“ The Advantage card allows its nearly 5 million holders to benefit from a 30% reduction guaranteed », the SNCF tells us by email) is true.

The result is mixed: according to our observations, although there is always a reduction with the card, compared to without the card, the promise is not always respected. Three out of sixteen journeys, or 18%, offer less than 30% reduction:

• Nantes-Bordeaux: -13.5%
• Paris-Marseille: -18.5%
• Marseille-Paris: -28%

The SNCF Advantage card is not indexed to percentages. It operates with capped prices for second class on this model:

• €49 max for journeys less than 1h30
• €69 max for journeys between 1h30 and 3h
• €89 max for journeys longer than 3 hours

Since the start of the 2023 school year, the SNCF has made the advantage card less “ advantageous “. Previously, the ceiling prices were lower (€39, €59 and €79). It remained sold at the same price: 49 euros for one year. At the time, the SNCF justified it by inflation and ensured: “It doesn’t change anything. (…) for most Advantage card beneficiaries, because in the majority of cases they pay less than the ceiling price”. Which is not always true, as shown by the journeys that we have chosen to aggregate, in times of tension.

In the graph below, we see the difference in the cost of journeys, with and without the Avantage card, in euros.

In percentage as in absolute value, the Advantage Card remains advantageous from a low number of journeys. The savings are around 25 to 40 euros, for a card purchased for 49 euros per year.

We also observe that on 16 journeys, the Avantage card allows you to go below the symbolic bar of 100 euros per journey (82% of journeys considered, compared to only 65% ​​of journeys without an Avantage card).