It’s time to go back to Paris after this excellent but too short stay in Lyon. And for once it is almost with joy and in any case with a lot of impatience that I booked a TGV in Business Première with the SNCF.

Why ?

What I think train in France lacks is a real service while we still feel too much that we are treated as users and not as customers. But the SNCF is making efforts. In particular, it has recently improved its catering with a success which, and I think it’s a pity, does not match the efforts made (the image of the “SNCF sandwich” unfortunately persists) and major improvements in its Business Première class.

To be more precise, in Business Première on the Paris-Lyon route. Why ? Because on this route, which is open to competition, it now faces the Frecciarossa of Trenitalia, which offers a very interesting product in all travel classes. So, willy-nilly, they had to keep up but the promise is appealing.

Privileged welcome in the lounges, free drinks on the platform, a dedicated host in a dedicated cabin, free food and drink on board, and so on. Real progress and I applaud it. And I am eager to test this because I was delighted by my outward journey in Executive with Trenitalia and I tell myself that logically the SNCF is on the same level so I expect to find more or less the same service. Or even better?

Booking

I booked a fortnight before my trip but it didn’t matter: in Business Première the ticket was at a fixed price, as in Executive at Trenitalia: 142 euros one way (139 on the Frecciarossa).

In the station and boarding

I arrived at the Lyon Part Dieu train station about 40 minutes before the departure of the train and went to the Grand Voyageur lounge. It’s located outside and I have to fight my way through the smokers to get there but that’s okay.

The reception is rather cold, I will hardly get a glance.

The place is in the same vein: neither pleasant nor unpleasant. It has the merit of existing.

The catering offer is minimalist: tea and coffee.

I sit at a desk to handle my emails before departure. I don’t see the wifi code anywhere. I’ll ask at the front desk. The cerberus looks at me strangely:

• “Do you have the Grand Voyageur Le Club card”.
• “No”
• “Sorry you’re not allowed to use the Wifi”.

Ah. It starts well.

The Grand Voyageur Le Club card is the highest status of the new SCNF loyalty program (below it there is Grand Voyageur), two statuses whose conditions of attribution are most obscure since the redesign of the program.

But when you pay full price in the highest class you are not allowed to use Wifi.

Imagine in an airport lounge, you are traveling in business but are not entitled to Wi-Fi because you are not an elite member of the airline’s loyalty program…

In short, after 10 minutes I’m pissed off. I have a coffee, a glass of water, no way to work and nothing to eat. So I finish my coffee and go for a walk in the station, even if it means wasting my time.

You have certainly read that from now on a personalized welcome is proposed on the Paris-Lyon route at the lounge. Yes. But only at the station in Paris.

While I walk around the station I look at the notice boards. Train late by 10 minutes. It’s not the end of the world but you can see that the SNCF remains faithful to its habits.

I will not find the Express Access which allows me to access the platform in priority but it does not matter, the wait will be short.

I look at the train composition sign and go to the level where my coach will stop.

The SNCF promises a free drink on the platform to Business Première passengers. But…

The welcome drink at the dock is reserved for customers traveling with a Business Première, Liberté 1^renegotiated or discounted 1^re, from Monday to Friday excluding weekends, public holidays and Christmas and summer vacations (mid-July to end of August) on a selection of TGV inOui trains .

It’s Sunday, too bad for me. And in any case, Lyon is not among the stations where this service is offered.

The announced delay is growing. 10, 15, 20 minutes. The train composition changes, I have to go to the other end of the platform to find my coach.

The train finally arrives and we can board.

The TGV Business Première coach on the TGV

With your Business Première ticket, enjoy exclusive comfort on board, all in a fully dedicated car ⁴. The guarantee for you to spend a trip in a calm atmosphere, conducive to work or rest.

Curious to see this.

The coach is indeed “exclusive” since obviously only Business Première passengers are in it. At least I think so.

Not having any memory of the former cars I don’t know if it’s the “normal” model or not.

The aspect looks quality and “serious”. But it’s low-ceilinged and I have the impression of suffocating.

One row of duo seats…

My “solo” seat.

Nothing to say it is pretty and very comfortable and I have room.

The tray table is very large and allows you to work comfortably with a computer. The plug is very well positioned.

So yes, it’s a beautiful coach. But for the highest class when I compare to what the Frecciarossa Trenitalia offered me for a few euros less the disappointment is not big, it is gigantic. Absolutely nothing to compare.

The journey and the service

So far, the least I can say is that the promise is not there. Let’s see how the rest of the journey goes.

I wonder what the service on board will be like for lunch. Trenitalia’s was very consistent and considering that SNCF has considerably improved its offer I think that it may save the rest.

By the way, you may have noticed that I did not mention the host who is supposed to welcome us and take care of us on board. Normal, he was not there.

Neither does the catering service included in the ticket.

Not lucky? No. You have to read the bottom of commercial documents.

Dedicated Onboard Services are reserved for customers traveling on Business Première, Liberté 1ere, negotiated or discounted Fare 1re, from Monday to Friday, excluding weekends, public holidays and Christmas and summer vacations (mid-July to end of August) on a selection of INOUI TGV trains and at certain times on the Paris Gare de Lyon – Lyon Part Dieu / Lyon Perrache routes.

Well, yes, it is. The Business Première is always the same fare, and the highest price, but some of the services are only available on one route (Paris-Lyon) but not on weekends, nor on vacations, nor during certain vacation periods and only at certain times and on certain trains.

I’ve already felt like I was being taken for a ride before, but never like this.

Why only maintain the service on certain days? What is the point of charging full price when it is not maintained?

So many questions that I will try to answer in a future article.

In the meantime by connecting to the wifi I can look at the new menu served at the train bar and elaborated by Thierry Marx.

I couldn’t tell you if it’s good or not: there’s no way I’d pay for a service normally included in my ticket.

To be honest I know that they worked very hard to improve the catering on board and that obviously the commercial success is not there. Certainly because customers still have in mind what their offer was until then. But by behaving in this way with customers who have paid for a Business First at the normal price, it is not only the dishes that will be boycotted.

If they don’t have the staff on weekends, they can just do a free service in the bar coach. But even that is too demanding!

Well and in terms of “calm environment, conducive to work or rest” I will be next to a family composed of the parents and 4 children including a newborn. The older ones will spend their time running around, the little one crying and the mother nursing in the middle of the coach. And I spare you the smell of the sandwiches they brought with them.

I had reserved a seat in the direction of travel and it will be in the opposite direction.

The wifi will be slow.

As much as I would have liked to prolong the pleasure on Trenitalia, I am in a hurry to arrive in Paris.

Arrival

As we approach Paris they are not even able to give us a reliable arrival time. At the supposed arrival time announced on the screens we are still a few kilometers away. 8 minutes will be added to the initial delay.

Upon arrival in Paris, the Business Première coach is at the very end of the platform, the furthest from the exit. Logical. It will be a little more walking.

By the way….it is forbidden to smoke on the platforms? Obviously not for the SNCF staff smoking in a group in front of a car door, 1m away from the passengers passing in front of them.

Bottom line

Do I really need to write a bottom line?

The SNCF sells a ticket at a certain price with a service that it provides only on certain lines, at certain times and on certain days. This is totally anti-commercial but reflects the deep problem of this business: it has remained a public service business with a mentality stuck in the 70s or 80s, still thinking in terms of users and not customers.

And what about the fact that I was denied access to the Wifi in the lounge?

And that’s how they end up selling business premiere tickets and not providing the service that goes with it on weekends and vacations.

The SNCF never stops trying to improve and invests a lot to do so. But they can’t because they don’t have the DNA to understand what they are talking about.

I will return to Lyon with pleasure. With Trenitalia or Air France.

At least this trip inspired me to write two more articles: the incomprehensible loyalty program of the SNCF and its famous business première. Because behind the facts there are programs, product and service design and it is interesting to wonder how competent people manage to deliver such disasters.

Articles similaires

Impromptu weekend in Lyon Paris-Lyon in Executive on Trenitalia: it makes you want to love trains! Hotel de Berri, a Luxury Collection Hotel: Beautiful design hotel with perfect service Paris-Frankfurt on Lufthansa in business class : business as usual Review : Turkish Airlines Economy, Istanbul-Paris, A321 Review: Paris-Frankfurt, Lufthansa Business Class on A320 Neo