On June 21, the Government will cease the State of Alarm to allow circulation between provinces and Autonomous Communities. Given the imminent saturation of services such as Renfe, it is important to hurry to avoid the collapse of the company's website when reserving seats and buying train tickets. We have already seen it with the AVLO service of the same company, whose web portal was saturated for several hours, with virtual queues of up to 20,000 people. For this reason we have compiled some alternatives to the Renfe website to buy train tickets .
AVLO, how the low-cost AVE works and how to buy tickets at 5 euros
Use the Renfe Ticket application
It is true that the Renfe application is far from being a good application, however, it can be useful for booking tickets if the Renfe website does not work properly. In fact, the purchase process is usually more agile if we register our data in advance.
The key in this regard is to set up a payment method several days in advance to buy train tickets from the opening of borders. We can also use a secondary device to reserve places in the event that one of the devices fails to make the purchase.
- Download application for Android
- Download app for iOS
Take advantage of the telephone sales service
Another alternative to which we can resort if the Renfe website does not work correctly. Renfe's telephone service offers assistance 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The assistance number is 912 320 320 . Its cost is the same as that of any national call, so the price per minute of the call will vary depending on the contracted rate.
The advantage of this service is that we can choose the way to send the tickets: at home (between 24 and 48 hours), to a specific address or in digital ticket format through the Renfe Ticket application. We can also choose the method of payment: + Renfe points, debit or credit card or even in cash if we choose to send by traditional mail. If we choose this route, the prices set by Renfe for sending the tickets are as follows:
Diary days
- Express delivery : 8.27 euros.
- 24 hour service : 5.00 euros.
- 48 hour service : 4.00 euros.
Saturdays
- All deliveries : 3 additional euros in provincial capitals. For the rest of Spain, consult the customer service.
At the nearest service station or auto-sales machine
It is very likely that as of June 21, all Renfe telematic services will collapse at the national level. The alternative that Renfe proposes if this happens is based on going in person to some of the ticket offices set up in the national train stations . We can also use the self-selling machines dispensed by Renfe in most of its stations.
The difference between one service and another lies in the price. And it is that while the commission for management expenses in the face-to-face sale is 5.5%, the commission of the self-sale machines is only 3.5% if we make the payment with a credit or debit card .
Or go to a travel agency
The last alternative that Renfe proposes to buy national and international train tickets is to go to a travel agency certified by the company . On the Renfe web portal we can see a list with all the points enabled by the company.
- National points
- International sales points