Booking Thalys Tickets...having issues

We are trying to book our tickets (from Brussels to Paris) online and are running into huge problems. We tried the ticketless route but that does not appear to be an option for anyone outside the EU. So we tried the print at home option and pick up from station option but 3 credit cards were denied (for no reason...there is nothing wrong with the cards). I called the cards and they said there is no reason they are being denied, that it is coming from the merchant. What are we missing/doing wrong? I am hoping to get these booked because they are having a really good sale but after two hours, we are back where we started.

Does anyone have any tips? Are we going to have to suck it up and go to a travel agent (which I would hate to do for something so simple).

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Hi

Yup, I tried using 4 credit cards. It keeps saying that the payment is unsuccessful and return to the fist page. I think there%26#39;s an error with the site. Let me know if you could solve this.

Regards

Audwin

(audwin.sim.2005@sis.smu.edu.sg).

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Hi,

Try this website-%26gt;

http://www.tgv-europe.be:80

It works for me. = )

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Difficult to help when you don%26#39;t say what site you are using! If it isn%26#39;t either of these, try www.thalys.com or http://www.b-rail.be/main/E/ - and for the second, make sure to check the instructions on http://www.b-rail.be/benebs/E/

brail/help/index.php

For the record, this says among other things

%26quot;Notes:

- Online payment with Visa or MasterCard is only possible for cards issued in countries recognised as 3D-Secure by Bank Card Company.

- If you pay by American Express, you must enter your billing address in the pop-up window that appears on your screen. If this address is not the same as your billing address on the American Express database, the payment will not go through and the transaction will be cancelled automatically.%26quot;

So firstly, only these 3 credit cards are acceptable, and secondly, it seems that normal U.S. cards are not 3-D secure although you can apparently register your card to make it so, which means you obtain a special PIN. See http://www.usaepay.com/vbvnmast.htm (aimed at merchants but it%26#39;s a good general explanation) and https://usa.visa.com/personal/

security/vbv/index.html

While they tend to be more expensive, you could also investigate prices for the same trains with one of the U.S.-based agencies like Eurail, Eurorail, who presumably accept U.S. credit cards and can deliver tickets in the U.S.

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