Comments on: Rail website charges double if you search in English

By: Twitter Trackbacks for Rail website charges double if you search in English | Upgrade: Travel Better [upgradetravelbetter.com] on Topsy.com

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:53:45 +0000

[...] Rail website charges double if you search in English | Upgrade: Travel Better http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2009/05/11/renfe-website-charges-double-if-you-search-in-english – view page – cached Last week, I was trying to book tickets for travel between Barcelona and Madrid on the relatively-new AVE high-speed rail line. I soon realized that the price — From the page [...]

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:31:49 +0000

Thanks so much for this great post. Saved me a lot of money and confusion. I’m not going to get into the politics of whether non-English speaking companies should/shouldn’t provide English translations on their websites, but RENFE definitely seemed to make it hard in this increasingly English-speaking world.

MY TIP: Have Google Translate opened in another window while purchasing your ticket. I translated every word, sentence and phrase that I couldn’t guess what it meant. VERY HELPFUL!

By: Price Discrimination by Search Language « Cheap Talk

Price Discrimination by Search Language « Cheap Talk — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:30:16 +0000

[...] the price you are quoted when you search for fares on Spain’s high-speed railway depends on whether you search in English or Spanish: When I searched the site earlier that day from my office, I searched in Spanish. A one-way ticket [...]

By: Barrie

Barrie — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:26:43 +0000

I think that there are several matters for which RENFE should be taken to account. Firstly It is obvious that the fact that the english section is not up to date is down to them not considering it a priority….. In a country where tourism is clearly not at all important to the economy!! Secondly in a country with so many expatriates and their children who speak and write fluently in both languages their half arsed translation attempt is entirely inexcusable. In fact perhaps the press officer who has replied in such fine english should help with the translation. Anyone who has passed through Madrid Atocha station will have heard the “english” announcements shouted over the PA system by what sounds like a middle european woman overdosing on testosterone who has learnt english from an internet translator!! Thirdly their responses prove that they don’t want to have to do anything about this issue and therefore are guilty of discriminating against non Spanish speakers through inaction. (I must add that this is my opinion and is not based on any legal background).

Great post Mark, it’s time Spain stopped discriminating all over the place (you can still see job ads for waiters, receptionists etc. specifying gender, nationality, age etc.) and came in to the 21st century .

By: Carla/@redyelllow

Carla/@redyelllow — Sun, 31 May 2009 06:37:43 +0000

This article is extremely helpful to me. I was putting off buying bcn-mad tix because they were too $$$. Now I can afford them!Thanks!

By: Train Web site charges more than double to book in English | WalletPop

Train Web site charges more than double to book in English | WalletPop — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:57:45 +0000

[...] sets of prices: one for people booking in English, and one for those who use Spanish. The Web site Upgrade: Travel Better reports that booking the popular AVE high-speed rail line between Barcelona and Madrid costs [...]

By: Budget Travel | Worth reading: AirTran’s Wi-Fi promise, Ryanair’s new fee, and more | Travel Blog

Mon, 18 May 2009 23:39:38 +0000

[...] Spain’s high-speed rail website charges double if you search in English—get ready to put your high-school Spanish to good use. [Upgrade: Travel Better] [...]

By: Mikeachim (Mike Sowden)

Mikeachim (Mike Sowden) — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:13:08 +0000

Twitter Comment

Fascinating: [link to post] To get a good deal, default to the local language?

- Posted using Chat Catcher

By: S A

S A — Fri, 15 May 2009 02:13:03 +0000

Christ, these Renfe people are dense. No wonder their site sucks so much.

By: Mark Ashley

Mark Ashley — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:33:46 +0000

Another note for subscribers to the comments feed:
Yet another update to this post, with correspondence from and to Renfe.

By: mike

mike — Thu, 14 May 2009 08:17:46 +0000

Mark-

Thanks for the note. What I meant was that was my last post on this topic – I think your blog raises some good issues and notices for people who are looking to travel and explore outside their normal comfort zone.

This was actually a good forum to discuss as most times comments devolve into ad hominem attacks on someone’s intelligence or propensity to have sex with themselves.

Keep up the good work and civil discourse!

By: S A

S A — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:26:23 +0000

Does the last screenshot really say “TRAIN NOT AVAILABLE FOR TICKEY SALE” ?

Tickey ?!? Hahahahahaha…

I also like how some things are in English (albeit wrong English, e.g., “places”) and others are still in Spanish (”tarifa general”).

Keepin’ it classy, Renfe!