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Comment by paul_f | Hacker News Reader

I took the train from Berlin to Paris in 2018. Was visiting Europe from the US with my son and we did it on a Sunday when nothing was open anyway. No problem with 7 hours on a train. Would have taken at least 5 hours to fly, getting to/from the airports, security, arriving early, etc. Cheaper and more enjoyable to take the train,

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Train is 200% more enjoyable… as long as prices remain high. TGV can be as cheap as 30€ offers for Paris-Lyon in first class, or even “board without fare, annoy people, and yet, get the understanding from the controller”, and that’s where problems start: Obnoxious people on board, theft, harassment… under the lenient eye of the controllers, who still give 450€ fine to grandmas who didn’t annoy anyone.

I loved TGV and I became vegetarian for CO2 emissions, but I can’t stand this despicable show of class warfare, and I now take my car for travels up to 1000km.

Isn't this exactly why first/buisness class is made for? What is your experience with buisness class in TGV? In ICE trains, it makes a difference (i.e. more silence).

My stories were about first class. The 2 problems are that SNCF has subsidies so that single mothers with 3 babies from different fathers can use the first class; and that agressive people can use it also, without a fare, and controllers only ask for their name (they obviously say “Jean Dupondt” instead “Mouloud Al’Fahir”, and the controller still doesn’t moves much).

France thinks everyone deserves to use the first class from time to time.

This is both racist and sexist within two sentences. I've definitely seen a higher density, but not very often. For the casual reader: I have used these trains a number of times and this is definitely not the norm.

Controllers are absolutely making a difference between arabs and other whites on French trains. They generally lessen or avoid fines for arabs.

If you pretend to fight racism (most people only pretend), please fight this.

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