latest news
Carte Avantage Sénior SNCF To encourage rail travel, SNCF now offer a discount card for passengers over 60 years of age. The yearly cost for the Carte Avantage Senior is 49€ per year, enabling you to benefit from capped prices in 2nd class on TGV INOUI and INTERCITÉS direct, as well as on last minute offers. You get guaranteed discounts on all your trips, all year long including 30% off your travel in 2nd and 1st class and 60% off for children aged 4 to 11 accompanying you (up to 3 maximum). The card also gives you discounts on travel from France to other European countries (Luxembourg, Gemany, Italy, Switzerland and Spain). Full details are available here https://en.oui.sncf/en/train/train-discount-card/avantage-senior
HEALTH PASS The health pass currently being used in France (enabling people to visit bars, restaurants, cinemas etc) is possibly changing to a vaccine pass, in an attempt to encourage the 5 million people who haven’t been vaccinated in France. The plan will be debated by MPs at the beginning of this month and would need to be passed by the Senate afterwards. If it is to be passed, it is expected to become law by the end of this month. The time for the booster dose (after the second jab) may also change, from 5 months to four. At the time of print, the current rules on the health pass states that anyone over
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the age of 65 now need to have had a booster, so anyone who had there second jab more than 7 months ago would be due for their booster to retain their health pass. Within the same age bracket, anyone who received the Janssen (singledose) vaccine, will need a booster after 2 months. This ruling will apply to all adults from Saturday 15 January. When travel is permitted again between the UK and France, the NHS Covid Pass will work as it’s integrated with the EU’s digital Covid Certificate scheme. You can also scan the QR code from your NHS pass into the TousAntiCovid app.
BLOCTEL SUBSCRIPTION Starting from this month, you will no longer need to renew your cold-calling red list subscription with Bloctel every year. Subscription renewal has now been extended to every 3 years.
JANUARY SALES 2022 The dates for the sales (les soldes) this month are Wednesday 12th January until Tuesday 8th February. Sales are highly regulated in France, one in the winter and one in summer, each for a maximum of 4 weeks. The dates for e-commerce are the same. After this, some retailers will offer a ‘Grande Braderie’, selling off the remaining stock. Last year, the summer sales were postponed due to Covid, so it’s worth keeping up-to-date with news in case there are any changes.
