Do Not Throw Out Your Metro Ticket

... until you have exited the metro station at your destination.

DO NOT THROW OUT YOUR METRO TICKET (until you're out of the station)!!!

Very rarely, they do metro ticket checks and if you've bought a ticket but threw it out at a platform in a connecting station, or lost it, you'll get fined like you never bought a ticket in the first place. The fine is 40 euro... that's $60 with the exchange rate folks, so hold on to your tickets.

Of course, the only time I went through a ticket checkpoint was when I happened to throw out my ticket. Literally, I threw it out in a trashcan at the bottom of the stairs, then climbed up the stairs... and to my horror saw the metro police or whatever verifying tickets. What luck! Not even 2 minutes had passed before making what I then thought was a good decision (so my apartment would not be full of used metro stubs) to paying $60. I even dumpster dived for it (gross), but bonne chance finding the right metro ticket in a sea of expired ones and unmentionables. So I payed the fine on the verge of tears.

The verge of tears/anger that I felt (as I was already having a bad day) I would not recommend. If you do lose your metro ticket, they might let you go if you calmly explain that you're a foreigner and you don't know how these things work. If you speak a little French, try saying "Je suis desolée, mais je suis Americain/Americaine/(insert nationality).* Je ne savais pas que je devais garder mon ticket." If you don't speak any French, try at least saying "Je suis desolée (I am sorry)" and show them your passport or any other foreign ID.

Good luck, but if you have the choice, just don't lose your ticket!


* It's a good idea to find out how to say your nationality in French before embarking on your trip! It may come in handy from small talk to stuff like this. Note: the pronounciation for masculine/feminine nationality is different (m. "Americain" ends in a nasal "a" sound / f. "Americaine" sounds like "Ameri-Ken"), so you want to memorize the right one... but above all... if you're a newbie, remember that the French warm up when you most of all put an effort to speak their language, even if you mispronounce at this level.