Eurostar Business Premier
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at 13:38 by AMcWhirter.
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LuganoPirateParticipantHi Tim,
My remark was based on LPPS’s comment on how much he paid and I don’t really have much info on UK train ticket prices as I’m not living there, so thanks for pointing out the cheaper options. I was just surprised by the amount he paid.
My experience of UK trains is Eurostar, and I fully endorse your comments. In my case I’m usually starting in either Brussels, Lille or Paris and buy my tickets in advance in Switzerland. No real saving but just more convenient for me.
I also use the Hi Speed train from Ebbsfeet to St. Pancras, which is about £ 17 off-peak return I think and includes unlimited DLR, tube and bus travel in London. Actually all told it’s very good value and from my hotel near Dartford Bridge I can be almost anywhere in the City or West End in about 50 minutes (if lucky with connections) door to door.
9 Jul 2012
at 11:46
TimFitzgeraldTCParticipantHi Lugano
No worries. The fares over £400 are walk up full fare First Class (Like paying Full J/C on Swiss to NYC – not many people do it – most people only go Y and those going J don’t normally pay full J).
Ashame DB when they do start can’t do LON-PAR by rail. It would be good to see proper product innovation. I would love to see a quality restuarant car being introduced – maybe for all classes but priority for First / Premier. This can be additional cost (or comp for Premier). The ability to prebook would be handy. I say this as UK lackss restaurant cars these days – though I did have a meal on the 19:03 Paddington to Plymouth service and that was excellent – staff were superb and the food was good given they conditions they had – they went the extra mile to deliver (train had wrong restaurant car type due to delays). It was £45 with tip for starter, very good steak and 0.5l bottle of wine – whilst enjoying a lovely sunset and the ability to chat with other passengers. If Eurostar could deliver this for premium passengers it would be a massive step forward – but only to where they should actually be. Maybe Prem passengers on check in can be asked then for meal choices (or in lounge – might be better) so kitchen on train can be ready to go straight away. Once customers know the form it should be quite quck to get orders going and out (Designing a menu for a 2h:20 trip should be straight forward).
9 Jul 2012
at 11:56
AMcWhirterParticipantHello Lugano
Hello TimI have mentioned this before (when Lugano was querying the cost of train tickets from Paddington to the West Country) and really the best way for a family to save on UK rail travel is to purchase a Family and Friends Railcard.
It costs £28 a year and saves one-third on adult fares and 60 per cent on child fares.
http://www.familyandfriends-railcard.co.uk/what-do-you-get/features
9 Jul 2012
at 16:10
TimFitzgeraldTCParticipantThat is true. Not as good as when it was £1 for the kid travelling with an adult – they should really look to bring that back. Many more people would then consider travelling by train. I remeber travelling with my family by train and when that ended it was always the car. Sometimes cheap advance is better than Fam Railcard but I prefer flexibility with my tickets.
9 Jul 2012
at 16:32
LuganoPirateParticipantGood ideas. Thanks. Makes me think about a UK rail holiday. I was chatting to a friend at the British embassy today and bought up this subject. He told me for non uk residents there’s also a Britrail pass and this could also be worth looking at.
9 Jul 2012
at 18:44
ShearerParticipantHi Lugano
May I point out that it is highly unlikely that you would walk up with a family of 4 in peak hour and book train tickets for £1200 in First Class! This must happen in about 0.00001% of cases.
Do you work for ATOC? 😉
The argument that “not many people ever buy it” doesn’t detract from the fact that walk-on tickets are a racket. And it’s a totally circular argument – the reason why 0.0000001% of families will buy a walk on ticket is because they are so expensive.
It’s a strange system we have that taxpayers fund a £13bn improvement to the WCML, so that Virgin can flood the market with Advance tickets from £12 Advance Tickets, while gouging last minute travellers to the tune of £296.00, and STILL have vast sections of empty seats. (Based on Manchester observations)
10 Oct 2012
at 09:42
Bath_VIPParticipantI used the Eurostar to make a return trip to Brussels last week in Standard Premier and I was left a little underwhelmed overall.
On the plus side, both Brussels & St Pancras stations are excellent, the on-board staff were friendly and efficient and both trains were on time. The fare (£220 rtn for peak time travel) was a bit more than I would normally pay but not unreasonable and the food served was decent (though I was surprised at there being no service at all between Brussels & Lille).
My big disappointment was the seat which is definitely inferior to many of the first class seats we have in Britain. I found the headrest too low for a tall person like me and the seat ergonomics didn’t maximise the potential legroom. Like others have mentioned, you do feel that some competition would be welcome to improve the on-board quality.
Overall, if I have to use the Eurostar again to go to Brussels, I will probably give standard class a go given that it is only 2 hours.
10 Oct 2012
at 10:26
AMcWhirterParticipantHello Bath_VIP
Re lack of service between Brussels and Lille.
I wonder if it’s because this sector is sold to local passengers. Belgian Railways sells tickets for Brussels Midi to Lille Europe. Its website describes it as a “TGV” service. One-way fares are E29 for standard and E46 for first class.
Maybe passengers booked in Business Premier receive onboard service as this fare category cannot be booked on the Belgian Railways website b-europe.com
10 Oct 2012
at 11:10
Bath_VIPParticipantLondonCity,
No, it’s because more passengers join at Lille and it allows them to do a single breakfast service rather than 2 services. Brussels to Lille only takes 30/40 mins so I understand why serving breakfast after Lille makes sense but they could have still served drinks before Lille but didn’t. Very much a process for the convenience of the staff rather than the passengers.
The TGV route you saw really is a TGV train. With the rise of HST, Brussels station looks like it will become the mecca of HST spotters. Its served by Eurostar, Thalys, TGV & ICE. The departures board showed TGV trains going to Bordeaux & Paris.
Interestingly, this means that the Brussels – Paris route does have competition on it (TGV vs Thalys). Can anybody comment as whether this appears to improved standards on that route? Not holding out much hope since both are state-owned enterprises.
10 Oct 2012
at 12:20
AMcWhirterParticipantAre you sure TGV runs between Brussels Midi and Paris Nord ?
I thought that route was monopolised by Thalys which is partly owned by SNCF anyway.
Thanks for pointing out that the TGV now runs between Brussels Midi and Lille Europe.
Re the breakfast service in Standard Premier. I do wonder if the onboard service would be better in Business Premier.
With a Business Premier ticket costing £490 return (more than twice what a typical Standard Premier ticket costs) I would expect the breakfast service to start as soon as the train had left Brussels.
10 Oct 2012
at 12:41
Bath_VIPParticipantI hope you are right about Business Premier re the breakfast service. It would be shocking otherwise given the fare.
I thought I saw some TGV (not Thalys) services to Paris listed on the Brussels departure board. One stuck in my mind because it was non-stop. There were 2 TGV trains at Brussels when I left with one going to Bordeaux and the other I assume to Paris.
This site below says TGV go to 30 French cities from Brussels so I would amazed if some of those services didn’t go via Paris.
http://www.b-europe.com/Travel/Trains
The site also shows some more HSTs will coming to Brussels.
10 Oct 2012
at 13:23
AMcWhirterParticipantIt seems the TGVs heading beyond Paris would use the Interconnexion Est line. This bypass line enables them to bypass termini in the centre of Paris.
10 Oct 2012
at 13:38 -
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