[AMcWhirter]

Mark Smith is a reliable source of rail news.

He tweeted today that Eurostar is expected to rebrand its travel classes later this year.

Now Eurostar has, for many years, considered itself more an airline than a train operator.

(I refer here to the original Eurostar)

So it’s interesting that one of the comments refers to the possibility that Eurostar will introduce ancillary fees as have the majority of airlines worldwide.

With the popularity of solo seats in Standard Premier and limited luggage space onboard, to give just two examples, it would seem extra fees could be charged for those seeking a better seat or for travellers with lots of luggage (who might be booking standard seats).

Airlines find that ancillary fees means they can boost revenue without changing the headline price.

And as we all know Eurostar has become an expensive way to reach mainland Europe (unless booking months ahead) after the pandemic.

Eurostar is changing its classes in November to Standard, Plus & Premium. No details yet and I hope I'm wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if all meal service in Standard Premier disappeared when it becomes Plus, to bring it into line with Comfort class on former Thalys services. pic.twitter.com/iU2zsTTtNB

— The Man in Seat 61 (@seatsixtyone) February 1, 2024

2 users thanked author for this post.

cwoodward, AlanOrton1

[AMcWhirter]

Well the new tariffs are effective from November 4, 2024.

So there will be three classes on Eurostar both for the Tunnel routes and the ex-Thalys services which run within mainland Europe.

Eurostar Premier (the new name for Business Premier), Eurostar Plus and Eurostar Standard.

The main changes to the latter two fares will be greater flexibility to make changes and the ability to get a partial refund.

Eurostar-formerly-Eurostar and Eurostar-formerly-Thalys to unify class names & fare Ts & Cs from November:
Eurostar Standard, Eurostar Plus (with food & drink on cross Channel routes as now) and Eurostar Premier. pic.twitter.com/WzMG0G9WZ3

— The Man in Seat 61 (@seatsixtyone) April 23, 2024

[AMcWhirter]

I ought to point out that, at time of writing, the onboard product would appear to remain the same.

Eurostar (the Tunnel operator) considers itself more an airline than a train company and it had been thought Eurostar might introduce ancillary fees. So far there’s no further news.

It seems that Eurostar intends to compete with air by majoring on flexibility and the ability to get a refund (minus a fee).

I mean if you book one of the lower air fares there can be stringent rules in terms of flexibility and refunds.

[Hannah Brandler]

We have posted a news piece with further information on the unified travel classes and fare flexibility here:

Eurostar unifies travel classes and introduces more flexible fares

[Author]

Posts