[AMcWhirter]

This relates to August and September 2023 when Eurostar ran a promotion in which one-way fares from London to Paris, Brussels and Lille were on offer at prices starting from £39 one-way.

The problem was that many travellers seeking these bargain fares found them very difficult if not impossible to obtain even when booking well ahead.

As we have previously reported here and in the magazine Eurostar’s prices have soared since the pandemic as the train firm seeks to recoup its revenue losses plus lack of capacity at StPancras.

There were supposed to be 39,000 seats in the promotion. It sound a lot but when you consider the volume of seats being provided daily (one need only look at the huge number of travellers stranded at StPancras just before Christmas to see what I mean) this would cover a very limited number of services.

The ASA says, “We therefore consider that Eurostar had not demonstrated that a significant proportion of tickets for these routes had been available from £39 during the promotional period.”

The promotion breached ASA rules on pricing and being misleading.

In its reply Eurostar said, “We understand and take on board the ASA’s ruling which is related to seat availability in part of the promotional period, and we are committed to ensuring that this scenario does not occur again.”

{I did not encounter the FT’s paywall but some of you might]

https://www.ft.com/content/a29030ff-3070-4a23-a0a0-6f026853a494?sharetype=blocked

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