sandypaws3

I have a question about Eurostar. I was just looking at prices, and one way Paris to London is $154 dollars, which I arrived at by putting my country of residence as United States. However, just out of curiosity, I checked the French site, putting my country of residence as France, since that's where we'd pick the tickets up. What a difference in price!! It's 60 EUR on the French site, about $76.00 currently. My question, has anyone successfully booked on the French site? My concern is that we'll go to pick up tickets, and they'll ask to see our passports -- can't remember if they do, but I imagine so -- and say the tickets aren't valid because we aren't residents of France. Anyone know??

Sandy

Challiman

I don't know if they check passports when you pick up tickets, but they certainly do on the train when you go from one country to another. No idea if the conductor would make a fuss or even have a clue about how much you paid.
We were just in Europe, took trains from Amsterdam to Brussels, then a few days later to Paris. We bought the tickets separately as the whole train system is mind-boggling to us.
They did not ask for our passports when we bought the tickets at the station. We rode Thalys from Brussels to Paris.
Good luck! And, there are probably dozens of threads on this subject, you might find your answer in one of those.

altamiro

Thatīs impossible, since no permanent residence is required - itīs more or less the billing adress. If you pick it up in France, you are in France. Period.

rkkwan

No problem, and prices all different based on countries you choose and whether it's roundtrip or one-way. [R/T may be cheaper.]

I haven't checked recently, but in the past, some people have found the lowest fare when you pick Austria as your country.

I'd check at least US, UK, France and Austria. One-way and roundtrip for prices.

bratsandbeer

Did you go to www.eurostar.com? There are different prices for different days and time of departure. For instance on a Tuesday and perhaps other workdays you can go for $98 if you can arrive early.

The price depends upon what services you want with the ticket as far as being able to get a refund.

When you pick up the ticket you need a passport and also you need your papers showing you paid and you need the exact same credit card with you that you used to make the purchase.

ira

Hi SP,

It doesn;t matter which language you use to buy your tickets, as long as you have a valid CC.

sandypaws3

Thanks to all for the helpful answers!

Challiman,
We also rode the Thalys to Paris. That was our first trip there, and the cheapest ticket I could find was to Brussels. That time, I used raileurope, and it couldn't have been easier. However, when I go to raileurope to check prices, it's so much higher that I'm encouraged to try booking it myself, though you're right, it is confusing

altamiro, that's what I hoped -- that if you're picking up the tickets in France, you could put France as country of residence.

ira, I thought it was okay to buy a ticket on the French site because I know plenty of people who use the SNCF. What bothered me was putting France as "country of residence." What I hoped, and it seems like that's what it means -- that by putting France as country of residence, that means you'll be picking up tickets in France.

rkkwan,
Thanks for the reassurance

brats and beer, yes, that's the website I went to -- www.eurostar.com. It gave me the choice of a US site, a UK site, or a French site -- maybe more. I first chose the US site, but decided to just check the French site, and lo and behold, the price was MUCH better


Sandy

sandypaws3

p.s. What it boils down to is... I don't want to break any laws.

flanneruk

It's not a question of laws, but of practicality.

To book the best Eurostar prices, you need to pay with a credit or debit card in advance. To do that, you need to give your card's billing address. Declare a fake address and the transaction doesn't go through.

What no-one's said to you here is whether the system lets you get French prices if you give an American billing address. But they don't need to tell you that: you'll find out when you book (I don't know the answer, BTW).

Whatever the policy, no-one's going to try to extradite you if you give an American address on the French site. The worst that can happen is it tells you to pay a different price.

You do need to show passports to get onto a Channel Tunnel Eurostar, because you have to go through immigration control of the country you're travelling to before being allowed onto the train. But those officials are there just to keep illegal aliens out: they have no interest whatsoever in the fare you've paid, and don't act as unpaid revenue protection agents for the railway company.

rogeruktm

Could the difference in prices from country to country be due to a subsidy payment by that country to Eurostar operations?

PatrickLondon

Off the top of my head, I think that would be illegal. More likely it reflects demand.

jamikins

Well I booked eurostar tickets for my hubby and I (we live in London) and my in laws (they live in Canada) and had no problem using the UK version of the site. Technically I guess my inlaws should have paid the CDN rates...but I had no problems at all.

altamiro

>Could the difference in prices from country to country be due to a subsidy payment by that country to Eurostar operations?

Absolutely not. One of the central policies of the EU is to encourage competition. Which means that you are supposed to be able to shop around as transparently as possible.
If a train ticket is cheaper in France than in USA, you are supposed to look for the cheaper price. If you pay American prices you pay for "convenience".

bratsandbeer

I don't know why the difference in cost to travel Eurostar getting the tickets from different countries.

However, there are many tickets for tourist sites that are cheaper for European Union citizens. Perhaps this is the same way.

Not too long ago, English menus in some countries carried higher prices for meals than the menus in the language of the country. This is now illegal.

If there is a reason for the difference in rates, I am sure they will collect it from you when you pick up the tickets. They were very strict with everything when we picked up our tickets.

PalenQ

there is nothing about nationality restrictions on what Eurostar tickets one can by i think

Just that in Canada and other countries RailEurope usually or some other entity sets the prices in local currencies and yes there can be little rhyme or reason with fares - sometimes you will find $US prices cheaper than ones in euros on eurostar.com with France as your country - sometimes the reverse.

OP will have no problem picking up tickets - the problem is navigating the eurostar.com site that kicks you back to the agent in your country i believe - usually RailEurope, owned largely by SNCF - French - and Swiss railways. I always advise checking www.voyages-sncf.com; eurostar.com and raileurope.com to see which is cheapest. A problem with raileurope.com seems to be that the site does not operate in real time - and may well e-mail you back that that fare is either gone up or gone. That's why to check US fares i always advise calling Byron at www.budgeteuropetravel.com and have this expert IME do a manual search of Raileurope fares and do an instant booking if available - you can also call RailEurope to do a manual check but then you pay 10% more for the total fare. In any case do not just show up or you can pay twice as much on the spot in London, Paris or Brussels. Can book up to nine months in advance and be guaranteed the fare thru Raileurope - not search eurostar.com how long.

PalenQ

In fact showing your passport to enter the Eurostar is actually going thru French Customs and British customs so has zero to do with eurostar boarding where i've never ever been asked to show any proof of nationality