Man do I need some help. My family of 2 adults and 3 youths will be traveling by train through the chunnel from Paris to London on August 10th in the afternoon, but when I review the RailEurope website rates for second class, they have differnt prices for the same train at the same time. Why is that? The rates differ by hundreds of dollars...I need a seasoned Fodorite to save me

Eurostar has more than one type of fare, just as airlines do. There are Flexible fares, Semi-flexible fares and Value fares available on the same train.
The people sitting in the row across from you on a train may have paid more for their tickets than you did or they may have paid less depending on what type fare they booked.

For example, on August 10 , eurostar.com is showing that train #9031, which leaves Paris at 13:04 , has a standard class Semiflexible fare of $150 per adult and youth.
That train also has a standard class Value fare of $90 per adult and youth.
If you click the "details" box next to each of the fare types you will see the description of the restrictions for each of those fares.
If the restrictions for the Value fare suit your needs, then book that fare and save $60 per ticket.

thanks internet. I really appreciate the help

ahem... who's going to be the pedant and mention something about that ch***el word?



Best wishes,

Rex

Looks like you filled that role Rex . . . . .

Rex, you caught me using that word a month or two ago. I have since reformed!

Rex, Is it the brits that have an issue with "Chunnel"? Chunnel = Channel Tunnel. A fairly common reference state side.

Like the airlines, please arrive early.
We missed our train a few years ago, because the taxi driver took the very, very, long way around to get to the station. I think about 45 minutes before your departure is suggested.

I've never heard Europeans refer to it as Chunnel.

We can call it anything we damn well please! The L*m*ys and Fr*gs can't even agree on the name of the body of water that separates their countries!

It's generally held that those who live within a few-hundred mile radius do not use, and do not like the term "chunnel", just as those who live in California have never used nor liked the term "Frisco".

I know of no information gathered or published on this matter, for either term.

I haven't actually looked.

Rex's analogy of 'Frisco' is a good one.

The media tried to popularise 'Chunnel' when it opened. We didn't go along, so using the word in Britain or France makes you sound very weird.

British headline writers - like all journalists, on a planet of their own - sometimes still use the term though. Best to ignore them.

Do you think the people who live "within a few hundred miles" of something own the franchise to its appelletion?

I don't.

Language (including the naming of things) is by consensus - tyranny of the majority parlance, if you will. The few people who may look down their noses at those who say "Frisco" or "Chunnel" need to know that they are a vanishingly small minority, and act appropriately.

>...The few people who may look down their noses at those who say "Frisco" or "Chunnel" need to know that they are a vanishingly small minority, and act appropriately.<

So, if I want directions from Pisa to Livorno, I ask one of the locals, "Dove e Leghorn"?

Not if it won't be understood.

<<Do you think the people who live "within a few hundred miles" of something own the franchise to its appelletion?>>

Well, yes, actually I do.

Your vote has been recorded. Thank you for participating.

Yes - those who say "Chunnel" "Frisco" "Cali" "San Fran" and, god forbid, "The OC" are well w/i their rights - but we are well w/i our roghts to consider them classless and clueless and a bit tacky.

Say whatever you please - but do realize most people will think worse of you for it.

That would <i>really</i> concern me if I gave a [rhymes with] whit how people in Frisco, Cali, San Fran and The OC feel about me.

For your examples, you happen to have chosen the four groups of people <u>more full of themselves</u> than any others on the planet. Except possibly Marin County (where everyone's brain is Marinated).

Now you've started something. &quot;More full of themselves than any others on the planet&quot;...?! More than....ooooh, who shall we say?...