I've never bought a RailEurope ticket (and I'm a she not a he). But I've taken the Thalys going to MlV a couple of times and never been on a first class ticket where they didn't offer everyone a meal.
Ditto for Eurostar...I've never ridden first class in Eurostar where a passenger was not offered a meal and beverages. Nor has my husband and between us, we've been on Eurostar *at least* 100 times in the last 18 months.

PalQ: You are right. I had checked last week and saw that Raileurope has four new classifcations that I was not familiar with. Namely, Economy, Freedom, Comfort and Premier. Much different than what is on the Eurostar site and what I had bought before from Raileurope. So I checked each to see what the difference was. The Comfort class which I assumed was the old Leisure classification clearly stated the meal was available for a fee. In fact when clicking on details under each class a chart came up and it is much different to what I am seeeing now. So I called the 1-800 number for verification.

The Chicago office of Raileurope was the contact I made and that service rep clearly stated the old Leisure fare is now called Comfort and the meal was available for a fee.

Now I see the website is changed. So who knows which is right.

Perhaps I`ll phone them again.

RailEurope site still says meals are included at seat for Leisure (cheaper) first class tickets as of today. The RE Chicago women must have misspoken i assume or they are negligent in updating their web site - also very possible!

Update on meal in First Class now called Leisure Select. Verified by the Chicago Rail Europe office on Monday that the hot meal IS included in the price of the ticket. Staff advised me that the website at one time was incorrect and then updated to show what should have been there all along.

Anyway I have received my small 3" x 8" ticket by FedEx in a rather huge envelope.......big enough to accommodate the TravelSmith Catalogue which I did not request. Perhaps that is why they charged me $19 Canadian to send that little ticket.

Q- do you also have to pay the VAT (different name in Canada - GST?) on tickets ordered from abroad - i understand you do in Canada? If not would make US sales maybe cheaper than going thru RailEurope in Montreal?

Actually, Leisure Select is one of the two types of First Class, the other being Business Premier (which is more expensive). Once you're on the train itself, the difference between the two is marginal--most Business Premier benefits relate to pre-boarding services (flexible ticketing, fast track check-in, lounges, etc.). If you look at the Eurostar.com seating plans, you'll see the seating setup for BP and LS are the same. We've been seated next to BP travelers while traveling LS and vice versa. They try to put the two FC categories in separate cars, but it doesn't always work that way.

PalQ: Good question......do not know if the GST (Goods & Services Tax)is included in the price of the ticket. I just paid the fare listed on the website plus the shipping charge of $19 Canadian. And that RailEurope site for Canadians is out of Chicago. I tried to pay in US Dollars as the exchange they are giving for Canadian Dollars is about $12 too high. But they wouldn`t let me do that. That could be the GST that is factored in.....it`s 6%.

BTilke: The last time I booked a single seat (with no table) in First Class it was called Solo. Now the RailEurope staff called it Isolated when I asked for that type of seat just a few days ago. Who does these things???

I don't know. There seems to be a desire with changing the names of things. The Thalys people are even worse, for a while they were renaming their fare categories every few months, even though the fare structure for each category remained unchanged.
Solo, Uno, Isole, anyway, you have the seat to yourself. Just make sure it isn't a solo seat facing another solo seat--I hate those, you get less leg room (esp. if the facing traveler has long legs) and no foot rest.

BTilke: That seat configuration all by itself can only be called Solo or the new name, Isolated. That other single seat that you speak of is still called Club 2 and comes with a table. And I agree about the leg room. I always move from my single seat to a Club 2 empty if available because of the table.

PalQ: Went back and checked the Shipment Manifest that came with my Eurostar ticket and behold ........on the very bottom of the Summary it shows the price of the Leisure Select in Canadian Dollars and below that Tax?GST shows 0.00 Canadian. So obviously they do not charge GST on foreign orders. Must be some sort of ruling under the US and Canada`s NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement).