PQ: Maybe first class has checked bags - I've never done Eurostar 1st so dunno

But otherwise, one does carry on their own bags

I have been misunderstood my post which i will clarify

You can, if you want, check luggage on Eurostar trains and retrieve it in Paris or Brussels upon arrival

Nearly most folks carry their bags on with them and their is ample room for luggage on the train

But if you want or have a ton of stuff you can (not must) check the luggage for a fee - a service that used to be common on European trains in general but rarely is now.

eurostar is one of the rare trains you can, if you want, check luggage thru to the other station

and i believe bicycles are included in that as well - these you would have to check i believe.

But it isn't like on an airplane where one checks their bag, and it goes on the same flight and one (hopefully) gets it when they land.

From the eurostar website:

<<f you are travelling with additional items of baggage as well as large or bulky items such as trunks, bicycles etc or sporting and collectors’ weapons or knives, it is necessary to register these items. You can do this at London St Pancras International, Paris Gare du Nord, Brussels Midi/Zuid or Lille Europe.

This service applies only between London – Paris, London – Brussels and London – Lille in both directions and applies to no other Eurostar destination or beyond those stations listed above.

Your baggage will be forwarded on the <u>next available departure, space permitting. However, our guarantee is that your baggage will be available to collect at your Eurostar destination station within 24 hours after registration</u>. &gt;&gt;

It would behoove someone who needs the bulky or prohibited on the train stuff to check it at St Pancras eurostar baggage check more than 24 hours in advance of their train to be guaranteed it will be there when they arrive - that's if it's important - if you leave it in Gare du Nord Customs office (i think you have to clear the bags thru Customs as you are entering the Schengen zone in France) i wonder how long you could leave it there before incurring the daily storage fee (if) - thus anyone needing to store items like this some days in Paris may look into the check a bag ahead scheme - useful for things like bicycles that won't fit in the regular storeage lockers in Gare du Nord.

Of course you don't have to clear bags from Britain to France through Customs.

Schengen has got nothing to do with Customs. Britain joined the European Common Market and remains the stoutest proponent of the principles of free trade that the Market pretends to stand for. How can you possibly have Customs barriers, inside a free trade area, unless it's one of those silly pretend free trade areas like America goes in for?

What Britain didn't sign up for was letting a Spanish immigration official decide who's allowed into our country. The Schengen countries are happy about that, which is why they make it so difficult to get in. We're not, which is why we have Immigration - but not Customs - barriers between us and the Schengen countries. And why they have Immigration - but not Customs - barriers between them and us.

That, by the way, is why British posters on this board get picky about the widespread misuse of the word 'Customs' by American posters. Everyone arriving in Britain from anywhere other than the Irish Republic has to go through immigration. Only a small minority of arrivals need to go through Customs.

immigration and customs to me is one and the same - for people and their luggage

why are the spot Customs check upon arriving in U.K. and rarely at other Euro free trade borders?

I was saying maybe have to go thru Customs because in the old days when you checked bags or bikes on the Boat Train to Victoria they did indeed wait in Customs until you showed up to claim them

I understand now that this has changed - probably - even though a bloke who thought the Eurostar Ebbsfleeet station was on the Channel itself may not be the final word IMO

&quot;<i>immigration and customs to me is one and the same - for people and their luggage</i>

Totally not the case. Even in the States - one goes through immigration and customs at different points during the arrival process.

I generally assume the folks who use &quot;customs&quot; when really asking about &quot;immigration&quot; are fairly inexperienced travelers and just haven't experienced either one very often. Now what is your excuse? ;)

Dumb?

eurostar you go thru Immigration in Paris and then walk thru Customs in St Pancras? At least there's Customs officers there you pass by who pull some aside for thorough checks

They are labelled Customs though i guess i'm too dumb to realize that that sign means nothing?

Customs will keep an eye out for &quot;people of interest&quot; (i.e., people they think might be drug smugglers and the like) at any point of entry to the country, but since everyone arriving off the Eurostar is coming from elsewhere within the EU, no-one else has to go through any customs formalities. There is a difference.