Eurostar Ticket Delivery Question
 

I'm a little confused out buying Eurostar tickets via their website, can someone help me? Do they actually mail tickets to the US? I can't seem to find that info without going through the entire purchase format.<BR>Do they charge a service fee for that? Their website is not exactly user friendly and I've never quite figured out if it is meant to be used mostly by Europeans or what.<BR>I'd like to buy tickets for a weekend in Paris, leaving London on a Friday morning and returning about noon Monday. I can figure out the schedules and prices (I think!) but am not sure about how one gets the tickets ... please don't think I'm stupid, this is a legitimate question.<BR>

Apparently on the web site, they will only post (mail) tickets to addresses in the UK. On the web site, you cannot make arrangements for them to hold tickets for you at Waterloo.<BR><BR>If you call Eurostar directly in the UK, you will be able to get the same fares as are on the web site, pay with a credit card and either have the tickets posted to you in the US or held for you at Waterloo.

My experience is that Eurostar diverts you to a "local" distributor when you go to book online. You will be charged a $15 shipping and handling fee and the ticket is shiiped Airbourne or some kind of express. I'm sort of upset by the fact that Eurostar is now offering a $248 RT first class tickets (which would have suited me perfectly) after the time for booking a 60 day advance ended ($120 RT second class).

I believe that if you want to purchase tickets and have them delivered in the U.S., this is the exclusive site:<BR><BR>http://www.raileurope.com/us/index.htm<BR><BR>Travel agents can also help you. I'm not sure that this is necessarily the cheapest way to go, but it worked well when I purchased from the site.

Thank you all for your answers. I wonder why Eurostar does not realize that people in the US would like to make reservations too, not just those with UK addresses. Seems odd. Even the London Eye realizes that people live outside of the UK. Very Strange setup, but thank your for the help.

hi meggie,<BR><BR>Last october 5 of us went to london and paris and we used eurostar round trip from london to paris. <BR><BR>the least expensive ticket is called the 14 day leisure return. <BR><BR>restrictions are:<BR> <BR>must purchase the tickets at least 14 days in advance (however, they are sold no more than 90 days in advance of return date).<BR><BR>that you are staying at least 2 nights. <BR><BR>they are non refundable and non- transferrable. <BR><BR>if you miss your train they MAY set you up on the next one that day (and usually they do) but it is not guarenteed.<BR><BR>Last year a nice guy named I think sam filled me in on this and told me I could get the uk rate if I booked by calling direct. apparently eurostar contracted with a 3rd party distributor for the online rights for usa residents and they tacked on a fee when you booked online. we tried the direct calling method and to our delight got 1st class 14 day leisure for around 110 pds or about $160. we had them mail it to our address in the states. they did the seat reservations right then and only charges us about 10 pds to mail.<BR><BR>recently I checked the online site again. while they are still charging more for usa residents, one thing disturbs me and that is that you can't book 1st class 14 day leisure return if you are usa resident. <BR><BR>now, when i go online to book the 14 day leisure return depending on my resident country I get the following rates (I am using todays 1.46 to pd exchange rate):<BR><BR>COUNTRY/CLASS/PDS/$$$<BR><BR>UK/1ST/135PDS/$198<BR>USA/1ST/NOT OFFERED<BR><BR>UK/STD/79PDS/$115<BR>USA/STD/113PDS/$178 <BR><BR>do you notice that the rates are much higher this year also? they have gone up about 25 pds on 1st class for uk residents.<BR><BR>if you are looking for the best rate....call. the cost of the call is only about $10. use the phone number on the uk site.<BR><BR>hope this helps

Meggie:<BR><BR>Rail Europe is one of the agents for Eurostar in the US. They get commission and want to have exclusivity in the US. So if you go to the Eurostar web site, the first question they ask you is where you are resident. If you answer US, you are diverted to the Rail Europe web site.<BR><BR>If you answer the first question UK, you go to the Eurostar UK web site. They have many lower fares than does Rail Europe. But as I indicated, in the course of trying to make a booking on the web site, at some point they tell you that tickets can only be posted to the UK.<BR><BR>However, somewhere on that web site is the UK phone number of Eurostar UK. If you call the number, you can absolutely make the booking with the fares that are listed To the best of my knowledge, Eurostar UK does not have web only fares which some US airlines have. They will either post the tickets to you or hold them for pick up at Waterloo.<BR><BR>I prefer working on the internet where possible as when I talk to humans, they have difficulty transcribing US addresses and sometimes ask for a postal code and there is the possibility of a little bit of misunderstanding. However, to get the truly low fares, this is the direction to go. Please note the really cheap fares are non refundable non changeable....<BR><BR>You can get decent enough fares on Rail Europe's site but their cheapest fares are somewhat higher than the cheapest fares available on the UK web site....

You guys are the best. One more question. Would they consider a UK hotel or apartment (we might rent one) as a valid UK address for an American? I was thinking maybe I'd order them had have them delivered to the apartment and held for our arrival. Any thoughts on this.<BR><BR>Also, is the postage/delivery fee for the US l0/15 pounds per ticket or for however many you order (in my case 2). Seems high if it is 15 pounds per ticket, goodness that would be 30 pounds, nearly $43 dollars! Yipes. <BR><BR>Again thank you

I ordered my Eurostar tickets months ago and they were mailed to my house in Phoenix. They probably added a service fee but who doesn't anymore.