Streetnic

I recently purchaced two round trip Eurostar rail tickets from London to Paris. I was forced to change my travel dates, and now it appears that I am STUCK with these two expensive tickets. The trip is still a go, it is merely the dates that have changed, so I plan to re-purchace tickets for the correct days. Is there really no way to get reimbursed for the original tickets? Does anyone know of a place where I could advertise to sell them, and try and recoup some of my losses?
Any advice would be most appreciated.
Thanks

Intrepid1

TTT

PatrickLondon

If you bought tickets on the basis that they were non-transferable and non-refundable, then no, there isn't, in law, a lot you can do about it. But if you contact Eurostar and ask them, you might find they can be more flexible in practice.

If you sell them on to someone else and there's a check that reveals the name on the passport is not the name on the ticket, you could land them in a lot of trouble.

If you didn't buy them on that basis, then follow the instructions in the terms and conditions.

Lesson: always read the terms and conditions, and if in doubt ask the people you bought the tickets from.

Streetnic

I just got off the phone with the Raileurope customer service department, and two seperate representatives informed me that these are NOT name specific documents. They both said that it would be alright for someone else to use the tickets that I purchaced. So I guess now I am looking to get rid of them.

Streetnic

Can someone please describe exactally what procedures are involved in checking in for a Eurostar train. This will be my first trip abroad, and I am curious as to where or when they would check passports and such.

Thanks

nytraveler

Try ebay.

If they could sell an air guitar and a grilled cheese sandwhich that looked like the Virgin Mary I think train tickets should be a snap.

flanneruk

ID checking on Eurostar.

I've never paid full price for a Eurostar ticket. And I've never had a ticket checked against ID.

Assuming it's a normal discounted, one-person coupon and you're in London
- You put the ticket through the gate, pretty much like on the tube.
- You put your luggage through the security machine
- You then go through French immigration where they just look at your passport (but not your tkt)
- You next hang round till your train's called, and go to the relevant platform. Your ticket, but not your ID, is then checked again (mostly, I understand, to stop you getting on the wrong train).

That's it. You get off the train in Paris and hail a taxi or whatever.

Returning it's pretty much the same, only messier, more claustrophobic and (at any rate yesterday) a hell of a lot hotter (the French are too busy whingeing about how little we subsidise them to install working air-conditioning at the Gare du Nord Eurostar terminal.)

- insert tix in machine
- luggage through security
- go through French emigration (it being part of the French constitution never give up a chance to invent more useless government jobs) and UK immigration. Again, they look only at your passport or national ID card.
- hang around terminal till everyone's melting
- get your tkt checked again at the entrance to the carriage, unless you can't find it, in which case you tell them you've got a tkt in a suitably imperious manner and they let you on.
- again, that's it. At Waterloo, you walk off the train to the taxi rank or the tube.

All of which said, Streetnic does need to ponder just how much demand there is in a city as time-poor and cash-rich as London for journey-specific return tickets. Remember, the buyer has to get home again. But a few days on Ebay will throw a lot more light on this than the musings of Fodors posters.

Robespierre

One queues up inside Waterloo station, outside the Eurostar terminal. The first stop is a ticket/passport check, then a short line for the security screening.

If you travel first class, there is usually no wait for either procedure. For other fare classes, you may wait 20-30 minutes.

Streetnic

Thanks all.

Ebay is definately the next step. I just wanted some assurance that I wasn't going to sell off a couple of tickets to some poor buyer that wasn't going to be able to use them.

Betsy

Just checked on EBay, doing a search on <Eurostar Tickets>. There was one completed listing. The tickets were sold from the UK for just under the equivalent of 400 USD. There were 32 bids (it was a charity fundraiser), so there may be a market for yours. I'd list all the terms and conditions carefully. Good luck.

GBP 216.98  
(Approximately US $396.16)  
Ended: Jun-07-05 09:31:34 PDT
Start time: May-28-05 09:31:34 PDT
History: 32 bids