Eurostar Ticket Price Anomaly

[duncanp]

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this yet, but if you want to go on a day trip from London to Lille on a Saturday, going out on the first departure from St Pancras and returning on the last departure from Lille, the minimum cost of a ticket is £199. And yet if you want to do a day trip to Brussels on exactly the same trains, the minimum cost of a ticket is £69.

This issue only affects the trains specified, and only on Saturdays.

On querying this with Eurostar, they said that this is due to these trains being used as connecting services for the ski train to Switzerland, and the only way they can get the booking system to work is by pricing London to Lille tickets (in both directions) as if they were tickets all the way from London to Switzerland.

Personally I find this hard to believe. For one thing, the ski train does not run in the summer, and yet the issue is still occurring. Secondly you can book through tickets from London to destinations in France and elsewhere without having the same issues.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Does this work on all time scales?

If not, it could indicate that the lower quotas have all sold out to Lille but not to Bruxelles.

If it does, then the above thought obviously does not apply!

 

[Oscar]

If not, it could indicate that the lower quotas have all sold out to Lille but not to Bruxelles.

Are you suggesting that there are two separate quotas? The prices and trains are of course identical.

 

[duncanp]

It only affects the two trains quoted, and and it doesn't have anything to do with separate quotas to Lille and Brussels.

If you try and make a booking as soon as the tickets go on sale, you will find that you are quoted £99.50 for a single from London to Lille, and £39.50 for a single from London to Brussels. Of course, there is nothing stopping you buying the Brussels ticket and getting off the train at Lille, but you cannot do a similar thing in the reverse direction.

 

[Oscar]

Of course, there is nothing stopping you buying the Brussels ticket and getting off the train at Lille, but you cannot do a similar thing in the reverse direction.

Why would a problem arise in the reverse direction?

 

[starrymarkb]

Why would a problem arise in the reverse direction?

Tickets are not checked on Exiting the platforms at Lille as you've Pre-cleared French customs before boarding so the service is treated as a domestic arrival...

To gain access to the London bound platform at Lille you have to pass a ticket and passport check - in theory with passengers clearing UK customs & passport control before boarding the train should be treated as a domestic arrival at St Pancras (though due to panic over the tiny risk of a Brussels-Lille passenger over-riding you have to reclear customs and passport control again at St Pancras)

 

[Oscar]

Tickets are not checked on Exiting the platforms at Lille as you've Pre-cleared French customs before boarding so the service is treated as a domestic arrival...

To gain access to the London bound platform at Lille you have to pass a ticket and passport check - in theory with passengers clearing UK customs & passport control before boarding the train should be treated as a domestic arrival at St Pancras (though due to panic over the tiny risk of a Brussels-Lille passenger over-riding you have to reclear customs and passport control again at St Pancras)

Being a regular Eurostar traveller I am of course aware of the set-up but don't understand why someone with a Brussels - London ticket would have a problem boarding the booked service at Lille.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Are you suggesting that there are two separate quotas? The prices and trains are of course identical.

Irrelevant now that we know it is just those two trains and therefore the official "Swiss" reason is behind it, but yes - there will be separate quotas for Lille and Bruxelles.

It's x number of £69 tickets for Lille and y number for Bruxelles on any given service, not a total number of £69 tickets per train.

 

[duncanp]

Tickets are in fact checked for passengers who leave the Brussels to London service at Lille. I was on a train from Brussels to London last Sunday (the 14:52), and there were announcements to this effect as the train was approaching Lille. Not only that, but there was a ticket check carried out by G4S personnel between Lille and Calais.

I can only surmise that the reason for this is to reduce the effect of the "Lille loophole".

Suppose that for a particular Brussels to London train, there are 50 reservations from Brussels to Lille, and of those 50 reservations 45 people actually check in.

Therefore you would expect 45 people to leave the train at Lille, so if only 35 people do so then there must be 10 people who are on the train trying to get to London when they are not supposed to.

By comparing the tickets to people who have exited the train with the reservation list you can identify the people, and also exactly where they are sitting.

Notwithstanding the immigration concerns of the UK authorities, I would imagine that Eurostar have concerns about fare dodging.

I have complained to Eurostar about the disparity between London - Lille and London - Brussels tickets prices on the trains I originally mentioned. I find the Ski Train excuse a little weak, as it happens on dates in the summer when the Ski Train is not running.

 

[cle]

I was in Brussels last week, and my return stopped in Lille as most do. No checks at St Pancras, whereas a clearly Disney or Disney-connecting, Lille-stopping train's worth of passengers were being held for checks at St Pancras. Curious.

Hopefully with more on-train checks before Calais, they can get approval for more expansive services. June's Lyon/Aix/Avignon trial was an apparent success, but should really be year-round and more than weekly. Marseille would be worth adding too.