Antwerp to Cardiff

[Chouette]

I have a Belgian friend who's considering a return trip to the UK. He'd be travelling from Antwerp to St Pancras via Lille, and then down to Cardiff via Paddington.

I think he can be fairly flexible about date and time, but this is likely to be driven by the price of the Eurostar. He doesn't mind an Advance if it's significantly cheaper, but is obviously worried about missing his connection if the Eurostar from Lille is delayed. Price is more of a consideration than time. We've already price checked the CIV return from St Pancras to Cardiff Central, which is £98. Any improvement on that would be very welcome.

I'm asking on his behalf because he said his head "turned into a mushroom cloud" when he tried to make sense of UK tickets

 

[reb0118]

Have you checked the fares here?

Useful info at seat61 here.

Eurostar's domestic sales line is 01233 617913.

Cheers.

 

[Chouette]

Have you checked the fares here?

Useful info at seat61 here.

Eurostar's domestic sales line is 01233 617913.

Cheers.

Thanks a bunch. Do you know if Eurostar's Belgian office would be able to help him book those? I'm not sure offhand if he'd feel confident doing it in English. Or do they have multilingual staff here?

 

[duncanp]

For Eurostar's "Any Belgian Station" tickets, you have to change trains in Brussels, not Lille (even if that would be quicker)

If you buy a through ticket from Any Belgian Station to Cardiff, including an advance ticket from London to Cardiff, then if there are delays from Brussels to London which cause you to miss your connection at Paddington, then you will be allowed to get on the next train at no extra charge. If this happens, make sure you get some proof of the delay from Eurostar.

Similarly in the other direction, if there are delays from Cardiff to London you can get on the next available Eurostar at no extra charge.

The tickets can be booked on the Eurostar website in whatever language is most convenient.

You could travel from Antwerp to Cardiff changing at Lille, but in this case you would need separate tickets from Antwerp to Lille, and Lille to Cardiff.

 

[Chouette]

For Eurostar's "Any Belgian Station" tickets, you have to change trains in Brussels, not Lille (even if that would be quicker)

If you buy a through ticket from Any Belgian Station to Cardiff, including an advance ticket from London to Cardiff, then if there are delays from Brussels to London which cause you to miss your connection at Paddington, then you will be allowed to get on the next train at no extra charge. If this happens, make sure you get some proof of the delay from Eurostar.

Similarly in the other direction, if there are delays from Cardiff to London you can get on the next available Eurostar at no extra charge.

The tickets can be booked on the Eurostar website in whatever language is most convenient.

You could travel from Antwerp to Cardiff changing at Lille, but in this case you would need separate tickets from Antwerp to Lille, and Lille to Cardiff.

I'm afraid you've misread my post (I didn't make it very clear, sorry).

He's splitting at Lille because it's cheaper than a through ticket (there's a direct train Antwerp - Lille Flandres). I was only really asking about the UK leg.

 

[island]

If he's sorted from Anvers to Lille, then the best solution is indeed to phone Eurostar. They speak English, French, and Dutch.

 

[Chouette]

If he's sorted from Anvers to Lille, then the best solution is indeed to phone Eurostar. They speak English, French, and Dutch.

Brilliant, will pass that on. Thanks!

 

[pne]

Have you checked the fares here?

I note that there are several Advance fares that are more expensive than the relevant open single, without conferring any advantages that I can think of (beyond, perhaps, the seat reservation).

I wonder what the point of those is?

 

[Tetchytyke]

I think that it's just picking up the AP tiers FGW use from London Terminals. BRFares shows up some odd fares for LOE, from my home station it lists all the Day Travelcards as well as the Euro Single.