Eurostar delayed - no seats reservation for connecting train

[ABB125]

My train from London has arrived late in Brussels, so I've missed the connection onto the 1225 to Frankfurt. I didn't have a seat reservation for the 1225. I'm travelling using an Interrail pass.
The Eurostar staff at Brussels are suggesting I need to buy a reservation in order to use the 1325 ex-Thalys service, despite me having one of Eurostar's delay information sheet things that says I've been delayed. Is this correct?
I don't really care either way, I can get the 1425 DB service, that just means I need to chop off a bit of my planned journey later, but if rather get the 1325 if possible.

 

[Mike395]

The Eurostar staff at Brussels are wrong in principle - they should issue a reservation for no cost if not already reserved. Not having a reservation for the 1225 shouldn't matter (but, I suspect, would have made your life easier).

I'd try asking the Eurostar TM (for the 1325) on the platform - if they say no, waiting an hour is probably the best option, but make sure you claim an appropriate amount of delay compensation via Eurail.

 

[ABB125]

Thanks - that's the current plan, I'm on the platform waiting. Along with quite a few other passengers in the same situation! We'll see what happens

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Jul 2025 ==

Update: I'm on the 1325, the train manager let me on. (She had a seating app on her phone where she could see all the seat reservations so that those of us from the delay London train could be allocated an empty seat. Simply tap the seat and it goes red. Can't imagine something as easy as that happening in the UK!)

Now I just need to play ICE delay roulette, I'm down to a 34 minute connection in Zurich if everything's on time...

 

[rvdborgt]

It might have helped to show them this page:

Hop on the next available train (HOTNAT) - Railteam

www.railteam.eu

Previously, Thalys staff in Brussels were very reluctant to help with HOTNAT and would always claim you have to make a reservation. The NMBS/SNCB staff were much better at it. Now Eurostar are supposed to handle HOTNAT themselves but it seems the old attitude is partly still there
Maybe it helps if you submit a complaint about it. If enough people do that, it might get their attention. Or ask them publicly e.g. on twitter why their Brussels staff is ignoring the HOTNAT agreement.

 

[NCT]

You can tell it's holiday season as multiple posters are posting about similar delays in similar areas ...

I was delayed by 1h15m on a Eurostar the previous weekend into Paris. I had a connection to Strasbourg which I missed and the next train was from Gare de Lyon (diverted Lyria due to works in Basel). The TGV ticket office staff suggested I made my HOTNAT (hop on the next available train) booking at Gare de l'Est, but after I said the next available train was from Gare de Lyon, he said 'OK we'll do it here for you as the ticket office at Gare de Lyon probably won't do it'.

Then on my way back from Brussels the other day I was caught in the aftermath of the power failure with a 2h25m delay.

Better get my Interrail compensation claims in!!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Jul 2025 ==

It might have helped to show them this page:

Hop on the next available train (HOTNAT) - Railteam

www.railteam.eu

Previously, Thalys staff in Brussels were very reluctant to help with HOTNAT and would always claim you have to make a reservation. The NMBS/SNCB staff were much better at it. Now Eurostar are supposed to handle HOTNAT themselves but it seems the old attitude is partly still there
Maybe it helps if you submit a complaint about it. If enough people do that, it might get their attention. Or ask them publicly e.g. on twitter why their Brussels staff is ignoring the HOTNAT agreement.

If ABB125 had that delay information sheet, it should already have had HOTNAT printed in big letters? In which case quite brazen from the Eurostar Brussels staff.

 

[ABB125]

If ABB125 had that delay information sheet, it should already have had HOTNAT printed in big letters? In which case quite brazen from the Eurostar Brussels staff.

It has a HOTNAT stamp on it but it's not particularly big...

 

[185143]

It has a HOTNAT stamp on it but it's not particularly big...
View attachment 183322

That's standard paperwork in the event of Eurostar delays, they should be well used to seeing it

 

[Nigel]

I see that the same Eurostar departure (ES9116) was equally late today, so presumably the connection will be missed again. As I am hoping to make the this connection tomorrow, I've been keeping an eye on it.
My guess as to what is going on is that Eurostar is short of functioning rolling stock (maybe related to the train failure at the weekend) and have been cancelling one or two departures each day this week. These have tended to be the (more lightly used?) mid-afternoon ones, but a knock-on effect appears to be that they are trying to juggle existing trains more. So according to realtimetrains, the train which should have come from the depot to form the 0901 to Brussels today was instead used for the 0930 to Paris, whereas the 0901 to Brussels was formed from the 0830 arrival from Paris - there is no way that it can be emptied, cleaned and boarded in just 30 minutes.

 

[ABB125]

So according to realtimetrains, the train which should have come from the depot to form the 0901 to Brussels today was instead used for the 0930 to Paris, whereas the 0901 to Brussels was formed from the 0830 arrival from Paris - there is no way that it can be emptied, cleaned and boarded in just 30 minutes.

That's interesting - there was an announcement whilst I was waiting at St Pancras yesterday, around 0830, along the lines of "the train which will form the 0901 has now arrived" (implication being it should have arrived sooner).

 

[Nigel]

That's interesting - there was an announcement whilst I was waiting at St Pancras yesterday, around 0830, along the lines of "the train which will form the 0901 has now arrived" (implication being it should have arrived sooner).

I think yesterday they did something different, but for some reason everything coming from the depot to form St Pancras starters was massively late.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Jul 2025 ==

The connection to the 1235 Frankfurt train was made with ease today. However, the preceeding DB ICE had been cancelled, so this is packed with standing passengers without reservations.