Eurostar train substitutions

[MattSGB]

Either I'm particularly unlucky or Eurostar are substituting trains pretty often on the London/Brussels route. My last two were substituted to e320 and now my booking next week has been substituted. I booked six months in advance to Brussels, choosing two facing individual seats in standard premium. With one week to go they have substituted to an e320. They have now assigned us the worst seats on the train, rear facing, window, no view (why do they have seats with no view in standard premium?). Also, every other seat bar one is reserved, so I can't even change it. I thought the e320 had higher capacity than the e300 or is that just standard class? My other automatic substitutions (yellow ticket at the gate) were to similar seats so no problem, but my companion has a thing about travelling backwards.

I'm getting nervous now because on the return journey I have two separate bookings seated together and if they substitute then we may be scattered around the train.

 

[Brooke]

I can’t speak for Brussels but for Paris I’d estimate about 25% of my journeys I receive the email that my seat *may* have changed.

Mostly though it is due to them adjusting the number of Business Premier vs Standard Premier coaches - typically the type of train seems not to change.

 

[TFN]

I travel a lot on the Brussels route but only experienced 1 set change in the last 10 journeys. That set change was from an e320 to an e300.

The only way to guarantee an e320 is travel on the services to/from Amsterdam. Other than that it’s a gamble and very random.