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It's not just UK ticketing that's complex...

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m82d1

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Joined
4 Jan 2012
Messages
11
...it's my birthday soon and because I have the time available next week I decided that I'd treat myself to a day trip to continental Europe on Wednesday 18th - I would plan on a basis of purely seeing how far I could travel in a day before having to turn back towards home. London - Marseille and return is just achievable within a day. Considering that I've never been south of Paris on a TGV, a jaunt across LGV-SE and LGV-Med all the way to Marseille would be new ground.

I logged on to the Eurostar website to see what fares are available. £58 each way. Considering I'm booking just a week ahead that is a respectable deal. I'll have it.

(N.B I'm under 25 so entitled to youth fares)
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£58 outward on 05:40 London - Paris then 10:19 Paris - Marseille.
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£58 return on 14:14 Marseille - Lille Europe then on 20:30 Lille Europe - London.
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Therefore the price should be £116 but at the payment page it's now randomly inflated to £252 for no apparent reason! WTF!? :-?:-?:-?
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I telephoned Eurostar and spoke to a very nice lady who tried to book my itinerary over the phone, once again the grand total was £252 despite being quoted £58 each way. The booking clerk was also none the wiser as to why two £58 tickets have inflated from £116 to £252... :roll:


Plan B, I'll try Rail Europe. No tickets despite I've just found them on Eurostar. :roll:
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Plan C, I'll try Voyages SNCF. All goes well until the booking page when I am introduced to an “erreur technique“.
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Looks like I won't be going to Marseille, then.

As the saying goes, we can put man on the moon... :roll:
 
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Bumblebee

Member
Joined
4 Jan 2012
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25
What happens if you book two singles instead of a return? Do you still get the £58 at the end?
 

m82d1

Member
Joined
4 Jan 2012
Messages
11
Gave up with Marseille, going to Montpellier instead now! :lol:

A perk of going to Montpellier is that I have two hours in town (as opposed to 45m for Marseille) and the return is via Paris (as opposed to Lille) with another 2h interchange for Eurostar, so I can do some trips on the RER/Metro before home time - hoping to get some rides on the old MS61/MI84 and new MI09 on RER A.
 

Peter Mugridge

Veteran Member
Joined
8 Apr 2010
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17,810
Location
Epsom
I have a senior contact within Eurostar and I can ask what's going on with their system, but it'll be a few days before I can find out. At least you would know for next time!


PS You'll love those MS61 on RER Line A; extremely musical motors... :)
 
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