LNE ticket question

[Teapot42]

Is there anything that gives a maximum time between a London CIV ticket (i.e. LNE as the destination rather than STP) and the departure time of the connecting Eurostar?

I'm going down in London in a few weeks then a couple of days later on to Lille. While I don't need the CIV protection on the way out, it would be handy to have on the way back. I don't know if I can use an LNE ticket in this case or if I'd have to buy two singles instead at a higher cost.

 

[Mike395]

Are you coming directly by rail into St Pancras? If so, it's officially 45 minutes (St Pancras has a connection time of 15 minutes, plus the 30 minute check-in cut off time)

 

[Gaelan]

There's this on the ticket type pages (eg https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ticket-types/tickets/eor/ or https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ticket-types/tickets/evr/):

Return travel from London must commence on the day or the next day that the return travel from the Continent has taken place day, as shown by the passenger's ticket between the Continent and London, and all travel must be completed by 2 months from the date of outward travel.

It's not spelled out as explicitly, but I'm reasonably sure the same policy - same day or the day before - applies to the outward leg as well. (Among other things, it's alluded to in the section about ticket changes.)

In my experience and from what I've heard, both Eurostar and the British operators extend just as much grace to holders of normal tickets as they do to holders of CIV tickets. Eurostar, in particular, will happily accommodate you if there's room but you may encounter issues if no suitable train has seats available (though it's worth pushing a bit - in one case they initially claimed there wasn't room before admitting there was an entire carriage they'd held back from sale due to broken AC!). So I personally wouldn't pay substantially more for the "protection" offered by a CIV ticket.

Are you coming directly by rail into St Pancras? If so, it's officially 45 minutes (St Pancras has a connection time of 15 minutes, plus the 30 minute check-in cut off time)

I believe OP is asking about the maximum, not the minimum.

 

[Teapot42]

There's this on the ticket type pages (eg https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ticket-types/tickets/eor/ or https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ticket-types/tickets/evr/):

Thanks, I'd missed that bit but did wonder if something like that would be the case.

In my experience and from what I've heard, both Eurostar and the British operators extend just as much grace to holders of normal tickets as they do to holders of CIV tickets. Eurostar, in particular, will happily accommodate you if there's room...

In this case I'm more worried about the return from St Pancras via EMR. Although that said, as they aren't doing reservations at the moment there is no guarantee of a seat anyway! For that very reason I've decided to come back on Monday rather than Sunday as at weekends they are only running once an hour and with no guarantee of a seat...

I personally wouldn't pay substantially more for the "protection" offered by a CIV ticket.

I did also notice that CIV tickets do seem more expensive, despite the blurb suggesting they are often cheaper. I was planning on aiming for two hours connection - there is plenty in and around St Pancras to kill that time if all goes smoothly.