London CIV Tickets

[DeeGee]

Is it permitted to buy these for the day before travel? It's 40-odd quid to travel down on the morning of my train, but £13.50 for the night before. I can crash with family in Walthamstow overnight. I'll be buying the ticket for the return journey for the same day that I arrive in London.

I take it that these are like Advances - booked train only, no amends or refunds, but with the added security of getting a later train if there are delays? So there wouldn't be any benefit really getting it the day before...?

 

[Chris999999]

Yes you can travel to London the day before.

I have done it because I had an early morning Eurostar, but you can do it whatever the time your Eurostar departs. In any case no one will check

 

[crehld]

This is taken from the conditions of the ticket to LONDON INTL(CIV):

The outward portion must not be dated more than one day in advance of the passenger's ticket between London and the Continent. The inwards portion must not be dated more than one day after the passenger's ticket between the Continent and London

So to answer the first part of the question you will be permitted to purchase a CIV ticket to London International dated the day before your departure (I've done it several times).

As to the second part of your question, some CIV tickets to London International are advances and others are flexible, so it depends what you ask for and what you get (and I guess what is available on your route). On a recent journey to Strasbourg I had an advance ticket on the way out and a "EURO HIGH SAVER" (i.e. an off-peak single) on the way back. In any case, if you are delayed you should be conveyed on the next available train. The benefit of purchasing an Advance CIV ticket to London International in advance is, like regular advances, they're cheaper but quota controlled so limited availability.
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I have done it because I had an early morning Eurostar, but you can do it whatever the time your Eurostar departs. In any case no one will check

This isn't my experience at all. Every time I've bought a CIV ticket I have been asked to show my booking confirmation and travel itinerary, and a couple of times I have even asked to produce my Eurostar tickets when presenting my CIV ticket on board to check it was all legit!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The inwards portion must not be dated more than one day after the passenger's ticket between the Continent and London

Interesting. Mine are invariably issued with a two month validity from the date of the outward portion...

 

[DeeGee]

I've seen that I have basically three tiers of advance, and a walk-up single. I'd rather not spend an extra night away from home, though, so I need to look at timings carefully.

Now here's a conundrum. Is there any point in doing a split so that the final (London) leg of the journey is on a CIV? What if the leg before the split (not CIV) is delayed and misses the connection with the CIV?

 

[edwin_m]

After the recent events in Paris I had a meeting there moved to London. I needed to re-date the Eurostar ticket but they were quite happy to leave the CIV connecting ticket from Nottingham at its original date, so I could use it to get to London without having to book a more expensive ticket at short notice and pay to have the CIV re-dated too.

Instead of trying to buy another CIV for my re-dated Eurostar journey I'm going to London in the morning so it's unlikely I will miss my afternoon Eurostar. Since honouring of missed connections seems to be the main reason to get a CIV, I'm not sure why it should be important to have one if staying overnight in London.