Amsterdam Eurostar

[paddington]

I tried this out for the first time last week, it was a poor experience. Immigration slowness at St Pancras, drunk passengers on a weekday morning, rude train staff (making racist comments about the drunk passengers), wailing babies, poor wifi speed and GPS signals blocked by the window material. The toilets ran out of tissues.

For Brussels the Eurostar remains my preferred option, but I don't think I will repeat the experience to Amsterdam unless there is a very good sale in the Premier classes. One positive was that the train ran exactly to its scheduled 3h41m, but with this sort of timing I still find flights to be more convenient as I can get to LCY/LGW more quickly/cheaply than St Pancras, and getting to my usual destinations from Schiphol takes just as long as from Amsterdam Centraal. Meanwhile BRU is only served from LHR (apart from the thrice-weekly RwandAir addon) and I usually want to end up near Brussels Central station rather than Zaventem so flights are very unattractive.

The barcode of my PDF ticket, stored on my phone, opened the barriers at Centraal station in both directions without limit.

 

[cle]

I will be trying this soon. Some of my AMS trips are to Schipol itself or the city, but I often go to Hilversum too - trains for which are much better from Centraal than from Schipol, which are local.

@BaldRick - surely you are talking frequency % - as a fully loaded e320 carries way more people than the A319-321s on this route. Once frequency goes up, I'd expect to see further growth through Ebbsfleet and Ashford stops.

 

[Bald Rick]

I will be trying this soon. Some of my AMS trips are to Schipol itself or the city, but I often go to Hilversum too - trains for which are much better from Centraal than from Schipol, which are local.

@BaldRick - surely you are talking frequency % - as a fully loaded e320 carries way more people than the A319-321s on this route. Once frequency goes up, I'd expect to see further growth through Ebbsfleet and Ashford stops.

Nope, I mean passengers. There are around 60 flights each way a day between London and Amsterdam, providing around 10,000 seats each way.

With 6 trains a day each way there would be around 5500 seats each way by train, but of course many of those (perhaps half?) will be taken by Brussels customers. Allowing for some expansion of the market, with 6 trains a day I’d expect Eurostar to get about 3000 pax a day each way from a total air/rail capacity of about 12000.

20-30% rail market share is consistent with other city pairs that have an approx 4h train journey against a frequent well developed air market. London to Glasgow or Edinburgh being the best local example, and there isn’t any border control to worry about on those routes. At least not yet.

 

[MikePJ]

I tried this out for the first time last week, it was a poor experience. Immigration slowness at St Pancras, drunk passengers on a weekday morning, rude train staff (making racist comments about the drunk passengers), wailing babies, poor wifi speed and GPS signals blocked by the window material. The toilets ran out of tissues.

That's a shame. I used it back in September to attend a conference in Amsterdam and was impressed with everything apart from the lack of wifi and poor mobile coverage in rural France. I was able to work on the train, which is a definite bonus over flying. If I travel by air to Amsterdam it takes me most of the morning and I get nothing done, whereas by train it may take slightly longer but most of that time is productive.

 

[duesselmartin]

Nope, I mean passengers. There are around 60 flights each way a day between London and Amsterdam, providing around 10,000 seats each way.

With 6 trains a day each way there would be around 5500 seats each way by train, but of course many of those (perhaps half?) will be taken by Brussels customers. Allowing for some expansion of the market, with 6 trains a day I’d expect Eurostar to get about 3000 pax a day each way from a total air/rail capacity of about 12000.

20-30% rail market share is consistent with other city pairs that have an approx 4h train journey against a frequent well developed air market. London to Glasgow or Edinburgh being the best local example, and there isn’t any border control to worry about on those routes. At least not yet.

10,000 seats. But how many just travel England to the Netherlands. I assume many pax are long distance travellers changing either at AMS or LHR.

 

[yorkie]

I got the 1731 the other week, and am using it again in a couple of weeks time.

I found the WiFi to be completely hopeless. It may as well not exist. 4G/3G signal was not great either.

The new Eurostar trains have very poor legroom and are not very comfortable. They are a poor quality train for such a service.

There were absolutely huge queues at St Pancras, but at least they had a proper queuing system in place. One good thing was that with 40 mins to go before departure, someone was holding up a board for the 1731, and anyone approaching that person with a reservation on that train was able to get near the front of the queue, ahead of people for the 1801 or 1804, which was sensible.

I can only assume Eurostar are trying their best to downgrade their product to be as similar to an airline as possible, and as dissimilar to proper IC train experience as possible, as it would be huge incompetence to end up with such a situation accidentally and I don't think they can be that incompetent.

 

[AlexNL]

I had no problems with the seating in the e320, but maybe Standard Premier has better seats than Standard.

I was appalled by the interior layout of the trains though. It looks like the designers have given no thought at all to seat to window alignment, seats are plonked down almost anywhere and there are lots of seats which look out on a plastic wall. To me a layout like that is acceptable on a metro route - cram 'm in and get 'm moving.

Imagine embarking on 4 hr journey, only to be faced with a plastic wall for the entirety of your journey - missing out on the lovely fields in France, the suburbs of Brussels and the lovely view over the Hollandsch Diep. Very poor.

 

[yorkie]

I had no problems with the seating in the e320, but maybe Standard Premier has better seats than Standard.

They certainly are; Standard Premier is basically the same seating as Business Premier but without any of the turn up and go ticketing benefits.

I was appalled by the interior layout of the trains though. It looks like the designers have given no thought at all to seat to window alignment, seats are plonked down almost anywhere and there are lots of seats which look out on a plastic wall. To me a layout like that is acceptable on a metro route - cram 'm in and get 'm moving

This is exactly what they appear to have done, yes.

Imagine embarking on 4 hr journey, only to be faced with a plastic wall for the entirety of your journey - missing out on the lovely fields in France, the suburbs of Brussels and the lovely view over the Hollandsch Diep. Very poor.

I think the view of some people at Eurostar is that they have enough passengers just doing London-Paris/Brussels who are unlikely to choose to fly due to the inconvenience of getting to/from airports, and therefore they have a product that does not need to be better than flying, so no need for better legroom, no need for window alignment, no need for comfortable seating, no need for working WiFi etc.

I got the impression most of the staff don't particularly enjoy their jobs either. It looks to me like an operation that rests on its laurels and just assumes people will stick with them because there isn't any other product that is better.

The intention is very much to cram people in and inconvenience and underwhelm people.

And for London-Paris/Brussells, it works! I am not sure if their anti-customer attitude will see them gain much market share with the Amsterdam route though.

 

[Bungle965]

I got the 1731 the other week, and am using it again in a couple of weeks time.

I found the WiFi to be completely hopeless. It may as well not exist. 4G/3G signal was not great either.

The new Eurostar trains have very poor legroom and are not very comfortable. They are a poor quality train for such a service.

There were absolutely huge queues at St Pancras, but at least they had a proper queuing system in place. One good thing was that with 40 mins to go before departure, someone was holding up a board for the 1731, and anyone approaching that person with a reservation on that train was able to get near the front of the queue, ahead of people for the 1801 or 1804, which was sensible.

I can only assume Eurostar are trying their best to downgrade their product to be as similar to an airline as possible, and as dissimilar to proper IC train experience as possible, as it would be huge incompetence to end up with such a situation accidentally and I don't think they can be that incompetent.

Comfort as we all well know on this forum is subjective, I myself have not have such issue with the seats.
The WiFi however is indeed woeful and is completely and utterly inadequate, however I'm sure I saw a tweet saying that they were looking to improve the WiFi sometime soon so we wait and see.
The biggest issue I think I have with them are the amount of toilets that are out of order on the trains. I remember coming back from Paris a couple of weeks ago and 2 toilets in a row were out of use. A poor show indeed.
Sam

 

[AlexNL]

It looks to me like an operation that rests on its laurels and just assumes people will stick with them because there isn't any other product that is better.

The intention is very much to cram people in and inconvenience and underwhelm people.

I partially agree with you, and I partially disagree.

Eurostar have been running for more than two decades. They know they have captured the market and due to the unique characteristics of their operation, competition is very unlikely. I don't think they want to underwhelm people; nobody sets out to do a mediocre job and they wouldn't have hired Pininfarina if they didn't care about their customer base.

They may have gotten complacent due to being the domestic operator on the route, and haven't done enough market research into the proposed designs. Or maybe they did, but you and I simply fall outside their target audience.

 

[404250]

Poor Wi-fi doesn't bother me in the slightest. I suppose if I was trying to do business on a laptop it might do though. Leisure trips allow you to enjoy the scenery, read a book, have a nap, and generally avoid the internet.

Is the fact that the new trains are EMUs making them louder and poorer ride quality than the originals? Lots more tables on the new trains though which is a good thing.

 

[yorkie]

Poor Wi-fi doesn't bother me in the slightest. I suppose if I was trying to do business on a laptop it might do though. Leisure trips allow you to enjoy the scenery, read a book, have a nap, and generally avoid the internet.

Not much opportunity to enjoy the scenery where I was sat. And they may as well not offer WiFi at all, than claim to offer it and provide such a poor offering.

Is the fact that the new trains are EMUs making them louder and poorer ride quality than the originals? Lots more tables on the new trains though which is a good thing.

The table seats are diabolical for leg room, and yes the ride quality is diabolical and the journey is loud. The ambience is about as bad as they could get. And on the journey back, those who weren't first off had to queue to get out.

...nobody sets out to do a mediocre job ...

Hmm, maybe they really are that incompetent! But I still struggle to believe it's entirely down to being incompetent.

They may have gotten complacent due to being the domestic operator on the route, and haven't done enough market research into the proposed designs. Or maybe they did, but you and I simply fall outside their target audience.

They are about as complacent as it would be possible for them to be. I am not sure they have a target audience in a traditional sense. They know that people will use them anyway.

Oh and I forgot to mention there were 4 toilets in a row out of action.

Anyway at least I can relax in the knowledge that I've done by bit to pre-warn people so they know what to expect.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attra...14099564-Reviews-Eurostar-London_England.html

These are new trains but when travelling this weekend it was the first time in many a trip that i found it very un comfortable and the staff not very Professional
the seating space is less than before and gives the feeling of being on Ryanair very cramped and had to walk 2 train cars to find a toilet that was working and the air condition was stuck on freezing...

...the queueing, immigration, and security clearances are ridiculously poorly organized and executed...

Journey itself is so-so, wifi was not working and windows were dirty. We have arrived on time in Paris but we did not feel that it was a special journey. I will think twice before booking again Eurostar.

The new trains have carriages with far too many seats, which makes for a very cramped journey. When running to time this is OK but the toilets were out of order (this seems to be very common) ..

https://www.facebook.com/pg/EurostarFR/reviews/

I wish I had read these reviews before booking on Eurostar to Amsterdam and back. Terrible checking in process - slow and bad tempered staff. Trains not particularly comfortable and none of the advertised wifi....

Awful service. Eurostar has gone downhill fast since I last boarded one of their trains. I definitely do not recommend it.

We arrived 45 minutes before the train departure, in the line people from eurostar company where confident that we will catch our train. We didn't, and 20 people where in the same situation as us.

just super expensive, with rude and unprofessional staff.

Wifi never working. Please remove it for your services...

is it possible to be so inefficient and expensive?

Awful customer service. To be avoided whenever possible.

I doubt Eurostar will read this (if it was a domestic UK TOC I could be sure they would) but I doubt they will be bothered if they do. They seem to be infamous for poor service.

Oh and one more thing: it was impossible for 4 of us to get seats together. When I called them they were totally unhelpful and didn't care.

I don't know who their "target market" is but it isn't anyone I know!

I am travelling to Amsterdam in Standard Premier later this month (it was at the lowest tier), so we'll see if that's any better.

 

[AlexNL]

I doubt Eurostar will read this (if it was a domestic UK TOC I could be sure they would) but I doubt they will be bothered if they do. They seem to be infamous for poor service.

Eurostar also seem to be pretty poor when things go bad. It's not uncommon to hear stories about a Eurostar train being stranded somewhere in the middle of nowhere for 4+ hours with passengers getting very little information.

I don't know who their "target market" is but it isn't anyone I know!

Business travellers on the London - Paris/Brussels axis, I think?

 

[Bungle965]

I have had mixed experiences checking in at London, sometimes I have breezed through other times I have had queue for around 10 minutes or so, I can imagine it gets worse however.
I think St Pancras is too small for it's job now the departure lounge when there is for example two trains leaving within a relatively short space of time it can become cramped and not really a nice place to wait in. Eurostar saw a 3% passenger increase last year, if that trend carries on then it'll really start to struggle.

Not much opportunity to enjoy the scenery where I was sat.

Oh and one more thing: it was impossible for 4 of us to get seats together. When I called them they were totally unhelpful and didn't care.

Eurostar have a seat selector on their website which gives the passenger the ability to freely choose where to sit, was this not available to you?

and yes the ride quality is diabolical

Bit of a hyperbole, was this poor ride quality over a specific section of the route or was it all diabolical?

 

[AlexNL]

From where I was sat (in the middle of the carriage) the ride quality was fine. Perhaps it's much worse when sat directly above a bogie, I haven't tried that yet. It was definitely more noisy than a TMST, but this is not that strange as the traction is distributed. The e320 is quite a powerful train.

I have been on a TMST in the past which offered quite a bouncy ride, but it was more quiet.

 

[yorkie]

Eurostar have a seat selector on their website which gives the passenger the ability to freely choose where to sit, was this not available to you?

Not on the occasion there were 4 of us, as we were booking through different channels. I had thought Eurostar might be able to do something to change things, but no, and they didn't care.

Bit of a hyperbole, was this poor ride quality over a specific section of the route or was it all diabolical?

When I say diabolical, I mean for a new train over dedicated, relatively new track. I will try to make a note of poor ride quality next time but it wasn't really something I thought much of at the time. The journey was so poor I was just trying to take my mind off it to be honest. Like something to be endured rather then savoured. Yes we were near the bogies, and I don't doubt it would be better in the middle of the coach.

The older trains were much smoother and had a much nicer ambience.

I don't think it's right that people be mislead into thinking Eurostar is a great experience; it's better we are honest with people so they know how bad it can be, and if their journey isn't quite as bad, it's a bonus. That's better than having unrealistic expectations of a great operator who cares and provides a great travel experience only to be disappointed.

 

[Bald Rick]

10,000 seats. But how many just travel England to the Netherlands. I assume many pax are long distance travellers changing either at AMS or LHR.

Clearly there is some interlining at both AMS and LHR. Probably not that much though; only about a third of London - Amsterdam traffic is routed via Heathrow in any event.

 

[Starmill]

By far my biggest problem was the absoultely terrible class 374 ride quality on LGV Nord. I have never been on a train before, in hundreds of thousands of train miles, that was moving both laterally and vertically so much that I actually struggled to walk along the aisle to get to the buffet or toilets. The 'swaying' feeling that makes it hard to walk is something I have not ever experienced before, and there were some horrible bumps and clangs between Lille and Calais. There was no wifi available onboard on either of my recent journeys, the landing page was all you got, and an error message if you tried to log in. The very, very long security queues and the waiting area at Bruxelles Midi were very unimpressive too. I noticed the problem with a singificant number of toilets locked out of use that Bunge965 did.

On my return it took me 19 minutes from when the doors were released on the train to when I walked out of Eurostar arrivals, leaving just 24 minutes for me to undertake the epic walk to the Victoria line, wait for the the train, get off at London Euston and go upstairs and to platform 15. Although it was a booked connection, and I had the appropriate CIV tickets all the way from Berlin to Manchester, I made it only by a whisker. It took me so long because there was a queue of mystery causes. No passport control or anything was actually done, it was just a very long time before I could get all the way along the crowded platform, down the escalators, through the arrivals hall and out into the main station. The fact that we had to go through a huge passport control queue in Brussels and then do this again in London is just bizzarre.

Eurostar seems to have most of the disadvantages of air travel. For those with more than one bag perhaps that offers a significant advantage, but I didn't so can't comment. Given that flying would have been cheaper and quicker for my journey I'm not sure why I would use Eurostar again other than because of my inherent preference for railways and concern about carbon emissions and pollution.

A TMST I have never tried at all.

 

[Bald Rick]

By far my biggest problem was the absoultely terrible class 374 ride quality on LGV Nord. I have never been on a train before, in hundreds of thousands of train miles, that was moving both laterally and vertically so much that I actually struggled to walk along the aisle to get to the buffet or toilets. The 'swaying' feeling that makes it hard to walk is something I have not ever experienced before, and there were some horrible bumps and clangs between Lille and Calais. There was no wifi available onboard on either of my recent journeys, the landing page was all you got, and an error message if you tried to log in. The very, very long security queues and the waiting area at Bruxelles Midi were very unimpressive too. I noticed the problem with a singificant number of toilets locked out of use that Bunge965 did.

On my return it took me 19 minutes from when the doors were released on the train to when I walked out of Eurostar arrivals, leaving just 24 minutes for me to undertake the epic walk to the Victoria line, wait for the the train, get off at London Euston and go upstairs and to platform 15. Although it was a booked connection, and I had the appropriate CIV tickets all the way from Berlin to Manchester, I made it only by a whisker. It took me so long because there was a queue of mystery causes. No passport control or anything was actually done, it was just a very long time before I could get all the way along the crowded platform, down the escalators, through the arrivals hall and out into the main station. The fact that we had to go through a huge passport control queue in Brussels and then do this again in London is just bizzarre.

Eurostar seems to have most of the disadvantages of air travel. For those with more than one bag perhaps that offers a significant advantage, but I didn't so can't comment. Given that flying would have been cheaper and quicker for my journey I'm not sure why I would use Eurostar again other than because of my inherent preference for railways and concern about carbon emissions and pollution.

A TMST I have never tried at all.

A small point, but from Eurostar Arrivals at St P it is certainly quicker to walk to Euston than take the tube, even with a big bag. And it probably isn’t much further to walk.

 

[Starmill]

A small point, but from Eurostar Arrivals at St P it is certainly quicker to walk to Euston than take the tube, even with a big bag. And it probably isn’t much further to walk.

In hindisight I should have simply walked. I was so tired that I couldn't really walk quickly and was thinking that it would be slightly easier to use the Underground, I had also paid more for a London International ticket which includes it, so I was probably being irrationally driven by that, slightly. I probably did not save many steps!

 

[anme]

There is a lot of hyperbole in this thread.

I have used Eurostar regularly since its introduction, and currently make 5-10 return journeys per year in standard class (and very occasionally, standard premier or business). I am also a regular business and leisure traveller by air. Let me give a realistic perspective.

Queuing and immigration:
- You may have to queue at busy times, but I have never been close to missing a train (as claimed by someone above) even arriving rather less than 45 minutes in advance.
- All security and immigration formalities are dealt with at the departure station. This does mean you may have to queue multiple times before getting on the train, but this would be wasted time sitting in the (not very nice) departure areas anyway, so is no great hardship. Typically all queuing takes less than ten minutes, although it can be more at busy times.
- There are normally no immigration checks on arrival, and you will walk straight out of the station in a few minutes. At St Pancras (but not in Brussels or Paris) it is possible that you may be checked again. This has happened to me once since Eurostar moved to St Pancras in 2007, and that was at least five years ago. I haven't heard of it happening recently and you would be unlucky to encounter it. Unless there is an immigration check, I have never experienced queuing to leave a Eurostar train.
- Claims that security queues in Brussels were "very very long" don't match my experience. This might be true for the train from Amsterdam to London where everyone has to get off and be checked. However, this is a temporary problem and will be solved when the new facilities are available in the Netherlands.

Trains:
- I tend to agree that the unrefurbished old trains are nicer, but that's because I prefer the colour scheme and lighting.
- The seats are similar to other Intercity trains in the UK. The airline seats have similar or slightly better legroom. Legroom at the table seats is not good indeed and I avoid them unless I am in a group. Both old and new trains are more comfortable and spacious than a Virgin Voyager or a Pendolino.
- I haven't experienced problems with the toilets.
- The ride of the new trains is hardly that bad. I even like it! I am mystified by claims that the new trains are noisy.
- The buffet is a bit disappointing and expensive. Bring your own.
- I haven't tried the wifi since roaming became free within the EU. Phones work well for most of the journey, including the tunnel.
- I agree that it's not nice to be sat next to a pillar instead of a window (it's common on trains in the UK too). I recommend booking on the Eurostar website, where you can select your own seat. The process is a bit strange - you can change your seat after the ticket is issued, but it works and the seating plans are accurate. Thanks to this, I haven't sat next to a pillar for years.

Prices:
- Eurostar uses the same pricing model as airlines and other long distance rail operators. Prices vary from very cheap to very expensive. I don't like it either but that's how the world works. At least there are no extra fees for luggage, "priority boarding", etc.

Timetables:
- Whether Eurostar is faster or slower than flying depends on the exact journey you are making, and when you want to travel.

Staff:
- I have never had problems with Eurostar staff. During a normal journey you're not likely to speak to them anyway.

General:
- It's a train service. It's a fast and efficient way to get between London, Paris and Brussels, and maybe beyond. It is not the Orient Express. Its competition is largely the airlines, which hardly set a high standard for customer experience. Set your expectations accordingly.

I'm happy to answer any questions people have about the service, based on my experience.

 

[Starmill]

Claims that security queues in Brussels were "very very long" don't match my experience. This might be true for the train from Amsterdam to London where everyone has to get off and be checked.

There is no Amsterdam to London train?

As for the queue, it was so long that it stretched out of the doors marked 'Channel Terminal' and all the way across the thoroughfare and down the corridor opposite past the money exchange desk. This obviously meant queuing was coming into conflict with everyone using that entrance to the station, which was a very large number of people.

You've never had to queue out of the doors? Well, lucky for you then. You've never had to queue to leave the train in London? How nice. I take the view that given the very expensive standard ticket I bought, both are very sub-par.

 

[yorkie]

There is no Amsterdam to London train?

Indeed; in that direction you have to change.

There are other "through" trains to London where everyone has to get off & on, though I think this happens at Lille.

As for the queue, it was so long that it stretched out of the doors marked 'Channel Terminal' and all the way across the thoroughfare and down the corridor opposite past the money exchange desk. This obviously meant queuing was coming into conflict with everyone using that entrance to the station, which was a very large number of people.

And the Eurostar representative said this is "normal"!

It's very unprofessional to ask people to queue right in the way of an entrance, and not nice for people both in the queue and trying to get past it.

 

[Starmill]

I recommend booking on the Eurostar website, where you can select your own seat.

It appears they will not sell a London to Köln ticket? So this advice isn't very useful.

 

[anme]

There is no Amsterdam to London train?

As for the queue, it was so long that it stretched out of the doors marked 'Channel Terminal' and all the way across the thoroughfare and down the corridor opposite past the money exchange desk. This obviously meant queuing was coming into conflict with everyone using that entrance to the station, which was a very large number of people.

You've never had to queue out of the doors? Well, lucky for you then. You've never had to queue to leave the train in London? How nice. I take the view that given the very expensive standard ticket I bought, both are very sub-par.

I have had to queue out of the doors, but this is not the queue for security. It is the queue for check in. You can argue whether that's a significant difference. I agree that queuing out of the doors looks bad, but the queue moves quickly and it's not a serious problem in reality. Normally the queue snakes to the left, so it doesn't interfere with other station traffic.

No, I have never had to queue to leave the train (except for the one time there was a passport check on arrival at St Pancras). I'm not saying you didn't, but it's certainly not a typical experience - which is more useful to someone else reading the thread.

I agree that these points should be improved, but the level of unhappiness on this thread seems over the top to me, and not very helpful anyone wanting a typical impression of the service.

 

[anme]

It appears they will not sell a London to Köln ticket? So this advice isn't very useful.

It is useful to people who are travelling to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, etc, so it is useful to most Eurostar users. Just because something is not useful to you does not mean it is useless. If people on the Internet understood this, the world would be a better place.

 

[Starmill]

but the queue moves quickly and it's not a serious problem in reality.

Perhaps it isn't when you travel, but at 1740 on a weekday I found it was a big problem. We shall need to agree to disagree.

Fundamentally the departures procedure (I am not itnerested in the whether you think this is because of check-in, security, or passport control) and the departures is poor because the facilities to carry it out at the station seem to be inadequate and not very pleasant.

 

[Starmill]

It is useful to people who are travelling to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, etc, so it is useful to most Eurostar users. Just because something is not useful to you does not mean it is useless

I was recounting my expereince of my journey. I don't care if you think it's useless or not, you mentioned it with regards to the experience I posted. There is no reason why the Eurostar wesbite couldn't sell this ticket other than their decision not to.

 

[anme]

Perhaps it isn't when you travel, but at 1740 on a weekday I found it was a big problem. We shall need to agree to disagree.

Fundamentally the departures procedure (I am not itnerested in the whether you think this is because of check-in, security, or passport control) and the departures is poor because the facilities to carry it out at the station seem to be inadequate and not very pleasant.

Is it really a big problem (which we can define as potentially affecting your decision whether to use the service)? I have taken trains from Brussels in the evening and queued beyond the doors, and it wasn't a big problem. I'm not disagreeing with you on this point, I just feel the level of anger in this thread seems overdone.

It's likely to get worse with Brexit, as border procedures are likely to be made more rigorous and we can all look forward to more queuing.

 

[anme]

I was recounting my expereince of my journey. I don't care if you think it's useless or not, you mentioned it with regards to the experience I posted. There is no reason why the Eurostar wesbite couldn't sell this ticket other than their decision not to.

I did not claim your experience was useless!

However you are not the only person who will read this thread, which is not specifically about your journey. I was providing some information that other people planning journeys by Eurostar may find useful.

Why do you say "There is no reason why the Eurostar wesbite couldn't sell this ticket [i.e. London to Cologne] other than their decision not to"?