swt class 450
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- Joined
- 9 Apr 2016
- Messages
- 1,909
Why do Eurostar make it so difficult and inconvenient to use their services! Its like they forget that they are a train company running short two hour train rides and are just trying to run their operations like an airline instead!
These are some of the major problems:
1. Extortionate walk on fares. - The walk on fares that Eurostar charge are ridiculous. If you just turn up at the station just before your train and buy a ticket then it will normally cost around between £150.00 to £200.00 for a Single (or double for a Return as they seem to be priced the same as two Single tickets). This is extortionate. Do they not realise that many people don't plan in advance or are unable to plan in advance. Many people need to just be able to turn up and buy a ticket and board their train.
2. Seat reservations required and no extra standing passengers allowed. - It is ridiculous that they require seat reservations for all passengers and that they only sell the same amount of tickets as seats. This means that as soon as all of the seats are sold they will not let anyone else board even though there is a huge amount of standing room available. This is a big inconvenience during busy times as you may not be able to travel on a certain train despite plenty of standing room being available. The journey is only about two hours long so its no problem standing if necessary (people stand for that long on domestic trains every day). Seat reservations should be optional and they should sell an unlimited amount of tickets for each train.
3. Tickets are only valid for a specific train. - Another problem is that you can't just get a normal "Any Permitted" ticket that will allow you to travel on any train on the day. All tickets are for a specific train. This is another thing to inconvenience passengers.
4. Very messy timetable. - Their timetable is a complete mess and very confusing. Have a look here - https://content-static.eurostar.com...etables Core destination_Issue 82_UK EN_0.pdf - at their current timetable. They have lots of random trains that only run on certain random days or random trains that don't run on certain random days. I don't know why it is so hard for them to have a consistent timetable with the same times every day (or at least the same times for Monday to Fridays and then different times for Saturdays and Sundays).
5. Their trains don't run late enough. - One of their many problems is how early the trains finish. These are currently the times of the last trains of the day:
Northbound - Brussels to London:
• 20:22 Brussels - London 21:33 (Daily)
Northbound - Paris to London:
• 20:13 Paris - London 21:43 (Saturday)
• 21:13 Paris - London 22:39 (Mon to Fri & Sunday)
Southbound - London to Brussels:
• 19:34 London to Brussels 22:38 (Daily)
Southbound - London to Paris:
• 20:01 London to Paris 23:17 (Mon to Fri & Saturday)
• 20:31 London to Paris 23:47 (Sunday)
This is far too early. Surely they could at least have later trains departing both Brussels and Paris just after 23:00 (European Time) which would arrive in London just after 00:00 (British Time). It makes it rather annoying for passengers who have to leave earlier than they would like to (especially those travelling on day trips). It also makes it harder to connect from other trains at Brussels or Paris if travelling longer distances from other places in Mainland Europe. Later trains are really necessary.
6. Having to arrive at the station 30 minutes before your train. - I understand that passport checks are necessary but 30 minutes is way too early. Its just another thing to inconvenience passengers. Personally i would prefer if each train stopped twice in each direction (at Cheriton [UK exit] and Coquelles [FR entry] for Southbound trains and at Coquelles [FR exit] and Cheriton [UK entry] for Northbound trains) to do border control. Although this would mean a longer journey time it would be made up for the fact that you could just arrive at the station a couple of minutes before your train.
7. Security checks. - It is ridiculous that you have to go through security checks to board Eurostar trains. You don't have to for domestic trains so what makes the international trains different. It is nothing but a security theatre. Completely pointless and just something else to annoy and delay passengers.
8. Awful delay repay. - The amount of delay repay that Eurostar give is appalling. You can only claim for a minimum of 60 minutes delay and even then they will only give you 25% refund. This is a joke considering that our domestic train companies will give you 25% refund for just a 15 minute delay and will give you 100% refund for a 60 minute delay.
These are just some of the problems with Eurostar. I am sure there is many more.
Eurostar is so inconvenient to use that i (and probably many other people) always just use the ferry (and slower local trains on both sides) instead. Far simpler and easier than using Eurostar.
What do you think? I am interested to hear others views on this?
These are some of the major problems:
1. Extortionate walk on fares. - The walk on fares that Eurostar charge are ridiculous. If you just turn up at the station just before your train and buy a ticket then it will normally cost around between £150.00 to £200.00 for a Single (or double for a Return as they seem to be priced the same as two Single tickets). This is extortionate. Do they not realise that many people don't plan in advance or are unable to plan in advance. Many people need to just be able to turn up and buy a ticket and board their train.
2. Seat reservations required and no extra standing passengers allowed. - It is ridiculous that they require seat reservations for all passengers and that they only sell the same amount of tickets as seats. This means that as soon as all of the seats are sold they will not let anyone else board even though there is a huge amount of standing room available. This is a big inconvenience during busy times as you may not be able to travel on a certain train despite plenty of standing room being available. The journey is only about two hours long so its no problem standing if necessary (people stand for that long on domestic trains every day). Seat reservations should be optional and they should sell an unlimited amount of tickets for each train.
3. Tickets are only valid for a specific train. - Another problem is that you can't just get a normal "Any Permitted" ticket that will allow you to travel on any train on the day. All tickets are for a specific train. This is another thing to inconvenience passengers.
4. Very messy timetable. - Their timetable is a complete mess and very confusing. Have a look here - https://content-static.eurostar.com...etables Core destination_Issue 82_UK EN_0.pdf - at their current timetable. They have lots of random trains that only run on certain random days or random trains that don't run on certain random days. I don't know why it is so hard for them to have a consistent timetable with the same times every day (or at least the same times for Monday to Fridays and then different times for Saturdays and Sundays).
5. Their trains don't run late enough. - One of their many problems is how early the trains finish. These are currently the times of the last trains of the day:
Northbound - Brussels to London:
• 20:22 Brussels - London 21:33 (Daily)
Northbound - Paris to London:
• 20:13 Paris - London 21:43 (Saturday)
• 21:13 Paris - London 22:39 (Mon to Fri & Sunday)
Southbound - London to Brussels:
• 19:34 London to Brussels 22:38 (Daily)
Southbound - London to Paris:
• 20:01 London to Paris 23:17 (Mon to Fri & Saturday)
• 20:31 London to Paris 23:47 (Sunday)
This is far too early. Surely they could at least have later trains departing both Brussels and Paris just after 23:00 (European Time) which would arrive in London just after 00:00 (British Time). It makes it rather annoying for passengers who have to leave earlier than they would like to (especially those travelling on day trips). It also makes it harder to connect from other trains at Brussels or Paris if travelling longer distances from other places in Mainland Europe. Later trains are really necessary.
6. Having to arrive at the station 30 minutes before your train. - I understand that passport checks are necessary but 30 minutes is way too early. Its just another thing to inconvenience passengers. Personally i would prefer if each train stopped twice in each direction (at Cheriton [UK exit] and Coquelles [FR entry] for Southbound trains and at Coquelles [FR exit] and Cheriton [UK entry] for Northbound trains) to do border control. Although this would mean a longer journey time it would be made up for the fact that you could just arrive at the station a couple of minutes before your train.
7. Security checks. - It is ridiculous that you have to go through security checks to board Eurostar trains. You don't have to for domestic trains so what makes the international trains different. It is nothing but a security theatre. Completely pointless and just something else to annoy and delay passengers.
8. Awful delay repay. - The amount of delay repay that Eurostar give is appalling. You can only claim for a minimum of 60 minutes delay and even then they will only give you 25% refund. This is a joke considering that our domestic train companies will give you 25% refund for just a 15 minute delay and will give you 100% refund for a 60 minute delay.
These are just some of the problems with Eurostar. I am sure there is many more.
Eurostar is so inconvenient to use that i (and probably many other people) always just use the ferry (and slower local trains on both sides) instead. Far simpler and easier than using Eurostar.
What do you think? I am interested to hear others views on this?