Eurostar in Business Premier

38Cto15E · 13 Jan 2019

I would like to have the opportunity to travel Business Premier Class in Eurostar, a return trip to Brussels or Paris from St Pancras.
I think the return fare is around £500 which is well outside of my budget.
Is there any way of getting BP at a cheaper rate, I have a railcard but I don't think that is much use.

I know that Standard Premier works out reasonable but you do not get lounge access or the better on train experience.
I have tried using lastminute.com/eurostar but Business Premier with an hotel doesn't seem to be available.
TIA

RailUK Forums

Mag_seven · 13 Jan 2019

I get the impression that the Business Premier fares are fixed so there is no scope for any reduction even for travel at "off peak" times.

Alfonso · 13 Jan 2019

A return in business premier is 3,000 club Eurostar points. 45,000 American express points converts to 3,000 club eurostar points. Depending on your financial position, Amex points are fairly easy to collect.

Alfonso · 13 Jan 2019

Unless you've seen and done pretty much all the other dining/drinking/sleeping/observation car novelties in Europe, and there are many, I don't think biz premier on Eurostar is a good value trip, unless you really are on business and need the flexibility, short check in etc.
If you're desperate, you could always go one way in biz premier, one way in a cheaper class.

BahrainLad · 13 Jan 2019

Access to the BP lounges is available to those with an Amex Platinum charge card, too.

TBH the lounge in St P is nice but not earth shatteringly wonderful. It’s a pleasant place to spend 20 minutes for a coffee and raiding the magazines if that’s your thing. But it’s not stuffed with trinkets like good champagne, premium spirits, a la carte dining or any of the things you get in the top airline lounges. It’s more tea, coffee, juice, Gordon’s gin, beers and biscuits.

I was impressed however they had the ingredients (inc Tabasco!) to make a decent Bloody Mary in there one morning a few weeks ago, but the booze only comes out from about 1030am.

The Paris lounge however is much nicer with a tended bar and a very thoughtful cocktail menu. I think this will be coming to St P eventually.

FQTV · 14 Jan 2019

To a large extent, it’s appropriate to consider Business Premier and Standard Premier to be significantly different ticket types, rather than significantly different service types.

Business Premier is a fully-flexible, changeable and refundable with no penalties ticket type; Standard Premier is changeable for a fee, but non-refundable. Business Premier is therefore never discounted as the ticket is equally valid on the busiest and the quietest services.

As noted, Business Premier does offer lounge access, and the food and beverage on board is slightly more generous than in Standard Premier.

Personally, I’ve found Business Premier service to be very nice, too.

The lounge, F&B and service are arguably small concessions to the usually significant fare difference between Business Premier and the cheapest available Standard Premier ticket on the same service.

The actual seats and configurations on board are, of course, exactly the same in Business Premier as they are in Standard Premier.

Accordingly, I’d suggest that it’s the desire or need for a flexible ticket that fills Business Premier, less so any service differences.

38Cto15E · 15 Jan 2019

Thank you all for your inputs, BP is not really on my Bucket List so I will put a journey on hold. Back in the day when Eurostar used Waterloo Station the Premium Economy (forget the name)Class ticket was a good buy off peak,one had a decent tray of hot food and plenty of free bubbles. hic

Alfonso · 15 Jan 2019

Gus said:
Thank you all for your inputs, BP is not really on my Bucket List so I will put a journey on hold. Back in the day when Eurostar used Waterloo Station the Premium Economy (forget the name)Class ticket was a good buy off peak,one had a decent tray of hot food and plenty of free bubbles. hic

Leisure select was great. Shame it's long gone but I think Thalys happy hour, franziskaner Weiss bier and Becks on tap in proper glasses on ICE, pricey but very classy SBB restaurants down the Rhine valley, and nice but not expensive restaurant cars all over central Europe are still there to be enjoyed

coupwotcoup · 17 Jan 2019

Was lucky enough to be the beneficiary of a free upgrade to BP from Paris to Ebbsfleet about 14 months ago.

While waiting for my ticket to be validated at the desk, a woman came up and asked to be upgraded and from
memory this was either £300 or euros - can't recall now.

Top experience too, although I did look a mess having left Spain early - Catalan general strike - and there's
one good way to make the well-heeled uncomfortable in their environment - put two mobile phones on the table....

paddington · 17 Jan 2019

coupwotcoup said:
Was lucky enough to be the beneficiary of a free upgrade to BP from Paris to Ebbsfleet about 14 months ago.

While waiting for my ticket to be validated at the desk, a woman came up and asked to be upgraded and from
memory this was either £300 or euros - can't recall now.

Top experience too, although I did look a mess having left Spain early - Catalan general strike - and there's
one good way to make the well-heeled uncomfortable in their environment - put two mobile phones on the table....

Why did you get upgraded?

It must have been 300 euros if it was in Paris. But £300 will get you a completely new ticket so maybe they were just quoting for a new ticket.

I usually have a laptop, two phones and an iPad... (I don't take all of them out though!)

Alfonso said:
A return in business premier is 3,000 club Eurostar points. 45,000 American express points converts to 3,000 club eurostar points. Depending on your financial position, Amex points are fairly easy to collect.

45000 Amex points (plus £150) will get you approx 3 return flights to all the Eurostar destinations in EuroBusiness Class on BA.

BahrainLad · 19 Jan 2019

Alfonso said:
Leisure select was great. Shame it's long gone

Indeed. I remember travelling a few times from Waterloo to Paris in the mid noughties, you could get weekend fares for around £140 return in LS and they were very forthcoming with the booze on Friday evenings, so much so that you didn’t so much as disembark in Paris but fall off the train.

Standard Premier is a bit of a joke in comparison.

coupwotcoup · 19 Jan 2019

I think it was around 15-20 years ago but there was a travel company - Cresta? - who did
short-stay deals in Brussels and Lille [other cities were available].

Myself and her what must be obeyed took full advantage of these offers at the time, which
included first class on E* and on one occasion we managed to get booked in to the
Renaissance hotel in Brussels which was 5* - all for relatively silly money.

One couldn't fault the food on the train be it dinner or breakfast and the wine, well it just
kept coming. Must admit haven't looked for anything like that for a while and not sure
if such deals still exist.

33Hz · 19 Jan 2019

If you have a carte blanche then I would say Business Premiere isn't worth the money at all. Quite often you are paying more than double for a fairly stingy hot main course to go along side the Standard Premiere cold meal. Otherwise it's same coaches, same lounge and same ten minute check in.

Alfonso · 19 Jan 2019

coupwotcoup said:
I think it was around 15-20 years ago but there was a travel company - Cresta? - who did
short-stay deals in Brussels and Lille [other cities were available].

Myself and her what must be obeyed took full advantage of these offers at the time, which
included first class on E* and on one occasion we managed to get booked in to the
Renaissance hotel in Brussels which was 5* - all for relatively silly money.

One couldn't fault the food on the train be it dinner or breakfast and the wine, well it just
kept coming. Must admit haven't looked for anything like that for a while and not sure
if such deals still exist.

Those deals still exist, but the food and especially the booze is nowhere near as generous in Standard Premier as it was in Leisure Select

Please Explain · 21 Jan 2019

paddington said:
I usually have a laptop, two phones and an iPad... (I don't take all of them out though!)

Be careful.. That may earn you a not so pleasant schedule 7 "examination" upon arrival at STP...

317666 · 21 Jan 2019

If you ask me, Eurostar should abolish Standard Premier and replace it with a first class similar to that which you generally find on the continent - more comfortable accommodation but no freebies, and a much cheaper price to reflect that. Whilst the accommodation is a lot more comfortable than standard, the tiny tray of cold food and tiny can of beer frankly aren't worth the asking price in my opinion.

Please Explain · 21 Jan 2019

317666 said:
If you ask me, Eurostar should abolish Standard Premier and replace it with a first class similar to that which you generally find on the continent - more comfortable accommodation but no freebies, and a much cheaper price to reflect that. Whilst the accommodation is a lot more comfortable than standard, the tiny tray of cold food and tiny can of beer frankly aren't worth the asking price in my opinion.

Unless your on FIP or InterRail when it's not a lot more.

rg177 · 21 Jan 2019

Please Explain said:
Unless your on FIP or InterRail when it's not a lot more.

Indeed- £33.50 versus £26.50 (and I got two bottles of wine last time!)

Please Explain · 21 Jan 2019

rg177 said:
Indeed- £33.50 versus £26.50 (and I got two bottles of wine last time!)

Two?! Top work!
Their never as generous in my experience, I guess if you don't ask, you don't get as the old saying goes! :smile:

Those prices are even better than the new unsafeguarded FIP rates, I wonder how long that will last...

Eurostar in Business Premier

38Cto15E

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