Help with my Eurostar booking

How does one get around booking the 1104hrs departure from London St. Pancras to Amsterdam but wishing to disembark at Brussels-Midi?
Many thanks.

morrisobrien said:

How does one get around booking the 1104hrs departure from London St. Pancras to Amsterdam but wishing to disembark at Brussels-Midi?
Many thanks.

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At the moment bookings are released about 2 months before departure. This is supposedly to prioritise Amsterdam/Rotterdam passengers.
It is also possible (until the end of October) to buy a DB London Special (or whatever it is now called) and finish short at Brussels.
Or indeed to book to Rotterdam and do the same (I understand the through platform is blocked off, but ES don't check tickets on arrival).

morrisobrien said:

How does one get around booking the 1104hrs departure from London St. Pancras to Amsterdam but wishing to disembark at Brussels-Midi?
Many thanks.

Click to expand...

Just get off at Brussels. I did this last December. No one to check and no one interested in preventing it (I had a Rotterdam ticket as it was cheaper than to Brussels). In fact I am pretty sure the train crew all or maybe nearly all all got off at Brussels too as there was a crew change for the onward part of the journey I suspect. There are no gatelines at Midi - you juts exit down in to the circulating area below the platforms.

30907 said:

At the moment bookings are released about 2 months before departure. This is supposedly to prioritise Amsterdam/Rotterdam passengers.
It is also possible (until the end of October) to buy a DB London Special (or whatever it is now called) and finish short at Brussels.
Or indeed to book to Rotterdam and do the same (I understand the through platform is blocked off, but ES don't check tickets on arrival).

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When you talk of the cheaper DB somewhere-in-Germany to London via Brussels through tickets "until the end of October", I presume you mean that's when the Eurostar ticketing system changes and so DB can't sell through tickets from that date. You can still get usable DB tickets for travel on later (than October) dates - I have a Super Sparpreis (?or whatever) for Hamburg-London in November.

By the way, I thought I read somewhere that the computer mismatch between Eurostar and DB was being solved - is that not the case? Will the DB tickets really become unbuyable soon? (Maybe I was dreaming it, based on the RDG's speedy reverse ferret over InterRail the other day.)

WesternLancer said:

In fact I am pretty sure the train crew all or maybe nearly all all got off at Brussels too as there was a crew change for the onward part of the journey I suspect.

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That is correct, the driver as well as on-board crew change at Brussels. London - Brussels is worked by Eurostar (EIL) staff while Brussels - Amsterdam is worked by NS International crew.

You can 'stop short' at Brussels without anyone bothering. The ticket gates in the Netherlands aren't used for revenue protection enforcement purposes by Eurostar.

AlexNL said:

You can 'stop short' at Brussels without anyone bothering. The ticket gates in the Netherlands aren't used for revenue pr

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So I suppose I book to Amsterdam,and get off at Brussels, because as previously stated, the Eurostar booking system does not give me the option for the 1104hrs departure to book to Brussels.Seems all very weird.

morrisobrien said:

So I suppose I book to Amsterdam,and get off at Brussels, because as previously stated, the Eurostar booking system does not give me the option for the 1104hrs departure to book to Brussels.Seems all very weird.

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Yes, I think so. I essentially did that last December on the 17.15 ish St P departure. But when I booked that I was offered a ticket to Brussels on the Eurostar site. It was only when I noticed by chance that this train departure at the time I needed to travel was going onwards to Amsterdam that I wondered how much it cost to get to Amsterdam. Out of curiosity, I ran a speculative booking, and realised it was cheaper than the far I was being offered to Brussels at that point. So I then looked up the Rotterdam price (it was the same as the Amsterdam price being offered) and booked that.

At the time I was booking I assume the system was 'holding back' Brussels passengers by charging a higher price so that through Amsterdam passengers could have the chance of a seat on the through train. A sensible plan. I suspect later on the fares to Brussels were perhaps reduced in order to fill any unsold spaces, but I am only guessing.

From recollection I think the train was heavily loaded on departure from St P, but quite a large number of people (50%+ at least) got off at Brussels. Whether more of them than the 3 of us had tickets to destinations beyond i have no idea!

morrisobrien said:

How does one get around booking the 1104hrs departure from London St. Pancras to Amsterdam but wishing to disembark at Brussels-Midi?
Many thanks.

Click to expand...

Found the answer.....you just have to book near to your departure date.
I did a "dummy" booking on the Eurostar site and it is approximately 2 weeks.
Obviously they want to prioritise Amsterdam/Rotterdam passengers first.