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Situation with Eurostar and DB Sparpreis ticketing to/from London?

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jamesontheroad

jamesontheroad

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Has there been any further development or resolution to the problem caused by Eurostar's new ticketing system?

The last I heard, in the late summer, was that by upgrading their systems (or, cynically, locking out a competitor?) Eurostar were going to prevent DB from selling Sparpreis tickets that included Eurostar trains.

DB today released tickets for 15 December onwards, and while I can see plenty of tickets through to London, they all fail at the payment stage, when an error message says one of the trains no longer has available seat reservations. Since each one was able to secure seats on connecting DB trains, I am assuming it is still the issue with Eurostar.
 
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Gerald Fiennes

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In any case, the fares now seem to be very closely tied to the relevant ES quota so there is no great advantage to the Europa Sparpreis fares compared with separate tickets (although the DB fares can in theory be changed for only EUR15, if done the day before travel).
 
jamesontheroad

jamesontheroad

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Gerald Fiennes said:
In any case, the fares now seem to be very closely tied to the relevant ES quota so there is no great advantage to the Europa Sparpreis fares compared with separate tickets (although the DB fares can in theory be changed for only EUR15, if done the day before travel).
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The price is not so much my concern. If I buy a DB Sparpreis ticket from Hamburg to Brussels and a Eurostar ticket from Brussels to London, I'm snookered if I am delayed en route to Brussels. Given recent experiences with DB, that's very likely. With a through ticket to London I had some guarantee of a connection in case of delays.
 
30907

30907

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I've just done a test booking ex London which has got through to the "pay now" stage (at the second attempt, meaning the site is busy!). For obvious reasons I haven't gone further!
I am interested that the fares are showing at all.
 
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Welby

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The new Eurostar ticketing system has not even got past the "testing" stage and is delayed until Early 2020. Despite this, they have still blocked DB from issuing London Spezial tickets.
 
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EAD

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There are updates on German twitter where people have flagged this to DB. Apparently Eurostar have not made any seats available to DB yet which is why it fails (as you have to have a seat on EST). Reported via DB travel centres in Germany where people have asked that it is due to be resolved and bookable from 22 October. Let's see!
 
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Polrail

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DB announced this morning that due to Eurostar's delay in implementing their new system, Sparpreis London tickets will continue to be available for travel up to 15.01.2020. Booking will be available starting 22 October.
 
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Polrail

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It's the 29th today, but trying this afternoon, the DB system is still not giving a Eurostar reservation which is needed to complete the booking.
 
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k-c-p

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It's the 29th today, but trying this afternoon, the DB system is still not giving a Eurostar reservation which is needed to complete the booking.
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You are not alone. In the aforementioned Bahn Community post people are venting their frustration. DB states that Eurostar has not released reservation for all trin. Unfortunately, there are no further details (for instance which dates are open etc.).

Looks like we have to wait and retry from time to time.
 
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k-c-p

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Latest update from Bahn Community:
gegenwärtig ist das London Spezial über die Vertriebskanäle der DB nicht buchbar. Bitte buchen Sie über www.eurostar.com Ihre Fahrkarte für den Eurostar. Dies gilt bis auf Weiteres.
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Translation: At present the "London Spezial" cannot be booked in DB sales systems. Until further notice: Please book your Eurostar ticket at www.eurostar.com.

Looks like this will drag on some longer :(.
 
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peteb

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I've just looked up trains from Koln to London on 18th and 19th December, and found several trains with €59 single tickets, same
returning to Koln on 23rd December. Didn't actually proceed to book as these are for my son to return home on but if he books these I'll give an update. This seems about as cheap as you could get at this time of year.
 
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k-c-p

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The problem is that prices are shown but the booking fails after entering the payment data with an error stating that the reservation could not be made. According to Bahn Community, they are working on it and hoping to give an update tomorrow.

People are pretty annoyed in the Bahn Community thread because not much details are given (Common question: Why do you show prices for something that cannot be booked). Additionally, Eurostar fares have risen significantly while this drags on.
 
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k-c-p

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In the Bahn Community people report they managed to book tickets for December. I cannot test it as I was too impatient and booked with SNCF yesterday.
 
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Polrail

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The DB problem seems to be fixed. I am able to get reservations for the Eurostar for dates in Jan.
 
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k-c-p

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DB has updated their sales t&c: London tickets will be sold for travel until 13.03.2020.
 
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