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Eurostar and the virus

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mad_rich

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I think it's just a draft proposal from the EU at the moment (although presumably expected to pass quite quickly). Slot rules suspended until the end of June - airlines will be deemed to have flown them all.

https://www.headforpoints.com/2020/03/13/european-commission-4-month-airport-slot-waiver/

The Jet2 situation has nothing to do with slots (I doubt they operate from many if any slot-restricted airports). Yesterday and today they are operating empty flights out to Spain to bring passengers back.

I don't know how long they can or will continue to do this, or whether there will be government involvement in bringing UK citizens who want to leave Spain back home. The numbers will be staggering. Not just holidaymakers, but people who live there temporarily or permanently. If significant numbers decided they wanted to return, the mind boggles at how that would be achieved.
 
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AndrewE

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The Jet2 situation has nothing to do with slots (I doubt they operate from many if any slot-restricted airports). Yesterday and today they are operating empty flights out to Spain to bring passengers back.
That's not what the media said yesterday, they showed bitter complaints from Jet2 passengers at the Spanish airports whose flights home didn't turn up.
 

LNW-GW Joint

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The French government has ordered a reduction in long-distance rail services.
The intention is to get down to 50% of normal, and to discourage non-essential travel.
Looks like half the TGV fleet will be parked.
One can see the same policy being applied to Eurostar.
 

Chester1

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The French government has ordered a reduction in long-distance rail services.
The intention is to get down to 50% of normal, and to discourage non-essential travel.
Looks like half the TGV fleet will be parked.
One can see the same policy being applied to Eurostar.

I am not sure about Eurostar. The French government won't want people to fly to London instead of taking the train. Some links will need to be maintained and environmentally Eurostar is the best choice. The French government won't want to fund more Eurostar losses than necessary while planes are still flying between Paris and London. The recent cuts to Eurostar services seem to be tailoring capacity to reduced demand rather than to actively reduce it.
 

30907

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The French government has ordered a reduction in long-distance rail services.
The intention is to get down to 50% of normal, and to discourage non-essential travel.
Looks like half the TGV fleet will be parked.
One can see the same policy being applied to Eurostar.
The figure I saw was 80% to be implemented this week. Obviously could reduce further.
 

daikilo

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The figure I saw was 80% to be implemented this week. Obviously could reduce further.

Changed today, now reduced to about 50% for Long distance and 70% for TER and Paris region.
 

Lad Brookes

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I am not sure about Eurostar. The French government won't want people to fly to London instead of taking the train. Some links will need to be maintained and environmentally Eurostar is the best choice. The French government won't want to fund more Eurostar losses than necessary while planes are still flying between Paris and London. The recent cuts to Eurostar services seem to be tailoring capacity to reduced demand rather than to actively reduce it.

I'm currently on an Eurostar service from Paris. Between them, coaches 14, 15 and 16 (the three Standard/Business Premier coaches at the rear) have 3 passengers between them.

While I'm sure that business travel is the worst-hit sector (the Business Premier lounge was shut- it would have been interesting to see how dead that was if it were open), given the loadings I've seen, I suspect the service cuts could go a lot further and still meet the demand.
 

daikilo

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According to Sky News, EU Council is proposing to put limits on inbound "non-essential" travel to the EU. Question raised as to whether they consider that the UK is still part of Europe or not for this purpose.
 
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221129

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According to Sky News, EU Council is proposing to put limits on inbound "non-essential" travel to the EU. Question raised as to whether they consider that the UK is still part of Europe or not for this purpose.
The UK is still considered a member state during the transition period.
 

popeter45

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According to Sky News, EU Council is proposing to put limits on inbound "non-essential" travel to the EU. Question raised as to whether they consider that the UK is still part of Europe or not for this purpose.
Explicit statement from EU that UK is exempt from this proposal
 

MontyP

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Did I see somewhere that Eurostar were running an extra service back from Bourg St Maurice yesterday or today to bring back all the skiers who travelled out on Sat only to find the resorts closed when they arrived?
 

ChiefPlanner

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Did I see somewhere that Eurostar were running an extra service back from Bourg St Maurice yesterday or today to bring back all the skiers who travelled out on Sat only to find the resorts closed when they arrived?

They did - so the clerk who cancelled and refunded my priv FIP for Amsterdam next week (at St Pancras) - told me - the only passengers in the ticket office appeared to be French citizens keen on returning home. As early as possible.
 
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Old habits die hard it seems. Members can review the full 'Via Dolorosa' of issues on their Trustpilot entry. They had actually managed to get their star rating up to 1.5 from 1 during the past six months under Mike Cooper, but that will no doubt evaporate again fairly quickly.
 

Bletchleyite

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Old habits die hard it seems. Members can review the full 'Via Dolorosa' of issues on their Trustpilot entry. They had actually managed to get their star rating up to 1.5 from 1 during the past six months under Mike Cooper, but that will no doubt evaporate again fairly quickly.

They're owned by SNCF, about the most customer-unfriendly organisation in the world and still pervaded by the old "cheminot" attitude. No surprises there at all.

A big Gallic shrug to all their customers...
 

datdad

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Considering that most of Italy is still 'green' on the FCO travel advice site, there's no reason legally why SNCF should let you cancel. They're still running trains to Italy after all.
I'm not sure that the FCO or indeed this Government is being sensible over its travel, it seems note like saving the Insurance industry some money. . It makes no sense to travel to continental Europe especially to Italy with its current situation.
 

AlexNL

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Tomorrow there will be 3 Eurostar train paris London<>Paris and two Eurostar train pairs London<>Brussels. These trains will run:
London St Pancras International to Paris Gare du Nord
  • Train 9008 (07 :55)
  • Train 9018 (10 :24)
  • Train 9028 (13 :31)
Paris Gare du Nord to London St Pancras International:
  • Train 9015 (09 :13)
  • Train 9031 (13 :13)
  • Train 9043 (16 :13)
London St Pancras International to Brussels Midi/Zuid:
  • Train 9116 (08 :55)
  • Train 9132 (12 :58)
Brussels Midi/Zuid to London St Pancras International:
  • Train 9117 (08 :52)
  • Train 9141 (14 :52)
All other trains are cancelled. I assume this will be until further notice.

Source: https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/travel-info/service-information/coronavirus-and-eurostar-service
 

Gadget88

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Tomorrow there will be 3 Eurostar train paris London<>Paris and two Eurostar train pairs London<>Brussels. These trains will run:

All other trains are cancelled. I assume this will be until further notice.

Source: https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/travel-info/service-information/coronavirus-and-eurostar-service
Such a shame for those who were booked to do Amsterdam to London. Looks like it will have to be delayed. Seen a post on Twitter today one train only had like 14 people on it. Seemingly you can get a refund if your train cancelled from what I heard?
 

AlexNL

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Seen a post on Twitter today one train only had like 14 people on it.
I heard today that the last Amsterdam > Brussels Eurostar only carried a single passenger. I also saw some tweets from Eurostar staff, their trains are practically empty.
Seemingly you can get a refund if your train cancelled from what I heard?
According to the coronavirus page on Eurostars website, you can claim for an eVoucher equivalent to the value of your Eurostar booking which you can use to make a new booking at a later moment. I'm not sure if you can actually get a refund from Eurostar directly.
 

k-c-p

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They're owned by SNCF, about the most customer-unfriendly organisation in the world and still pervaded by the old "cheminot" attitude. No surprises there at all.

SNCF has put in place pretty customer friendly cancellation policies: For travel until April 30 you can either exchange your ticket or get a refund no matter which fare you have. No exchange or cancellation fees will be charged.

Hopefully, Eurostar will follow the example of their parent company.
 

Dougal2345

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I'm a little unsure about what to do - I'm booked on Eurostar for 1-April. Obviously I'm not travelling.

I'd prefer a refund to a voucher (I find the voucher terms a bit restrictive), so I guess I have to wait until the day before I travel, 31-Mar, check if my train's running - if it's not, I get a full refund automatically (?)***, if it is, I assume I've still got time to put a voucher claim in that same day?

But if I forget to do this for any reason on 31-Mar, then I just become a 'no-show' and get nothing?

Incidentally I booked a through ticket Southampton-Hendaye return, so if the Paris-Hendaye portion is cancelled, but the Eurostar runs, can I still get a full refund?

***just re-read the relevant page, I see although it says "Please find below the list of trains that are running tomorrow, [date]. If your train has been cancelled please click here to exchange your ticket or get a refund.", when you click you can't actually get a refund at all, only a voucher...

So that makes most of my question irrelevant - if there are no refunds, then a voucher it is...

But I'm definitely not going to rush to claim a voucher, just in case things change before 1-April - I don't want to lock myself in to a voucher if refunds start flowing later.
 
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Mojo

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I'm not sure that the FCO or indeed this Government is being sensible over its travel, it seems note like saving the Insurance industry some money. . It makes no sense to travel to continental Europe especially to Italy with its current situation.
The post you quoted dated from 6th March - things have moved on considerably since that date as the FCO revised its travel guidance. Accordingly under most travel insurance policies you should now be able to claim for any international journeys.
 

StephenHunter

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For those booked previously. I got an email from my provider say that they will no longer cover for coronavirus for bookings made after 18 March.
 

Jamesrob637

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For those booked previously. I got an email from my provider say that they will no longer cover for coronavirus for bookings made after 18 March.

I will agree with that. Tuesday/Wednesday were the days things changed rapidly in terms of Eurostar cancelling services and Boris making speeches advising not to travel.
 
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