If you were to arrive at St Pancras Intl at 0559 for a 0704 train to Brussels, would you be allowing yourself enough time to check in for this train. I appreciate ES says 90mins, but at this time of the morning, would it be that busy that an hour wouldn’t be enough.
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Check in Eurostar
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Failed Unit
Established Member
Should be fine, recently normally cleared most trains in 30 minutes (on a bad day - 15 is the norm)
Eurostar says 75 minutes or 90 minutes sometimes. I was turned away at 70 minutes at Brussels because it was too early!
I usually tend to aim for 45-60 minutes. 0559 sounds perfect.
Obviously, I would also be wanting to know what options B and C are if your first train is cancelled.
I usually tend to aim for 45-60 minutes. 0559 sounds perfect.
Obviously, I would also be wanting to know what options B and C are if your first train is cancelled.
Eurostar try to stagger the times to minimise overcrowding at the terminal as much as possible - get there too early and you're there before the people who have come for the previous train(s) have cleared.
The tickets will tell you how early they want you to be there. Last time I travelled mine said 45-60 minutes, I'm going again next month on the same service (11:04 from London) and the ticket says to arrive by 09:49, so 75 mins before. Curiously, the one I've booked for July says, for the outbound leg from London, "Please arrive at a kiosk in the station at the time indicated above", rather than the usual "Please arrive at the Eurostar departures in the station by XX:XX local time". The only times "indicated above" are the departure and arrival times - if anyone takes that literally it would cause them problems! The return leg says to arrive at 12:01 for a 12:56 departure from Brussels, so 55 mins.
Back on topic, I would have no worries at all about arriving at 0559 for an 0704 departure.
The tickets will tell you how early they want you to be there. Last time I travelled mine said 45-60 minutes, I'm going again next month on the same service (11:04 from London) and the ticket says to arrive by 09:49, so 75 mins before. Curiously, the one I've booked for July says, for the outbound leg from London, "Please arrive at a kiosk in the station at the time indicated above", rather than the usual "Please arrive at the Eurostar departures in the station by XX:XX local time". The only times "indicated above" are the departure and arrival times - if anyone takes that literally it would cause them problems! The return leg says to arrive at 12:01 for a 12:56 departure from Brussels, so 55 mins.
Back on topic, I would have no worries at all about arriving at 0559 for an 0704 departure.
The key phrase Eurostar use is quite clear - ie that 90 minutes is not 'the law' but just a 'please'.
"To ensure you have enough time for all pre-departure steps, please come to the station at the recommended time and not just before the gates close."
"To ensure you have enough time for all pre-departure steps, please come to the station at the recommended time and not just before the gates close."
Gates close 30 mins before departure, offpeak I have cleared secuity & passport control in less than 15 mins recently. So you will have plenty of time. They also prioritise late arrivals of travellers. If queue look short, the optimal time to join the queue is 40 to 50mins before departure. There is a very limited waiting area after security but for an early start that should not be a problem
They're both fine. They might prefer that you have your coffee in a bag or a closed flask so it remains upright and doesn't spill on the trays, but liquids are OK. Pastries are fine too. I've got all the way to the train and halfway through the Channel Tunnel with my Greggs sausage bap before.
They are usually fairly relaxed about what you can take through - the only place I've encountered overly officious security was once at Rotterdam. IIRC at St Pancras they used to provide cup holders so your coffee wouldn't spill.
No hot drinks or open beakers. Everything else is OK.
The hot drink ban is to avoid messes inside the scanners, I was once told.
Peterthegreat
Established Member
That is no longer the case.
Extract from the Eurostar help desk.
Attachments
Jim the Jim
Member
Basically, over an hour is always too much in my experience and they often won't let you in that far in advance anyway. (This is after giving you contradictory information to start with, saying 90 minutes on the app but two hours on the ticket or whatever.)
It is annoying to see people taking longer than necessary while they juggle a cup of coffee plus luggage. Recently, a women spirit her coffee while in the queue for passport control. There was a delay while it was mopped up. Can't people go anywhere without carrying cups of coffee?
Mikey C
Established Member
- Joined
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For my train last night from Brussels, I was asked on the App ticket to arrive at 20:06 for the 20:56.
With the extra people diverted from the Heathrow closure, it ended up much busier than usual, but everyone got through quickly enough.
With the extra people diverted from the Heathrow closure, it ended up much busier than usual, but everyone got through quickly enough.
Security tends to be the bottleneck in Brussels in my experience - they only have two 'standard' X Ray scanners and one metal detector in use off-peak, which can cause the queue to back up to the ticket gates at times. That said, I've got through a queue backing al lthe way up in about 15 minutes, so even then arriving any time before the 30 minute cutoff would have been absolutely fine.
Mikey C
Established Member
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The actual space on the other side is massive, unlike STP, so I suppose they could rearrange the area if they really wanted extra security space.
styles
Member
Assuming you arrive into STP on time, it's fine.
The staff create separate queues and bump people through if they're on earlier trains.
I've seen people let through security a mere 10 minutes before departure.
The staff create separate queues and bump people through if they're on earlier trains.
I've seen people let through security a mere 10 minutes before departure.
I did exactly this on a Tuesday earlier in March, breezed through in under 15 minutes with UK passport. Arrived at STP about 6:04.
I noticed this on one of my fellow passengers' tickets, but not mine. They hold a UK passport, while I'm travelling on a Danish passport. Both on Interrail tariff.
I expect it was set up for EES, but that's been delayed again now anyway.
signed
Established Member
My ES ticket (French citizen) from Gare du Nord is telling me to arrive at 0637 for the 0802 (90min, 1st train of the day, a Sunday).
Which is IMHO a bad thing to say for Gare du Nord where people arriving way too early means major bottleneck on the overbridge.
Which is IMHO a bad thing to say for Gare du Nord where people arriving way too early means major bottleneck on the overbridge.
riceuten
Member
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- 23 May 2018
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- 693
E* have queue busters who waft you to the front if you're falling behind.
Tonight sat on 1710 Paris to London not going anywhere yet waiting passengers passing through security etc.
I got to Gare du Nord 1550. Huge queues in front of me. Processed by 1655 then onto train.
Apparently they let people with 1810 tickets through security and this just blocked up all the e gates and security for the 1710.
Worse, delays caused by EU passport holders trying to use UK gates despite being told in French and English and staff checking the queue.
Currently 7 mins late, doors closing yet passengers still strolling up the platforms. Looks like we may leave some behind?
I got to Gare du Nord 1550. Huge queues in front of me. Processed by 1655 then onto train.
Apparently they let people with 1810 tickets through security and this just blocked up all the e gates and security for the 1710.
Worse, delays caused by EU passport holders trying to use UK gates despite being told in French and English and staff checking the queue.
Currently 7 mins late, doors closing yet passengers still strolling up the platforms. Looks like we may leave some behind?
Failed Unit
Established Member
Seemed to be back to the bad old days in Gare du Nord today, mainly just people doing stupid things. For example get to the gates where you can your tickets. Stand there blocking them, while you find said ticket. Repeat at passport control. Summer is here.
We actually left 18 late and people were getting on till the very last second. Given there were 200+ people in the 1710 queue in front of me I put it down to bad station passenger management. The person behind me in the passport queue had a ticket for the 1810, so passed through the checks 90+ minutes ahead of departure......the seating area was full of folks for the 1810 at 1655......
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
Is this anything to do with the very severe supercell thunderstorms across most of northern France this evening?
Although it was very hot we saw no rain (or cloud even) on the French side of the tunnel, but it was very grey once in the UK.
Failed Unit
Established Member
I don‘t think so, it just seemed like an ordinary day in the gare-du-nord. There will be more people around not because euro-star have re-introduced a number of services making it every 30 minutes at times.
The biggest issue was the scanners (as was always the case at gare-du-nord) - There were lots of parties around the time I went through with 2 massive suitcases. A couple of school parties. The French passport scanners seem to me more temperamental then the british ones with some taking 2-3 attempts to get through. Some were rebooting frequently. The stamping was quick.
It has also surprised me that business prem / crate Blanche have no priority through the scanners / passport control in Paris. They get to jump the queue but after that they are mixed in with everyone else.
Yesterday is the worse I have seen Paris for a while, experience also tells me it is probably a one off. Having to delay trains because of the time it takes passengers to get through the scanners / passports is actually common. I think that once you have scanned your ticket you are getting on no matter how long it takes you to clear the security.
The biggest issue was the scanners (as was always the case at gare-du-nord) - There were lots of parties around the time I went through with 2 massive suitcases. A couple of school parties. The French passport scanners seem to me more temperamental then the british ones with some taking 2-3 attempts to get through. Some were rebooting frequently. The stamping was quick.
It has also surprised me that business prem / crate Blanche have no priority through the scanners / passport control in Paris. They get to jump the queue but after that they are mixed in with everyone else.
Yesterday is the worse I have seen Paris for a while, experience also tells me it is probably a one off. Having to delay trains because of the time it takes passengers to get through the scanners / passports is actually common. I think that once you have scanned your ticket you are getting on no matter how long it takes you to clear the security.
Bizarrely, given the flack St. Pancras has had, our outward journey 1201 last Tuesday went very smoothly, despite a crowded waiting area. At Gare du Nord yesterday they'd corralled people into pens according to train. This worked ok up to a point, but then there was a lot of crossover traffic going from the pens to the UK scanners on the left and the EU passport lanes on the right. Also the baggage scan being after the passport checks (seems the wrong way round) causes blockages, do you can't go through scanners till the melee has cleared beyond. And for some reason, a pen of 1810 passengers was sent ahead of several pens of waiting 1710 passengers. What I found strange was the number of empty seats in standard coach 10, (at least a dozen or so) given that announcements were saying that trains were very busy!