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Difficulty getting through to Eurostar domestic sales

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Oscar

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I have phoned Eurostar domestic sales five times in the last few days to try to purchase a London Estar CIV - York ticket for July. Each time I have just got several beeps and no-one at the other end of the phone. Eurostar Customer Care says they are just busy and there's nothing Customer Care can do. Does anyone know anything why this is happening? Does it happen frequently at the moment? I do wish you could buy these tickets on the internet without suffering Raileasy's con.
 
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penaltyfines

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You can to buy a ticket to London International from any National Rail ticket office - is that an option for you instead?
 

thedbdiboy

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You can to buy a ticket to London International from any National Rail ticket office - is that an option for you instead?

Yes, but officially to do so you are still required to produce your continental ticket which can be a challenge if it is a ToD one to collect at STP.
 

bnm

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Yes, but officially to do so you are still required to produce your continental ticket which can be a challenge if it is a ToD one to collect at STP.

Some TOCs allow production of proof of purchase, e.g. booking confirmation, in lieu of the actual E* ticket.

At least, that's what The Manual says....
 

Oscar

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You can to buy a ticket to London International from any National Rail ticket office - is that an option for you instead?
Yes, I'll do just that - thank you, I had forgotten that this existed.

Yes, but officially to do so you are still required to produce your continental ticket which can be a challenge if it is a ToD one to collect at STP.
I have my ticket so this is not a problem.

Thank you.
 

button_boxer

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You can to buy a ticket to London International from any National Rail ticket office - is that an option for you instead?

You can to London International but not to Lndon Estar CIV (only available from Eurostar), and in my experience the prices and availability aren't necessarily the same.
 

Oscar

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From my experience there is no difference in price between York - London Intl CIV and Estar CIV (and v. v.) flows but the availability seems to differ. Raileasy is not ideal because it only offers Intl CIV fares (where availability seems more restricted) and then adds booking fees on top. It's a shame that Estar fares don't come up in Avantix, as I am sure that the prices are different on different routes. I'll try Eurostar again tomorrow for the Estar CIV fares and if not go with an Intl fare on a slighter later train which I've spotted on Raileasy (I will buy this at York Station). I'll also ask which fares available at the station if I have to buy a ticket there and check that they are identical to the Intl ones on Raileasy - I presume that they must be the same.
 

Oscar

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I bought a London International fare from York Station today for £8.60 with 16-25 Railcard discount, the same as the cheapest London Estar fare. However, a look on Raileasy showed that there are very few trains at that London Intl fare and I would imagine that there would have been far greater London Estar availability, not that it mattered much to me.

They do; you just need to spell London without the first o (i.e. LNDON ESTAR CIV), or use NLC code 9934 or CRS code LOE.
Why are London Estar fares not sold at stations then?

I am concerned that Domestic Sales were still not answering this morning - any advice on alternative ways of getting London Estar fares would be gratefully received. Does anywhere at St Pancras do them out of interest?
 

wibble

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Why are London Estar fares not sold at stations then?

Because they are special fares that have been supplied to Eurostar to sell to their customers. The fare may be at the same price or lower than the normal public rates and the availability may vary too (e.g. if it's an Advance fare or a walk-up fare might be valid at different times.)
 
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