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Eurostar tickets: what TIME do they go on sale?

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newmilton

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Eurostar tickets go on sale 4 months in advance (more or less). But what time are they released for sale?

With SNCF advance fares are released pretty promptly at midnight French time, and I have taken advantage of that by sitting up until 11.00pm UK time to get the cheapest fares the moment they go on sale (though they almost always seem to say, "Grab them now - last seats at this price").

I was wondering whether the same was true with E*, as a quick look at sales for days close to when I want to travel shows many of the cheapest fares already gone or available only in limited numbers as early as six-thirty in the morning on the first day of sale.
 
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Oscar

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Eurostar fares also go on sale at midnight - I believe midnight UK time but am not sure.
 

142056

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The tickets for Eurostar come out before those do for National Rail (4 months vs 3 Months), is it best to snap up a cheap Eurostar ticket from London to Paris rather than wait for a through ticket from Manchester to Paris?
If I go for the cheap E*ticket, how does one buy the Manchester-London CIV ticket, and does the standard Virgin Trains advance quota pricing apply to this?

Thanks
 

Oscar

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The tickets for Eurostar come out before those do for National Rail (4 months vs 3 Months), is it best to snap up a cheap Eurostar ticket from London to Paris rather than wait for a through ticket from Manchester to Paris?
If I go for the cheap E*ticket, how does one buy the Manchester-London CIV ticket, and does the standard Virgin Trains advance quota pricing apply to this?

Thanks

Yes, buying the London to Paris ticket first is likely to be a good idea. Low priced CIV Advances are likely to be available on many if not most trains. Virgin Trains Advance quota pricing applies to the National Rail CIV connection but this is not the same quote pricing as that used for the London Terminals Advance fares.

There are two types of CIV ticket:

RailUK Fares & Ticketing Guide - Integrated Fares said:
7.4 Eurostar through ticketing

7.4.1 Categories of National Rail add-ons to Eurostar tickets and how to purchase them

There are two categories of these tickets: those to or from London International / Ashford International (Route: Not London CIV) (tickets to and from the latter are only available to or from certain destinations in South-East England) and those to or from London Estar (CIV).
Tickets to or from London International (CIV) / Ashford International (CIV) can be purchased from any station booking office or from Raileasy (with a booking fee).

Tickets to or from London Estar (CIV) are only available from two sales points. They can be bought by telephone from Eurostar Domestic Sales (01233 617913, Railcard discounts available, tickets generally sent out by post free of charge). Alternatively they can be bought as part of a through ticket purchase between National Rail (British) stations and Continental stations bought from Eurostar UK (www.eurostar.com – only the UK site, no Railcard discounts available, you will need to collect your National Rail tickets from a TVM separately to printing or collecting your Eurostar tickets). They may only be used in conjunction with a Eurostar ticket. Raileasy also sells through tickets between Continental and National Rail stations. Tickets to or from London Estar (CIV) are only available to/from selected National Rail stations.
Any ticket which includes travel on Eurostar (e.g. DB’s London-Spezial tickets) gives entitlement to all appropriate CIV fares.
CIV tickets fall into one of three categories: Advance, Euro High Saver (Off-Peak i.e. walk-up ticket with restrictions) or Euro Standard (Anytime i.e. walk-up ticket with no restrictions).

7.4.2 Prices, restrictions and availability of the two categories

London International (CIV), London Estar (CIV) and London Terminals fares can differ significantly in terms of price, High Saver restrictions and Advance availability. London Estar (CIV) tickets tend to offer better value for money than London International (CIV) tickets. For example:
- there are no Advances between Bristol Temple Meads and London International (CIV) but there are Advances between Bristol Temple Meads and London Estar (CIV) and of course Bristol Temple Meads and London Terminals. However, the price and availability of these Advances differs significantly.
- the fares for York – London International (CIV) and London Estar (CIV) are identical but there is often availability at lower tiers of Advance fares for the London Estar (CIV) tickets which is not available for the London International (CIV) tickets.
- a Euro High Saver (equivalent of Off-Peak for CIV tickets) Return from Cambridge to London International (CIV) is £30.50 while a Euro Standard Single is £21.20 (no Euro High Saver Single available) and a Euro Standard Return is £42.20. The Euro High Saver Single and Euro Standard Single between Cambridge and London Estar (CIV) are £6.00 and £10.00 respectively.
Whereas London Estar (CIV) fares are only sold as singles, London International (CIV) fares also include walk-up returns to or from destinations in the south of England. However, London Estar (CIV) walk-up fares are usually still cheaper than London International (CIV) walk-up fares when making a return journey.

Manchester - Lndon Estar CIV fares
Manchester - London Intl CIV fares

In this case the fares to Lndon Estar CIV and London Intl CIV appear to be identical but in practice Advance fare availability may differ.
 

theageofthetra

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There is something odd about the Eurostar site which I have noticed when booking before at midnight. If you click on the large advertising link for the £59/69 fares it will only let you book the outbound leg and not the return as that date is not 4 months ahead yet. If you go via the normal booking screen, this issue does not occur. I noticed when booking last June, so of course this may have been sorted by now.
 

Oscar

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I also noticed a major anomaly before when booking at midnight in the first half of last year - strange things did seem to be going on.
 

newmilton

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I did a just-after-midnight booking for July the other day. I wanted the cheapest possible fare on the 11h15 Ebbsfleet-Lille, which ought to be £39. At about 00h05 when I went on the fare was still there, with the rubric, 'only two seats left'. I did the booking, got to the end and then got a technical error page, 'we cannot complete your booking at this time'.

Needless to say, when I went back to redo the booking the £39 fare had gone and I had to pay £50, the two remaining tickets presumably having been grabbed by someone else in the meantime. The only consolation is that when I looked in the morning the price was up to £62.

I note from online banking that Eurostar had taken an authorisation from my account - I hope they won't be taking the money as well!

(This actually raises a secondary question: If I am away for a fortnight or so I usually book separate one-way tickets for the outbound and homeward leg, figuring that way I ought to at least get the cheapest single fares; whereas if I were to wait until I could book both legs as a return the cheaper outbound seats would have gone. Or do E* hold back a certain number of outbound seats at the lower price for those waiting to book longer-period returns?)
 
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Peter Mugridge

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(This actually raises a secondary question: If I am away for a fortnight or so I usually book separate one-way tickets for the outbound and homeward leg, figuring that way I ought to at least get the cheapest single fares; whereas if I were to wait until I could book both legs as a return the cheaper outbound seats would have gone. Or do E* hold back a certain number of outbound seats at the lower price for those waiting to book longer-period returns?)

I don't think they hold back because I've had day trips booked in person at St Pancras where the outward and return halves had different fares; booking a return is effectively booking two singles anyway.
 

181

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I did a just-after-midnight booking for July the other day. I wanted the cheapest possible fare on the 11h15 Ebbsfleet-Lille, which ought to be £39. At about 00h05 when I went on the fare was still there, with the rubric, 'only two seats left'. I did the booking, got to the end and then got a technical error page, 'we cannot complete your booking at this time'.

Needless to say, when I went back to redo the booking the £39 fare had gone and I had to pay £50, the two remaining tickets presumably having been grabbed by someone else in the meantime. The only consolation is that when I looked in the morning the price was up to £62.

I had something similar happen a few years ago -- I can't remember exactly what time it was, but it was late in the evening. I went to bed and telephoned the next morning; the first person I spoke to tried to sell me a ticket for £10 or £20 more, but when I objected to this, I was put through to someone who managed to find my partly-made booking in the system and unblock it so I got the ticket at the original price.

In my experience cheap fares are often still available just a few weeks ahead (although perhaps less so than a few years ago) if you're flexible about which train (or if necessary which day) you travel on. At the moment you can get the outward half of a return ticket to Paris for £34.50 or a single for £39 as early as 17th April (admittedly on the 05.40 from St. Pancras!), with quite a few trains available at that price once you get into May.
 

newmilton

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Well, I can confirm that Eurostar hold back outbound fares for those booking returns. Having paid £50 in for each leg booking Ebbsfleet-Lille and back this summer as singles, thinking if I waited to book a return, the cheaper outbound fares would have gone by the time the later trains went on sale, I went back and checked what I would have paid if I had waited until today to book the whole journey now both legs are on sale.

To my chagrin on exactly the same trains it would have been £34.50 + £44.50 ... £79 vs £100.

Live and learn. :(
 
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