London Eurostar CIV ticket - admin fee

[hkstudent]

When I check the Eurostar site about ticket office at St Pancras, and now shocked to see they charge £10 booking fee with ticket desk or telesales.

Do this apply also to civ tickets? If so, would it be better to buy a London International CIV ticket instead to save cost, if travelling from SE London?

 

[island]

Happy to be corrected if I am wrong, but I don't believe Eurostar sell domestic tickets at all anymore.

 

[30907]

When I check the Eurostar site about ticket office at St Pancras, and now shocked to see they charge £10 booking fee with ticket desk or telesales.

Do this apply also to civ tickets? If so, would it be better to buy a London International CIV ticket instead to save cost, if travelling from SE London?

I'm not clear what you are trying to do.

The CIV fare from a random SE station (Orpington) to "LNE" is the same as the ordinary fare to STP and therefore significantly more than contactless/Oyster.

 

[hkstudent]

I'm not clear what you are trying to do.

The CIV fare from a random SE station (Orpington) to "LNE" is the same as the ordinary fare to STP and therefore significantly more than contactless/Oyster.

Most Eurostar fares are Advance style ticket which if you are late, you will miss that.
You will need a CIV ticket, to make sure just in case, when Southeastern delays, you can still take the next service (and subsequent delay repay of course)

 

[reb0118]

Does delay repay apply to international bookings under the CIV regulations?...

 

[mrmartin]

Most Eurostar fares are Advance style ticket which if you are late, you will miss that.
You will need a CIV ticket, to make sure just in case, when Southeastern delays, you can still take the next service (and subsequent delay repay of course)

But all tickets to SE london from st pancras are on the day anyway. If he misses the train he would just buy the ticket later. And as someone pointed out the CIV fare is going to be more than oyster anyway, so it is pointless imo?

CIV fares only make sense when you are getting an advance which is significantly cheaper than the on the day walkup fare.

 

[skyhigh]

But all tickets to SE london from st pancras are on the day anyway. If he misses the train he would just buy the ticket later. And as someone pointed out the CIV fare is going to be more than oyster anyway, so it is pointless imo?

I think they're looking for protection in the opposite direction - i.e. if the Southeastern train is delayed for whatever reason, they'd be able to take a later Eurostar service as a connection (as opposed to a late Eurostar meaning a missed Southeastern connection).

 

[Haywain]

When I check the Eurostar site about ticket office at St Pancras, and now shocked to see they charge £10 booking fee with ticket desk or telesales.

Do this apply also to civ tickets? If so, would it be better to buy a London International CIV ticket instead to save cost, if travelling from SE London?

A ticket to London International (CIV) should be able to be purchased at a National Rail ticket office, where no booking fee is applied. All that is necessary to buy one is to provide proof of the Eurostar booking.

 

[dutchflyer]

Money grabbers-just copycats of RYAN whcih charges around 40/50€ or GBP for pax buying ´tickets´ for same day at their airportcounters.
In Scandinavia this is nowadays fairly common for the very, very few souls who still insist on old style buy tickets on the day from desk, mostly the ferries, some trains also.
Both BE and NL charge like 7/8€ extra fee for those who dare to visit in person INternational counters to buy tickets.
RENFE is Spain charges like 4-5% on top of prices as it sees itself as a kind of ´middleman´ (or maybe to protect the numerous agents which are still there as tradition from the past) of some ticket or traintypes.

 

[30907]

Most Eurostar fares are Advance style ticket which if you are late, you will miss that.
You will need a CIV ticket, to make sure just in case, when Southeastern delays, you can still take the next service (and subsequent delay repay of course)

OK, but you said "to save cost" hence my confusion.

You need to have your ES ticket pdf to show entitlement to the ticket, and it might help to tell the clerk the code LNE.

 

[maniacmartin]

Just buy the London CIV tickets from a National Rail ticket office. I did this recently with no issue at all and no admin fee. You’re supposed to be asked to show proof of your Eurostar ticket to connect with, but I wasn’t asked.

I just asked for “a ticket to London International to connect with Eurostar” and the clerk knew which ticket I meant.

 

[hkstudent]

OK, but you said "to save cost" hence my confusion.

You need to have your ES ticket pdf to show entitlement to the ticket, and it might help to tell the clerk the code LNE.

Yeah, because London Eurostar CIV is slightly cheaper than a London International CIV ticket, and hence the minor saving.

 

[Nottingham59]

London Eurostar CIV is slightly cheaper than a London International CIV ticket

Can anyone explain what is the difference, please?

 

[Wallsendmag]

Can anyone explain what is the difference, please?

One is for onward use with an inclusive ferry ticket and I think you can guess what the other one is for

 

[Haywain]

One is for onward use with an inclusive ferry ticket

Which one?

 

[paul1609]

Which one?

I think the last intended one was London to Any Dutch station via Hook of Holland that was withdrawn when the Hoek metro was introduced. I suppose that in theory it could be still used in connection with a London Sail Rail ticket from somewhere like Penzance to an Irish station beyond Dublin to travel via London when that was not a permitted route on a direct sail rail ticket, perhaps to use the night riviera sleeper?

 

[CyrusWuff]

Yeah, because London Eurostar CIV is slightly cheaper than a London International CIV ticket, and hence the minor saving.

The difference being that tickets to London Eurostar CIV were only officially available through Eurostar's domestic Telesales office, which closed in July 2016, or through their website - which now denies the existence of anywhere other than St Pancras, Ebbsfleet and Ashford.

That said, it didn't prevent some Ticket Offices from issuing them in error.

 

[mrmartin]

I do find it strange that Eurostar don't offer UK through ticketing, at least to major cities. They would get the 5% commission on the ticket and expand their market a bit.

 

[30907]

One is for onward use with an inclusive ferry ticket and I think you can guess what the other one is for

Not sure this is accurate, sorry.
LOE (London Estar) as CyrusWuff says was specific to Eurostar-issued through fares, and for some routes was also rather cheaper than LNE, which is the one stations can issue and can be used for any international journey from London.
There don't now appear to be LOE fares from the OP's area.

 

[Deerfold]

I do find it strange that Eurostar don't offer UK through ticketing, at least to major cities. They would get the 5% commission on the ticket and expand their market a bit.

They used to, and when they changed their booking system they said it would return. Then at some point in the pandemic they seemed to change their minds.

I used to buy Leeds to Bruxelles return about 3 times a year (they didn't do tickets to my actual local station).

 

[Wallsendmag]

Not sure this is accurate, sorry.
LOE (London Estar) as CyrusWuff says was specific to Eurostar-issued through fares, and for some routes was also rather cheaper than LNE, which is the one stations can issue and can be used for any international journey from London.
There don't now appear to be LOE fares from the OP's area.

I don’t think there ever were, I think there were through fares from the former SR

 

[Hadders]

I was able to purchase Stevenage to London Eurostar tickets at the (sadly now closed) Stevenage LNER Travel Centre, although the last time I tired I was told they couldn't do them any more.

 

[alex397]

Hopefully this is the best place to ask, but I can’t find detailed information online. I’m travelling by Eurostar tomorrow and I’m considering buying a Eurostar CIV ticket from Canterbury West. I remember buying a CIV to Ashford once. Does anyone know if this exists from Kent to London and what the price might be? Hopefully, if it exists, it will be cheaper that the £52 return I’ll pay (with a railcard). I feel a bit clueless asking this.

 

[Watershed]

Hopefully this is the best place to ask, but I can’t find detailed information online. I’m travelling by Eurostar tomorrow and I’m considering buying a Eurostar CIV ticket from Canterbury West. I remember buying a CIV to Ashford once. Does anyone know if this exists from Kent to London and what the price might be? Hopefully, if it exists, it will be cheaper that the £52 return I’ll pay (with a railcard). I feel a bit clueless asking this.

Yes, you can still buy them. RailEasy sell them online; alternatively you can obtain them at a ticket office. You want to search for destination London International CIV (code LNE for short).

From Canterbury E/W, a return costs £25.85 with Railcard discount. You'll get a Euro High Saver, a ticket valid at anytime, with the return portion having 2 months' validity. Obviously only valid if you have proof of your Eurostar booking.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Still exists, and it's £33.80 Single or £39.20 Return, with no time restrictions.

Should be valid on HS1 as it's route "Any Permitted" rather than "Not HS1".

 

[Watershed]

Still exists, and it's £33.80 Single or £39.20 Return, with no time restrictions.

Should be valid on HS1 as it's route "Any Permitted" rather than "Not HS1".

It would be pretty illogical if it wasn't valid on HS1, considering that the Eurostar also leaves from St Pancakes! Owing to the absence of a route restriction, it is of course valid on HS1.

 

[ainsworth74]

RailEasy sell them online

I thought RailEasy stopped selling them? The destination still exists in their journey planner but what it actually sells is just a standard domestic ticket to London Terminals (or the relevant London Terminal for APs) rather than a ticket to London International.

 

[CyrusWuff]

It would be pretty illogical if it wasn't valid on HS1, considering that the Eurostar also leaves from St Pancakes! Owing to the absence of a route restriction, it is of course valid on HS1.

This is both Southeastern and the fares system in general we're talking about. Logic doesn't come into it.

 

[Watershed]

I thought RailEasy stopped selling them? The destination still exists in their journey planner but what it actually sells is just a standard domestic ticket to London Terminals (or the relevant London Terminal for APs) rather than a ticket to London International.

They still do - but the site, quite sensibly, defaults to selling a non-CIV ticket. So you have to tap/click "show ticket details & alternatives" to select it.

They do charge a £1 booking fee so it's a little bit cheaper to obtain it from a booking office. But given the competence of some booking office clerks I've come across...

 

[alex397]

From Canterbury E/W, a return costs £25.85 with Railcard discount. You'll get a Euro High Saver, a ticket valid at anytime, with the return portion having 2 months' validity. Obviously only valid if you have proof of your Eurostar booking.

Excellent, thank you. I shall attempt to buy this from the ticket office. Hopefully they’ll know what I’m talking about! If not, I’ll try RailEasy.
I’ve tried the Southeastern website, but doesn’t look like you can buy it from there, as I expected.