London Spezial vs BA Exeter->London->Köln

[starrymarkb]

Hello

I'm looking at doing a trip from Exeter to Köln in July (going out on the 24th and return on the 27th) for the Amphi festival

I was considering getting the train via London and Brussels but have now seen that BA are doing flights Heathrow to Düsseldorf for £120 (inc luggage)

Now what I'm trying to decide is if it's worth waiting for DB to release the speziels or booking the flight this week.

Also I'm wondering if DB will limit speziels with a major event taking place in Köln

 

[pne]

Also I'm wondering if DB will limit speziels with a major event taking place in Köln

Europa Spezial and London Spezial tickets are quota-controlled like UK Advance tickets. So once the lowest-price quota is sold out, you can only get slightly more expensive ones, and so on. I imagine that the quota for each price tier is not fixed-size either but can vary day by day, depending on demand.

Sometimes they also drop the lowest level or three entirely, so even if you book a minute past midnight on the first possible day, you're paying not first-tier but third-tier or fourth-tier prices, depending on what they expect the demand to be like.

I don’t know what all is considered when predicting demand (for example, whether events in Cologne are). I’ll just say that while it’s highly likely that you’ll be able to buy a London Spezial ticket on a given date, the price you will be paying is pretty hard to predict before the sale starts.

 

[30907]

You could consider a ES Any Belgian Station ticket which will go on sale much sooner, and pay separately Liege - Koeln which should be €19 on Thalys or DB (haven't checked lately).
London Specials do tend to go up a little in summer, so you might have to budget €69.

 

[317666]

There's also Eurostar's own fares from London to Cologne with either Thalys or ICE, but bear in mind that the ICE ones do not include seat reservations on the ICE. However, you can use any Brussels - Colgone ICE of the day rather than being restricted to just one (I've just booked one for £59 for April).

 

[starrymarkb]

I think I'm going to grab the flights later. Timing wise it may mean I can do the pre festival cruise