Shrewsbury to Paris

[JoeGJ1984]

Looking at trying out the Eurostar to Paris sometime. Probably between April and June. I find that there are plenty of £69 returns available from London to Paris, but tickets to London (or through tckets, from, say Wolverhampton and Birmingham to Paris) are not yet available. I'm thinking it may be best to get one of these now, as they may go if I wait for through Wolverhampton/Birmingham to Paris tickets to become available.

I've noticed tickets at loco2.com from Shrewsbury to London St Pancras International CIV - they can be more expensive than regular Advances on the same trains from Shrewsbury to London Euston, though they say Advance on them.

I've heared about buying London Estar CIV tickets which are cheaper than London International CIV, but there is no way to check the price online. If I buy a ticket from London to Paris now, is it possible to later phone Eurostar Domestic Sales to get the London Estar CIV ticket?

What's the situation if I use a regular Advance ticket instead of a CIV ticket to/from Shrewsbury to London and get delayed, missing my booked Eurostar (or reverse on my return journey)? Will I still be covered? Because it is possible to get Advances from Shrewsbury to London Euston for as little as £10.50. Would the London EStar CIV tickets cost more than this?

Also noticed no mention of the London Estar CIV at seat61 - they only talk about London International CIV.

 

[lemonic]

I've heared about buying London Estar CIV tickets which are cheaper than London International CIV, but there is no way to check the price online. If I buy a ticket from London to Paris now, is it possible to later phone Eurostar Domestic Sales to get the London Estar CIV ticket?

Yes and this is the best course of action to get the cheapest Eurostar prices now and then get your connecting tickets to London when they are released.

 

[button_boxer]

And if you do that you'll end up with the same tickets - when you buy a "through fare" what you actually get is a normal Eurostar ticket from London to Paris and a separate domestic ticket to Lndon Estar CIV, the website quotes the combined price but when you print/collect the tickets they're priced separately.

 

[Gordon]

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In my opinion, tickets should always be booked separately, as early as possible for each leg to get the cheapest rates.

I live in Greater London so don't have the UK 'leg' problem. I am normally travelling beyond Paris, so my 'leg' problem is at the French end, but the same notion applies, so I always book the Estar first and add other TGV legs later (but as quickly as possible after booking Estar to get the cheapest rate).

Don't forget there are other attractive cities in France outside Paris!




.

 

[johnnychips]

As far as I am aware, if you have a normal Advance ticket to London and it is delayed, you have no right to be put on a later Eurostar train.

This is a failing of the E* internet booking system from outside London, as it only offers you one choice of connecting train.

 

[Goatboy]

As far as I am aware, if you have a normal Advance ticket to London and it is delayed, you have no right to be put on a later Eurostar train.

This is why you must buy the tickets with a destination of 'LONDON INTERNATIONAL (CIV)' and not 'LONDON TERMINALS' if doing it this way.

 

[JoeGJ1984]

So what's my best bet for buying tickets from Shrewsbury to London that have CIV protection? Ringing Eurostar Domestic Sales (for London Estar CIV)? Or using loco2.com (which gives Advance fares to London St Pancras International CIV?)

Incidentally, brfares.com gives only single fares from Shrewsbury to London Intl (CIV) and the cheapest is £27.70 and is not valid for trains arriving into London before 0940 Monday to Friday.

 

[30907]

Loco 2 only seem to offer Advance tickets "with CIV protection" for those early trains from Shrewsbury (as you say, they don't exist on BRFares), otherwise it's always the Euro High Saver which I reckon is tremendous value on Virgin routes.

Which booking route you use makes little difference, and in theory a ticket to LNE can be bought over the counter locally.

The disadvantage with using Advances (even CIV ones) in conjunction with ES is the different booking horizons, meaning you have to do two transactions.