Eurostar continues to harmonise its offer following the absorption of Thalys, completed in 2023. From 4 November, the railway company will be introducing a new system of new travel classes on its entire network serving France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Eurostar Standard will be its entry-level class, corresponding to a second-class journey. The Eurostar Plus class will offer passengers greater comfort during their journey, with a more spacious seat and, on cross-Channel routes only, an on-board service including a light meal and a drink.
Finally, the highest class of travel, Eurostar Premier, will ensure that passengers can board the train all day long with their ticket, benefiting from a welcome in the lounge and priority access to the train via a dedicated queue. Not forgetting the on-board service ofa real meal developed by the chefs working with Eurostar, Frank Fol on the Old Continent and Raymond Blanc on the cross-Channel lines. In the meantime, a new restaurant concept is due to be launched at the end of 2024.
" After surveying some 12,000 travellers in our various markets, we wanted to put in place the simplest possible, clearest and most transparent offer, with no hidden costs and paying options, just like our competitors." says Matthieu Quyollet, Eurostar's Director of Development and Integration.
Maximum flexibility with Eurostar Premier
Without waiting until November, the rail company has decided to modify its conditions for exchanges and refunds on tickets purchased since yesterday for travel until 15 December. In fact, Business Premier class on cross-Channel services and Premium class on continental routes (i.e. Eurostar Premier from 4 November) guarantee business travellers the greatest flexibility, as they can easily exchange or have their ticket refunded. The duration of two days for a free refund after departure will become the norm for the entire network from 4 November, whereas it is currently possible up to 1 hour after departure in Premium class, two days after departure in Business Premier between London, Paris and Brussels, and up to departure between the Netherlands and London.
The conditions are slightly more restrictive for Standard and Standard Comfort/Standard Premier (now Eurostar Standard and Eurostar Plus). While passengers can request a refund up to 7 days before travel and exchange their ticket free of charge, and as many times up to one hour before departure, the company will apply a refund charge of €25 per journey. Passengers may also have to pay the difference if the original fare is no longer available and the new fare chosen is higher.
" The big innovation is the ability to exchange free of charge from Standard class up to 1 hour before departure. We didn't decide to wait until November to make these changes because flexibility was a strong demand from our customers." explains Matthieu Quyollet. Pricing remains unchanged, however, with introductory prices starting at €29 to Brussels, €35 to Amsterdam and €44 to London.
Connections between SNCF and the 28 Eurostar destinations
The harmonisation also affects connecting tickets. Already available on routes to London St-Pancras, these "connecting tickets are now available for the former Thalys network from 100 French stations when booked via Eurostar.com, the Eurostar app or the SNCFConnect website. This will ensure that passengers are better looked after in the event of disruption on the first section, since if they miss a connection they will be able to board the next train departing for Belgium, the Netherlands or Germany.
" The aim is to create genuine European hubs in major stations by connecting national networks to our network as far as possible, and to enable our customers to travel from city centre to city centre.says Eurostar's Director of Development and Integration. The agreement with SNCF is a first step, and we hope that it will help us to achieve this. extend these connections with the other national networks of the countries Eurostar crosses" .
However, this agreement with SNCF has been facilitated by the fact that SNCF is Eurostar's historic shareholder, currently 56%. Following the unification of websites and a new loyalty programme last October, ticket flexibility today and new travel classes in November, Eurostar will unveil a new customer journey at the end of the year. " Travelling in Business Premier class already offers business travellers the fastest boarding on cross-Channel routes. There's no need to arrive at the Eurostar terminal 45 minutes beforehand, as it only takes 15 minutes to board! And these passengers can take any train of the day on our different routes." he reminds us.
