Cheap Rail Tickets To St Pancras For Eurostar Connections

AirlieBird

You missed off Southeastern.

Holders of Eurostar tickets can travel free on Southeastern trains to Ebbsfleet International or Ashford International.
http://www.eurostar.com/UK/x_usd/leisure/about_eurostar/press_release/eurostar_welcomes_restorations_full_capacity_channel_tunnel.jsp

Eurostar ticket holders can make connecting journeys to either Kent station for free from anywhere on the Southeastern trains network.

dzug1

Mids_Costcutter wrote: »

Thanks for the info. Dzug1. Does it make a difference if you try from your nearest mainline station?

It IS a mainline station

Mids_Costcutter

TimothyEBaldwin wrote: »

Which doesn't work, it just lists the standard domestic fares. at least that is the case for Virgin Trains' web site and a single journey from York to London Intentional.

You're right. However last month when I started at the National Rail web site I was able to use 'Journey Planner' to select a journey and tickets to London International. In order to buy the tickets the National Rail web site transferred me automatically to the Virgin Trains web site, therefore I assumed (wrongly) that tickets to London International could be bought directly from the VT web site. This month when buying tickets from the National Rail web site you're offered the choice of no less than 17 different train operating companies and 2 third party retailers (Raileasy and Thetrainline.com) to buy from! Selecting Virgin or Cross Country then results in:

"Sorry, due to a technical issue we are currently unable to process your request".

But it is possible to buy from Raileasy who charge a booking fee of course.

ticketcollector - can you explain please why the TOCs' web sites don't offer London International as a destination?

Livingthedream

Mids_Costcutter wrote: »

ticketcollector - can you explain please why the TOCs' web sites don't offer London International as a destination?

I don't know about the other TOCs but with Virgin Trains to get London International (LNE) type '5' in the Station box and the first drop down station is '5470London International(LNE)'

Mids_Costcutter

Livingthedream wrote: »

I don't know about the other TOCs but with Virgin Trains to get London International (LNE) type '5' in the Station box and the first drop down station is '5470London International(LNE)'

Thanks very much for the tip, there are advantages in using the VT web site over others such as being able to choose which seat you'd like. However like so much on this thread, why does it have to be so difficult to find this stuff?

ticketcollector

Mids_Costcutter wrote: »

ticketcollector - can you explain please why the TOCs' web sites don't offer London International as a destination?

Yep.
Because according to the Fares Manual you are only supposed to buy one of these 'international' tickets in conjunction with a Eurostar ticket. But in reality...... !

TimothyEBaldwin

Mids_Costcutter wrote: »

You're right. However last month when I started at the National Rail web site I was able to use 'Journey Planner' to select a journey and tickets to London International.

That doesn't work either for York to London, just the domestic fares again.

omelette451

RichyRich wrote: »

Is it possible to book a ticket to London Intl CIV without a Eurostar ticket or would you need your Eurostar ticket for your London Intl CIV ticket to be valid?

You need a Eurostar ticket, and must be able to present it on request. In the past you needed to show one (or at least confirmation of having booked, e.g. an email printout) in order to buy it in the first place, but obviously if Virgin is now selling them online this bit has been relaxed a little.

omelette451

dzug1 wrote: »

It doesn't work from all stations - I can get a ticket to London International from my local station, but it's the same price as a normal ticket to London plus tube fare so is no real help

It is a help, in that it provides a guaranteed connection if one of your trains is late. I'm not sure how it would work in practice, but theoretically if you bought a cheap non-refundable Eurostar ticket and your domestic train were late Eurostar would legitimately be able to refuse to rebook you, but if you had a CIV ticket this problem would disappear instantly. Presumably the same applies with Virgin's new 'Advance CIV' fares, though I don't see it being particularly easy convincing VT's Euston staff of this in practice.

CIV tickets always used to be the same price as a 'saver return' fare to U1, and they were generally only available from mainline stations, if only because no one else knew about them. Now it seems as if they're valid from every station and can be booked online, which is a definite bonus. In addition, they used to be valid at any time (i.e. including peak trains, but still at off-peak prices) and had a two-month period of validity rather than the one month you got with normal saver tickets; if this still applies it makes them even more attractive. It's just a shame they're so little publicised.

Claire_W_4

RichyRich wrote: »

Is it possible to book a ticket to London Intl CIV without a Eurostar ticket or would you need your Eurostar ticket for your London Intl CIV ticket to be valid?

No....you have to provide evidence that you are actually travelling on Eurostar, either the tickets or have a booking reference.