France banning travel to and from the UK from this Saturday....

Orville

I have booked to go to Paris via Eurostar.

I thought in these circumstances I would be entitled to a refund. They are only offering and e-voucher as of the time of typing this.

Should I be entitled to a refund?

GingerTim

I think a refund would only be forthcoming if it was the British government that forbade travel to France - presumably the service will still run with French nationals aboard who are able to travel.

sheramber

If the train is running then they have no obligation to give you anything. A voucher is a gesture of goodwill.

If you had travel insurance that covered government restrictions you may  have a claim with them.

Unfortunately, this is a risk with booking to travel during a pandemic , when the situation can change at short notice.

onashoestring

If the service hasn’t been cancelled, then you are not entitled to a refund from Eurostar. This means that charge back is also ruled out as Eurostar haven’t breached their contract or failed to supply the service you purchased. 

The good news is  that if you’re booked to travel by 10 January 2022 -Eurostar are allowing you to “rearrange your journey “ at any point before departure and you won’t have to pay an exchange fee. You’ll only need to pay the difference in fare.

Otherwise it’s an insurance claim if you have travel insurance that covers this but U.K. Gov haven’t advised against travel to France ( it’s the other way round ) so most travel insurance policies won’t cover this. 

Orville

The train is not running. Eurostar have cancelled it...

I checked within minutes of hearing  the announcement on Sky News this morning. It was already cancelled.

eskbanker

Orville said:

The train is not running. Eurostar have cancelled it...

I checked within minutes of hearing  the announcement on Sky News this morning. It was already cancelled.

The train being cancelled is a slightly different issue from the French travel ban, although perhaps unlikely to be a coincidence....

https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/travel-info/service-information/claiming-compensation

If your train is cancelled or announced as delayed before departure

If your train has been cancelled or announced as delayed before departure by more than 6o minutes, you can reschedule your trip for another date or swap your ticket for an e-voucher, which you can use to rebook later in the year or claim a cash refund.

Exchange your ticket for free: 

• You have 2 months from the date you were due to travel to exchange your ticket
• You can travel anytime in the same travel class following your exchange, subject to availability

Claim your e-voucher:

• Your voucher will be valid for 12 months from the date of your delayed or cancelled train

Request a refund:

• You have 2 months from the date you were due to travel to request a refund regardless of your ticket conditions.

onashoestring

Orville said:

The train is not running. Eurostar have cancelled it...

I checked within minutes of hearing  the announcement on Sky News this morning. It was already cancelled.

As the train has been cancelled- you are entitled to a refund . 

Eurostar will try to get you to accept a voucher ( if you accept a voucher you won’t be entitled to a refund later if you change you mind ) they do this by putting the links to refund page at the end after all the links to vouchers
 - if a refund is what you want make sure you claim a refund and don’t “accidentally“ request / accept a voucher . The link for refunds is here: 

https://disruption.eurostar.com/form/?language=uk-en

MSE_Helen_K

Hi all, 

Thanks for the helpful points raised in this thread - we also have some info in our France travel rights MSE News story. 

Best of luck to anyone impacted by the changes. 

MSE Helen

Orville

Thank you very much everyone. I have requested a refund. I should have put it had been cancelled in my first post for clarity. My apologies for that. :-)

Sallyannmse

We live in France and booked a hotel for 2 nights for my family of 5 to be near my 90 year old parents in Folkestone over Christmas. Cost approx £2000 (including Christmas lunch for 8 people). The French government ruled on no travel unless pressing grounds and the hotel has refused to refund or give vouchers. Any advice on how to proceed please? Thank you!

Caz3121

what were the booking terms? if non-refundable, will your travel insurance cover government restrictions?