TrainPal - ticket not issued for under-4 (Eurostar)

FlitwickBeds

Booked some tickets for Eurostar via TrainPal so we could take advantage of the small discount being offered for new app users.

Step 1 asks for origin and destination and dates as usual, but also asks for passengers names and DOBs - all fine and entered for 2 adults and 2 children aged 9 and 3.

Step 2 - Select trains for outbound and return showing prices for each timed train. The top of these pages shows the date previously selected, and an icon of a person with the number 4 next to it. 

Step 3 - Page title is "Summary" and right underneath it, it says "4 passengers". When you scroll down the page, under the subtitles "Passengers", it lists all 4 of us and asks for nationality, passport number, passport expiry date, and issuing country. Importantly, it lists the 3 year old here and requires their full passport information. We can also add our Eurostar loyalty number here if we wanted, for all 4 people individually.

Step 4 - payment. In the details, it lists 4 passengers (but doesn't give a breakdown per passenger).

So, I was surprised when, after payment, I was only issued 3 tickets.

On further research and asking on Twitter, Eurostar do not require a ticket for under-4s and therefore do not reserve a seat for them, as the assumption is they will sit on an adult's lap.

However, all the way through the TrainPal process it states 4 passengers so that is what I thought I was purchasing - 4 tickets (and therefore seats). At no point in the process (I've been back through it doing a mock booking a number of times) does it say that under-4s will not get a ticket or seat. Even in the terms and conditions. 

I asked on their live chat and the agent said that the only way to get a Eurostar seat for an under 4 on their app is to say that they are actually over 4. However, that would require putting in an incorrect date of birth as they don't ask for ages, only DOBs.

There is no way our active 3.5 year old will sit on our laps for a 4h15 journey, twice. Currently I have reserved 4 seats across a table in the most undesirable place I could find on the train in the hope that no one will reserve the 4th seat, but obviously can't guarantee that.

What to do?!

Emmia

FlitwickBeds said:

Booked some tickets for Eurostar via TrainPal so we could take advantage of the small discount being offered for new app users.

Step 1 asks for origin and destination and dates as usual, but also asks for passengers names and DOBs - all fine and entered for 2 adults and 2 children aged 9 and 3.

Step 2 - Select trains for outbound and return showing prices for each timed train. The top of these pages shows the date previously selected, and an icon of a person with the number 4 next to it. 

Step 3 - Page title is "Summary" and right underneath it, it says "4 passengers". When you scroll down the page, under the subtitles "Passengers", it lists all 4 of us and asks for nationality, passport number, passport expiry date, and issuing country. Importantly, it lists the 3 year old here and requires their full passport information. We can also add our Eurostar loyalty number here if we wanted, for all 4 people individually.

Step 4 - payment. In the details, it lists 4 passengers (but doesn't give a breakdown per passenger).

So, I was surprised when, after payment, I was only issued 3 tickets.

On further research and asking on Twitter, Eurostar do not require a ticket for under-4s and therefore do not reserve a seat for them, as the assumption is they will sit on an adult's lap.

However, all the way through the TrainPal process it states 4 passengers so that is what I thought I was purchasing - 4 tickets (and therefore seats). At no point in the process (I've been back through it doing a mock booking a number of times) does it say that under-4s will not get a ticket or seat. Even in the terms and conditions. 

I asked on their live chat and the agent said that the only way to get a Eurostar seat for an under 4 on their app is to say that they are actually over 4. However, that would require putting in an incorrect date of birth as they don't ask for ages, only DOBs.

There is no way our active 3.5 year old will sit on our laps for a 4h15 journey, twice. Currently I have reserved 4 seats across a table in the most undesirable place I could find on the train in the hope that no one will reserve the 4th seat, but obviously can't guarantee that.

What to do?!

Could you buy a fourth seat for your child via the Eurostar website? This is why I book direct either with Eurostar or NS International.

As someone who travels solo for business I frequently end up in that "unreserved" fourth seat as the travel agency I have to use tend to reserve them for some unknown reason. Chances of it still being empty when you get on the train are not high.

What do you think is an undesirable place on the train?

daveyjp

Trainpal is part of trip.com so not a company I'd buy from. Sometimes a discount isn't worth chasing.

Emmia

Curiously, the passenger selection screen in the Eurostar app indicates children of up to 3 can be seated on a parent's lap (for free) but a separate seat can also be booked for a child aged 0-11 (at a cost),  so booking direct would enable you to have what you want