They do have a reputation for charging different prices in different
countries and for different directions of travel. Are you sure you
clicked the button for Standard Class fares? It's cunningly set to the
left of the main search entry area on their site, and the default
information is always First Class unless you make a point of choosing
the Standard Class button.

PJW

On Wed, 05 Feb 2003 16:18:14 GMT, Ed Dente
wrote:

    >Hi,
    >In a previous thread, I asked about a low return fare on the Eurostar
    >from London to Paris.
    >Someone kindly directed me to the Eurostar site, which I had searched
    >previously w/ no luck, and said I would find a GBP70 return fare there.
    >I went again to eurostar.com and looked under fares, (all categories of
    >them), and still can find nothing less expensive than GBP138 return.
    >Am I doing something wrong? That wouldn't surprise me in the slightest,
    >but I'm not sure where else to check. Is there a .co.uk URL that might
    >have different info than the .com URL?
    >Mystified.
    >Thanks,
    >Ed

Krist van Besien wrote:
    > Joan McGalliard wrote:

    > > But the point is, you can't assume anything about a person's geographic
    > > location from how they read a website.

    > But you can from their IP address. And that's how it is done.

No, on both counts, I think.

Often location can be guessed by IP address, but such is not guaranteed
to be reliable, as there are a number of different ways that one can be
"coming from" an IP address that is not the same as one's physical
location.

Additionally, I think that my own experience (already described earlier
in this thread) indicates that the customization is decidedly _not_
being done via IP address, given that I get _different_ pages depending
on which browser I happen to use, even though both browsers are on the
exact same machine (with the exact same IP address). And, of course,
_neither_ of them are appropriate to my actual physical location (which
in my case could be guessed at based on IP address).


--
greg byshenk - [email protected] - Leiden, NL
hate spam?

On 07 Feb 2003 17:02:21 GMT, greg byshenk
wrote:

    >Krist van Besien wrote:
    >> Joan McGalliard wrote:
    >
    >> > But the point is, you can't assume anything about a person's geographic
    >> > location from how they read a website.
    >
    >> But you can from their IP address. And that's how it is done.
    >No, on both counts, I think.
    >Often location can be guessed by IP address, but such is not guaranteed
    >to be reliable, as there are a number of different ways that one can be
    >"coming from" an IP address that is not the same as one's physical
    >location.
    >Additionally, I think that my own experience (already described earlier
    >in this thread) indicates that the customization is decidedly _not_
    >being done via IP address, given that I get _different_ pages depending
    >on which browser I happen to use, even though both browsers are on the
    >exact same machine (with the exact same IP address). And, of course,
    >_neither_ of them are appropriate to my actual physical location (which
    >in my case could be guessed at based on IP address).

I believe its done from the regional settings in your operating system
(which, if its Windows will flow through to the IE browser settings,
but not necessarily to a Netscape Browser which may have its own
settings)

Consequently, if you change the regional settings in your control
panel and reboot, you may well get a different web page

Brian

Quoting Barbara Vaughan [email protected]

    >This must mean that someone booking from outside the UK is not offered
    >these fares, so maybe Ed is out of luck.
I'm not sure when Ed is planning on traveling on the Eurostar, but guessing
that he is in the US. We've had very good luck getting our train and tube
passes from www.raileurope.com. When we got Eurostar tickets a couple years
ago, they were one of the two places we could get them here in the US.
Excellent customer service. They have a special advertised on their web site,
http://www.raileurope.com/us/special..._promotion.htm :

Save big with our Eurostar Early Bird Promotion... up to 64% discount vs
standard class leisure fare on the London - Paris-Nord route.

$50
Standard class, one-way
Valid for travel from June 15th to August 27th, 2003.

Note: Valid for London-Paris route in either direction. Nonrefundable and
nonexchangeable. Transatlantic airline ticket must be purchased at the same
time. Transatlantic airline ticket must be purchased at the same time. Prices
in U.S. dollars. Canadian fares also available.
Conditions:

This promotional fare is valid for travel from London to Paris between June
15th and August 27th, 2003. Tickets must be purchased between January 20th and
February 15th, 2003.
Transatlantic air tickets proof of purchase may be required onboard of
Eurostar.
The Eurostar Early Bird Promotion must be purchased from Rail Europe or your
local travel agent before departure for Europe.

Maybe this will help?

Good luck and happy traveling,

Peggy

Brian wrote:
    > greg byshenk wrote:
    > >> Joan McGalliard wrote:

    > >> > But the point is, you can't assume anything about a person's geographic
    > >> > location from how they read a website.

[...]

    > I believe its done from the regional settings in your operating system
    > (which, if its Windows will flow through to the IE browser settings,
    > but not necessarily to a Netscape Browser which may have its own
    > settings)

This is a possibility. Of course, if that is what they are trying to
do, then they aren't getting it right (at least in my case).


--
greg byshenk - [email protected] - Leiden, NL
hate spam?

Krist van Besien wrote in message news:...
    > Joan McGalliard wrote:
    >
    > > But the point is, you can't assume anything about a person's geographic
    > > location from how they read a website.
    >
    > But you can from their IP address. And that's how it is done.
    >
    > Krist

Try the free IP locator tool at http://www.geobytes.com/FreeServices.htm

Clear out your browser cache. (IE->tools->options->general->delete files).

Go to http://www.eurostar.com, select "United Kingdom" for Country and "English"
for language. This should get you to the UK pages, and the standard 14 day APEX
is 79UKP, London-Paris return.

--mikeb

In article ,
Ed Dente wrote:
    >greg byshenk wrote:
    >: bigbrian wrote:
    >:> Ed Dente wrote:
    >:> >Someone kindly directed me to the Eurostar site, which I had searched
    >:> >previously w/ no luck, and said I would find a GBP70 return fare there.
    >:> >I went again to eurostar.com and looked under fares, (all categories of
    >:> >them), and still can find nothing less expensive than GBP138 return.
    >:> >Am I doing something wrong? That wouldn't surprise me in the slightest,
    >:> >but I'm not sure where else to check. Is there a .co.uk URL that might
    >:> >have different info than the .com URL?
    >:
    >:> If you go to the eurostar.com main page, you'll see a big panel in the
    >:> bottom right hand corner advertising fares to Paris for GBP59 return
    >:
    >: There is a lot of magic being done in the background on the Eurostar
    >: site, and different people will not see the same thing. The pages
    >: you see will be different depending on what URL you use, and also on
    >: other factors.
    >: For example, I get different pages depending on which of my browsers
    >: I use. In Mozilla, I get directed to the French pages, even if I try
    >: to visit eurostar.co.uk (I think it's because I have my browser set to
    >: prefer French language over English). So in Mozilla, I see the first
    >: page (mostly) in English, but any links go to French pages, and I do
    >: not see the GBP59 special. In IE, I _do_ see the special.
    >: Isn't the automated "personalization" of web pages fun...?
    >Thanks for all the help on this. I continue to be confused, though. (Of
    >course, that's hard to accomplish.)
    >I go directly to the URLs suggested in these responses, I go directly to
    >the Eurostar main page, I go directly to the Eurostar uk.co URL (as Mr.
    >Hatunen points out, it takes one to the same place.), I use both
    >Netscape and IE, and I'm still not
    >seeing what others are seeing. HOWEVER, I do see that the little symbols
    >I was glancing at quickly are not GBP signs, but Euro signs! I am
    >terribly emabarrassed that I didn't see that before. Vanity and reading
    >glasses don't go together.
    >However, there still is nothing about APEX fares or anything like them.
    >The closest thing I'm seeing is Leisure Return 60 - Euro 138.60, which is
    >about 91 GBP.
    >I swear, I'm looking at the same URL that y'all are looking at. There's
    >also no ad for a GBP 59 special on any page I get.
    >Stumped again.
    >Oh well, I'll have to try some other computers I guess.
    >Cheers
    >Ed

Michael Brennan wrote:
    : Clear out your browser cache. (IE->tools->options->general->delete files).

    : Go to http://www.eurostar.com, select "United Kingdom" for Country and "English"
    : for language. This should get you to the UK pages, and the standard 14 day APEX
    : is 79UKP, London-Paris return.

    : --mikeb

It worked!
Thanks, and thanks to N. Denim and others who also suggested solutions.
Cheers,
Ed