L.S

Hi if anyone could help me regarding a ticketing inquiry with the
EuroStar I might have it would be much appreciated.

Recently I purchased some Eurostar tickets off someone who didn't need
them anymore as his plans where changed and I'm starting to get
worried about using them especially on New Years Eve. I phoned up
Eurostar and they told me you can't yet my flat mates have done this
before and have been fine even when the ticket guard checked their
tickets on the train. There is also a web site where people sell there
tickets I have noticed..

So anyone out there who has done this could you help reassure me its
fine or should I start looking at staying in London..

If you can have any info could you please email me it would be great.

Thanks..
[email protected]

Phil Richards

On 28 Dec 2003 16:54:28 -0800 L.S <[email protected]> said...


    > Recently I purchased some Eurostar tickets off someone who didn't need
    > them anymore as his plans where changed and I'm starting to get
    > worried about using them especially on New Years Eve. I phoned up
    > Eurostar and they told me you can't yet my flat mates have done this
    > before and have been fine even when the ticket guard checked their
    > tickets on the train. There is also a web site where people sell there
    > tickets I have noticed..
    >
    > So anyone out there who has done this could you help reassure me its
    > fine or should I start looking at staying in London..
    >
    > If you can have any info could you please email me it would be great.

Strictly speaking tickets are non-transferrable if you go by section 11
of Eurostar's terms & conditions found at:

www.eurostar.co.uk & click on "Terms & Conditions"

So what you got told on the phone was correct by Eurostar. However the
chances of being picked up are very slim - tickets are checked
automatically by gates at check in which simply let you through so long
as the ticket is for the right date & time for which you are about to
board. I suppose they have the right to check name against passport/ID
details especially if you're travelling on an age related/student/rail
staff discounted fare. Tickets are not checked by the train manager, a
second quick check is usually carried out by staff just as you go up to
the platform. Again to see if you're joining the train and not to check
names against passports/ID.

--
Phil Richards, London, UK
European Rail Mailing List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/europeanrail/

Paul Corfield

On Mon, 29 Dec 2003 08:57:46 -0000, Phil Richards
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >On 28 Dec 2003 16:54:28 -0800 L.S <[email protected]> said...
    >> Recently I purchased some Eurostar tickets off someone who didn't need
    >> them anymore as his plans where changed and I'm starting to get
    >> worried about using them especially on New Years Eve. I phoned up
    >> Eurostar and they told me you can't yet my flat mates have done this
    >> before and have been fine even when the ticket guard checked their
    >> tickets on the train. There is also a web site where people sell there
    >> tickets I have noticed..

A reselling website - well there's an interesting concept. I'm amazed
Eurostar haven't taken action to stop it.

    >> So anyone out there who has done this could you help reassure me its
    >> fine or should I start looking at staying in London..
    >>
    >> If you can have any info could you please email me it would be great.
    >Strictly speaking tickets are non-transferrable if you go by section 11
    >of Eurostar's terms & conditions found at:
    >www.eurostar.co.uk & click on "Terms & Conditions"

exactly. Not transferrable.

    >So what you got told on the phone was correct by Eurostar. However the
    >chances of being picked up are very slim - tickets are checked
    >automatically by gates at check in which simply let you through so long
    >as the ticket is for the right date & time for which you are about to
    >board. I suppose they have the right to check name against passport/ID
    >details especially if you're travelling on an age related/student/rail
    >staff discounted fare.

except that I am entitled to travel at a discounted rate and when I did
so no one asked for the supporting ID (even though I had it with me).
Just my little test of the system.

    >Tickets are not checked by the train manager, a
    >second quick check is usually carried out by staff just as you go up to
    >the platform. Again to see if you're joining the train and not to check
    >names against passports/ID.

I agree the risks are *very* slim but it is not impossible that both
documents would be checked if some other dispute arose.

Interestingly the last time I travelled (only a few weeks ago) there was
an on board ticket inspection in the last 40 minutes or so of the
journey. This is something I have not seen done since the very earliest
days of Eurostar when they did both ticket and passport checks on train.

Don't worry there's a very nice detention room (for illegal immigrants)
on the train if you get discovered :-)
--
Paul C

Phil Richards

On Mon, 29 Dec 2003 18:48:09 +0000 Paul Corfield <[email protected]>
said...

    > >> There is also a web site where people sell there
    > >> tickets I have noticed..
    >
    > A reselling website - well there's an interesting concept. I'm amazed
    > Eurostar haven't taken action to stop it.

Ebay perhaps? I don't think Eurostar will be able to stop sales happening
that way.

--
Phil Richards, London, UK
European Rail Mailing List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/europeanrail/

Jenn

In article <[email protected] >,
[email protected] (L.S) wrote:

    > Hi if anyone could help me regarding a ticketing inquiry with the
    > EuroStar I might have it would be much appreciated.
    >
    > Recently I purchased some Eurostar tickets off someone who didn't need
    > them anymore as his plans where changed and I'm starting to get
    > worried about using them especially on New Years Eve. I phoned up
    > Eurostar and they told me you can't yet my flat mates have done this
    > before and have been fine even when the ticket guard checked their
    > tickets on the train. There is also a web site where people sell there
    > tickets I have noticed..
    >
    > So anyone out there who has done this could you help reassure me its
    > fine or should I start looking at staying in London..
    >
    > If you can have any info could you please email me it would be great.
    >
    > Thanks..
    > [email protected]

technically you can't transfer them BUT in my experience with Eurostar
passport checks and ticket checks are separate and carried out by
different people so you are unlikely to be caught. I saw no attempt to
match names.

Brian Williams

--

"Jenn" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > In article <[email protected] >,
    > [email protected] (L.S) wrote:
    > > Hi if anyone could help me regarding a ticketing inquiry with the
    > > EuroStar I might have it would be much appreciated.
    > >
    > > Recently I purchased some Eurostar tickets off someone who didn't need
    > > them anymore as his plans where changed and I'm starting to get
    > > worried about using them especially on New Years Eve. I phoned up
    > > Eurostar and they told me you can't yet my flat mates have done this
    > > before and have been fine even when the ticket guard checked their
    > > tickets on the train. There is also a web site where people sell there
    > > tickets I have noticed..
    > >
    > > So anyone out there who has done this could you help reassure me its
    > > fine or should I start looking at staying in London..
    > >
    > > If you can have any info could you please email me it would be great.
    > >
    > > Thanks..
    > > [email protected]
    > technically you can't transfer them BUT in my experience with Eurostar
    > passport checks and ticket checks are separate and carried out by
    > different people so you are unlikely to be caught. I saw no attempt to
    > match names.
I should add that, in recent weeks, they have asked for supporting ID at
Ashford and Paris when tickets have been checked through manually.
regards
Brian

Rian Van Der Borgt

On Mon, 29 Dec 2003 08:57:46 -0000, Phil Richards wrote:
    >Strictly speaking tickets are non-transferrable if you go by section 11
    >of Eurostar's terms & conditions found at:
    >www.eurostar.co.uk & click on "Terms & Conditions"
    >So what you got told on the phone was correct by Eurostar. However the
    >chances of being picked up are very slim - tickets are checked
    >automatically by gates at check in which simply let you through so long
    >as the ticket is for the right date & time for which you are about to
    >board. I suppose they have the right to check name against passport/ID
    >details especially if you're travelling on an age related/student/rail
    >staff discounted fare.

And this is of course only possible when there's a name on the ticket.
Tickets sold in for example Belgium don't mention any name.

Regards,

Rian

--
Rian van der Borgt, Leuven, Belgium.
e-mail: [email protected] www: http://www.xs4all.be/~rvdborgt/
Fix Outlook Express: http://flash.to/oe-quotefix/
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Phil Richards

On 30 Dec 2003 00:40:28 GMT Rian van der Borgt <[email protected]>
said...

    > And this is of course only possible when there's a name on the ticket.
    > Tickets sold in for example Belgium don't mention any name.

What about bookings made by telephone or internet? Those bookings would
be linked to a name on the booking system but I suppose there is no need
for the name to appear on the actual ticket (but see below).

In practice all Eurostar UK issued bookings (including ones bought over
the counter) will have a name on them. For SNCF generally only ones
booked by phone or internet will have the name of the person who booked
the ticket which of course could be different to the passenger(s) names.

Of course the advantage of having a name on all Eurostar tickets is to be
able to retrieve the booking if tickets are lost. Eurostar's conditions
of carriage allow lost or stolen tickets to be duplicated providing the
original booking reference can be found.

--
Phil Richards, London, UK
European Rail Mailing List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/europeanrail/

Rian Van Der Borgt

On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 08:39:10 -0000, Phil Richards wrote:
    >On 30 Dec 2003 00:40:28 GMT Rian van der Borgt <[email protected]>
    >said...
    >>And this is of course only possible when there's a name on the ticket.
    >>Tickets sold in for example Belgium don't mention any name.
    >What about bookings made by telephone or internet?

No idea, I haven't used that yet.

    >Those bookings would
    >be linked to a name on the booking system but I suppose there is no need
    >for the name to appear on the actual ticket (but see below).

[...]

    >Of course the advantage of having a name on all Eurostar tickets is to be
    >able to retrieve the booking if tickets are lost. Eurostar's conditions
    >of carriage allow lost or stolen tickets to be duplicated providing the
    >original booking reference can be found.

When you book over the NMBS website, you do get a reference code if you
choose to pick up your ticket at the station (at the ticket window or
machine). This should be enough, I guess. Or the (unique) code on the
ticket.

Regards,

Rian

--
Rian van der Borgt, Leuven, Belgium.
e-mail: [email protected] www: http://www.xs4all.be/~rvdborgt/
Fix Outlook Express: http://flash.to/oe-quotefix/
Fix Outlook: http://flash.to/outlook-quotefix/

Barry Salter

On 30 Dec 2003 08:58:44 GMT, [email protected] (Rian van der Borgt)
wrote:

    >When you book over the NMBS website, you do get a reference code if you
    >choose to pick up your ticket at the station (at the ticket window or
    >machine). This should be enough, I guess. Or the (unique) code on the
    >ticket.
I'm not sure if the SNCF and NMBS systems work the same way, but a
Eurostar ticket issued on Tribute has three different references on it:

1) The 8 alphanumeric character Tribute Reference
2) The 6 character ERS Reference
3) The 8(?) digit ticket number (prefixed IV)

And, of course, you can also search by name if it was entered into the
record at the time of booking.

Cya,

Barry

--
Barry Salter, barry at southie dot me dot uk
Read uk.* newsgroups? Read uk.net.news.announce!

DISCLAIMER: The above comments do not necessarily represent the
views of my employers.

Lennart Petersen

"Rian van der Borgt" <[email protected]> skrev i meddelandet
news:[email protected]...
    > [...]
    > >Of course the advantage of having a name on all Eurostar tickets is to be
    > >able to retrieve the booking if tickets are lost. Eurostar's conditions
    > >of carriage allow lost or stolen tickets to be duplicated providing the
    > >original booking reference can be found.
    > When you book over the NMBS website, you do get a reference code if you
    > choose to pick up your ticket at the station (at the ticket window or
    > machine). This should be enough, I guess. Or the (unique) code on the
    > ticket.
As I traveled Brussels-London a few weeks ago and kept the ticket:
If booked and paid over internet it's necessary to show the credit card used
for booking when retrieving the ticket at the ticketwindow. However
there's no name, just the code and usual train information on my printed
reservation form, nor is there any name on the ticket itself. Ticket was to
be used in the automatic barrier and then checked at the entrance of the car
but no need for id. Separate passport control but ticket wasn't required.
Turned out to be a nice trip, Euro 40 extra for 1cl was worth the money as
it included a nice lunch with plenty of good wines. GBP5 for a few hours
left luggage service at Waterloo isn't cheap exactly though.

Phil Richards

On 30 Dec 2003 08:58:44 GMT Rian van der Borgt <[email protected]>
said...

    > >Of course the advantage of having a name on all Eurostar tickets is to be
    > >able to retrieve the booking if tickets are lost. Eurostar's conditions
    > >of carriage allow lost or stolen tickets to be duplicated providing the
    > >original booking reference can be found.
    >
    > When you book over the NMBS website, you do get a reference code if you
    > choose to pick up your ticket at the station (at the ticket window or
    > machine). This should be enough, I guess. Or the (unique) code on the
    > ticket.

Loose you're ticket and of course you loose the booking reference, unless
you booked by phone or internet when you would (hopefully) still got a
separate written or printed record of it. By having a name along with
some travel details (date, departure time and/or train number) then you
should be able to search on the booking system for the reference.

--
Phil Richards, London, UK
European Rail Mailing List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/europeanrail/

Phil Richards

On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 12:37:29 +0000 Barry Salter
<[email protected]> said...

    > I'm not sure if the SNCF and NMBS systems work the same way, but a
    > Eurostar ticket issued on Tribute has three different references on it:
    >
    > 1) The 8 alphanumeric character Tribute Reference
    > 2) The 6 character ERS Reference
    > 3) The 8(?) digit ticket number (prefixed IV)

SNCFs system works by the 6 letter reference. The ticket (IV) number also
appears along with a 12-digit reference number (beginning 15) which IIRC
is the HERMES booking reference.

    > And, of course, you can also search by name if it was entered into the
    > record at the time of booking.

Presumably to narrow the search down you would have to include some
journey details in too?

--
Phil Richards, London, UK
European Rail Mailing List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/europeanrail/

Barry Salter

On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 18:54:57 -0000, Phil Richards
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >SNCFs system works by the 6 letter reference. The ticket (IV) number also
    >appears along with a 12-digit reference number (beginning 15) which IIRC
    >is the HERMES booking reference.

Yup...Can search by the HERMES reference on Tribute too, though you need
to know the Train Number as well. Can do a recall by feeding the ticket
into the ATB Printer too.

    >Presumably to narrow the search down you would have to include some
    >journey details in too?

Well you don't have to, but it makes life easier if you do, as the
search will look through Tribute CTRs, so you'd get Domestic Bookings
too.

HTH,

Barry

--
Barry Salter, barry at southie dot me dot uk
Read uk.* newsgroups? Read uk.net.news.announce!

DISCLAIMER: The above comments do not necessarily represent the
views of my employers.

Imark

Brian Williams <[email protected]> wrote:

    > --
    >
    > "Jenn" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    > > In article <[email protected] >,
    > > [email protected] (L.S) wrote:
    > >
    > > > Hi if anyone could help me regarding a ticketing inquiry with the
    > > > EuroStar I might have it would be much appreciated.
    > > >
    > > > Recently I purchased some Eurostar tickets off someone who didn't need
    > > > them anymore as his plans where changed and I'm starting to get
    > > > worried about using them especially on New Years Eve. I phoned up
    > > > Eurostar and they told me you can't yet my flat mates have done this
    > > > before and have been fine even when the ticket guard checked their
    > > > tickets on the train. There is also a web site where people sell there
    > > > tickets I have noticed..
    > > >
    > > > So anyone out there who has done this could you help reassure me its
    > > > fine or should I start looking at staying in London..
    > > >
    > > > If you can have any info could you please email me it would be great.
    > > >
    > > > Thanks..
    > > > [email protected]
    > >
    > > technically you can't transfer them BUT in my experience with Eurostar
    > > passport checks and ticket checks are separate and carried out by
    > > different people so you are unlikely to be caught. I saw no attempt to
    > > match names.
    > I should add that, in recent weeks, they have asked for supporting ID at
    > Ashford and Paris when tickets have been checked through manually.
    > regards
    > Brian


My girlfriend and I travelled from Amsterdam to London and back on the
21st and 29th of December 2003. We bought our tickets through NS
Internationaal in Amsterdam. The tickets issued by NS don't have a
magnetic strip so we had to go through the manual check in at both
Brussel Zuid and London Waterloo. Neither in Brussels nor in London
passports were checked at the check-in.

We got a very good deal: EUR 125 return 1st class from any station in NL
to London. Both outward and inward the journeys went extremely smooth
and with the exception of the traditional waiting for a free platform at
Amsterdam Centraal on the return journey everything went according to
schedule.

The food and wines in 1st class are quite good and the seats in the
Eurostar are very comfortable, much better than a plane. It was a my
first journey on the CTRL and it was interesting to travel in England at
300 km/h.

The trainsets are beginning to look a bit dated. The designs are not
very good and my girlfriend was not happy at all with the reading light.
And the lights in the ceiling should be in the middle and not the on the
edges. A overhaul of the trains would be a good thing.

A tip for people from the Eurozone travelling to the UK. Take out some
money from your savings account. London is incredibly expensive.

Regards,

iMark