My review of the excellent new Eurostar Business Premier Lounge in Paris Gare du Nord station

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• John says:

  6 Feb6 February 07:15

  Anika, great review. However, I was there yesterday and 1) the bar was shut (as I knew it would be) and 2) instead of that table laden with cakes, there were 4 bowls of crisps, olives, some tiny madeleines and what looked like dry fruit. There was no other food! Fortunately we had already eaten, as otherwise we would have gone hungry.

  • Brian says:

    6 Feb6 February 09:01

    I was wondering whether all that food had been laid on specially for the launch, rather than because it’s part of the general offer. I assumed that Anika had asked, but if your experience is anything to go by, apparently not!

    • Rob says:

      6 Feb6 February 09:07

      It was a private preview purely for members of the media, as we made clear. What the day to day offering is like remains to be seen.

      • Majunga says:

        6 Feb6 February 09:40

        We were there at breakfast time yesterday and the food offering is exactly the same as in the old lounge.
        The new lounge is stunning though, especially the private booths.

      • Brian says:

        6 Feb6 February 12:14

        Yes, I know you made it clear – but this paragraph ‘The food adds another wow factor to the lounge. If you are used to railway station lounges offering the odd sandwich, pastry and drinks (regular readers may remember my tour of Virgin Train lounges last summer) this is like stepping into food heaven’ makes it sound like this is what ‘ordinary’ passengers will get.

      • Radiata says:

        6 Feb6 February 13:36

        Indeed. Rather a poor show however by Eurostar if the press preview food a one off.

        One can but hope that the reek of cynicism to be dispelled and provision to improve on a consistent basis.

        • Brian says:

          6 Feb6 February 14:20

          Not really a poor show or that cynical – it’s consistent with what the travel industry tends to do – it’s in their interests to treat the press well, so that the journalists write great reviews. It’s why they always comp Rob or (more usually) Anika upper-level rooms, rather than the bog-standard ones.

          The important thing is that the reviewer is aware AND makes his/her readers aware that this special treatment is not part of the normal package. With a superior hotel room, it’s not so much of a problem, since at least we know we’ll get that sort of room if we book it. In this case, I certainly got the impression from the review that the food offering was what I can expect when I next go – clearly, this is not accurate.

        • Clive says:

          6 Feb6 February 17:34

          It isn’t really comparable to an upper-level room, because those higher categories of room do exist to be booked (or upgraded to)… If the food were a one-off, it’s more as if media were invited to a hotel room which has a bespoke bed, whirlpool tub and miniature ride-on train set installed for their review which are then stripped out and unavailable to anyone else.

    • anikaanika99 says:

      6 Feb6 February 14:57

      According to Eurostar’s official statement the dishes will be added throughout the year:
      https://mediacentre.eurostar.com/mc_view?language=&article_Id=ka3b0000000TgjQAAS
      They didn’t mention this on Friday…

• Ant says:

  6 Feb6 February 07:25

  Reading this article while stuck on a broken Eurostar on our way back from Brussels. Now waiting in Lille to change trains. Anyone knows What is Eurostar delay compensation policy?

  • Genghis says:

    6 Feb6 February 07:34

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

    I claimed just before Xmas. Not that generous but v straight forward. IIRC you can choose between a refund and e-vouchers. I went for the latter as corporate travel agent had paid. I had a £50 e-voucher within a day or so.

    • Oli says:

      6 Feb6 February 08:51

      I was also proposed (for the first time) Eurostar frequent traveller points back in September.
      Best is not to claim immediately as you have a year to claim from the journey date and your e-voucher is valid for a year from the claim date.

• the real harry1 says:

  6 Feb6 February 07:53

  Is there any opportunity for split-ticketing here? ie shortest/ cheapest part of the route in business & the remainder in economy – purely to get into the lounge?

  • Genghis says:

    6 Feb6 February 08:15

    Is it possible to travel intra-country on Eurostar? Eg. London-Ebbsfleet, Paris-Lille?

    • Oli says:

      6 Feb6 February 08:45

      No you cannot; I think Lille-Bruxelles can be done because it’s not intra-country. It’s been a few years London-Paris trains do not call in Lille any more. London-Paris is priced the same as Ebbsfleet-Paris.

      • RussellH says:

        6 Feb6 February 11:06

        Lille-Bruxelles is Theresa May’s worst nightmare. All Bruxelles-London trains stop at Lille (in both directions) and as it is intra Schengen there is not, normally, any ID check at Bruxelles Midi for those with tickets just to Lille. There have, though, IIRC, been periods when such tickets were not available, but when it came to Eurostar demanding compensation for lost traffic if they could not sell Bruxelles-Lille the UK government gave way.

        Last time I travelled Bruxelles-London was 2012 and ID checks were a nightmare.

        1. Usual passport / ID card check at Midi.
        2. Check of tickets on leaving Lille by G4S who checked tickets that they were valid for the UK, then stamped them.
        3. On arrival at St. Pancras, herded into that ghastly underground cellar to queue again while UK Immigration checked ID again.

        When I asked we were being hassled in such an unpleasant manner after having passed UK immigration, I was told that the order for this had come directly from Theresa May in person (presumablu under pressure from the Daily Mail which was, at the time, contantly going on about the “Lille Loophole”.

        I am told that things have improved since then…

  • RussellH says:

    6 Feb6 February 10:53

    Split ticketing Paris-UK?

    No. Current timetable all Paris-UK trains are non-stop Paris to UK. They may stop at Ashford or Ebbsfleet before St. Pancras.

    Eurostar’s mind set has always been that of an airline, not a rail operator. They have always thought in point-to-point terms, with one of the points being either the starting point or the final detination.

    You can buy, for example, London-Lyon or London-Bordeaux tickets which are normally cheaper than separate London-Paris / Paris-Lyon tickets, but have a max booked stopover in Paris of 23h 59m. IIRC, these could be in different classes of travel – not least because SNCF trains have only two classes, Eurostar has three.

    Remember that Eurostar Business Premier is sold as a premium product only – flexible tickets only at a price to match.

    Eurostar have never provided Rail Inclusive Tour tickets to tour operators in Business Premier – leisure passengers are expected to travel Standard Premier if they want first class seating, but in terms of the on board service and lounge access it is Premium Economy, not business class.

    • Genghis says:

      6 Feb6 February 11:12

      I normally use standard premier for work as I generally cannot justify the difference to business premier.

      I get lounge access with Amex Plat and even the supposed hot meal (more of an amuse bouche in terms of size) in business premier before xmas became something cold, just like you get in standard premier.

      Only advantage for me I see is the flexibility as when I was delayed in Paris with a standard premier ticket they refused to let me change trains (without a fee) to get back to London.

      • RussellH says:

        6 Feb6 February 12:45

        Eurostar were quite open about the reasoning for renaming Leisure Select to Standard Premier. It happened during the aftermath of the expenses stushie, with people saying that public figures should not travel first class. So they put ‘Standard’ into the name so that people could still claim it on expenses.The seating is still first class 1 +2 across, the same as in Business

        They did downgrade the service though, “because of passenger demand”.

        Really?? The last time I travelled Leisure Select back from Bruxelles to London I was the only person seated in the car. The stewardess was pouring me a glass of Champagne before I even got my coat off. I got a much better meal than they serve now, and she kept coming back to top up my champagne.

        Sadly I had to go staright to another meeting in London, so I had to upset her and decline most it.

• Smid says:

  6 Feb6 February 08:10

  BUSINESS platinum amex cards are not valid, weirdly for a business lounge 🙂

• daftboy says:

  6 Feb6 February 11:49

  Departing Gare du Nord last night (Sunday) was not fun . It took us a full hour from joining the queue, just over an hour before our train, to exiting the security check, most of which was spent in a cramped area with inefficient queuing process as you move from French exit check > UK border > security scan (the latter took maybe 1 minute). I was really worried we were going to miss our train, but what I didn’t know and what wasn’t announced to the waiting crowd was that the train was being held; much unnecessary stress caused as a result!

  The train experience is overall an efficient one but leave plenty of time if departing from Paris and prepare to be irritated by the experience; Business Premier (not Standard Premier) get a fast track, so may be worth the extra, particularly if there is now a decent lounge to spend time in. Departing St Pancras is a much smoother experience, as you might expect of a much newer facility.

  • RussellH says:

    6 Feb6 February 12:35

    My experience of SNCF staff when things are not going to plan has never been very positive, TBH.

    The relative newness of St Pancras International is a factor, but I have always felt that part of the problem is the insular attitude that has always pervaded a section of this country.

    Once we accepted French immigration at Waterloo and then St Pancras, you could always just walk off the train at the Gare du Nord in Paris like anyone else arriving on any other train. It did, for some reason, take some years to banish the passport check at Bruxelles Midi, though it was always a bit perfunctory.

    But coming back to the UK, being made to feel unwelcome was obviously designed into St Pancras International, forcing people down into that huge yellowed cellar, then passing through a heavy one-way door into the light, rather than being able to just make your way straight onto the concourse.

    So I would guess that there is just nothing to encourage improvement. No one in this country will psuh for it, and the Parisians will shrug their shoulders in that way they do best.
    🙂

• Tim Rogers says:

  6 Feb6 February 13:02

  I travelled back to London from Bruxelles-Midi and the immigration/security situation seemed a total shambles there. By the supposed leaving time of the train, no more than 10% of passengers had got through the metal detectors, due supposedly to a “reinforcement” of the British passport control (but not any “reinforcement” perceptible to me – they were just waving people through!).

  As ever, there was little to no information, although they did say once in the hour queueing period that the train would be held until everyone had got through. Since I was one of the first through, I headed into the Business Premier lounge, to be told insistently within seconds that the train was boarding. So I went to the train and then sat there for an hour until we actually left! They really could have let us stay in the lounge.

  The only silver lining was that we were exactly an hour late back to London (rather than a few minutes earlier) so we’ll get the 25% compensation.

  • Smid says:

    7 Feb7 February 08:34

    Half the problem with brussels is that they’ll not let you through until the previous train has left, to stop people getting on the earlier train. Which means at best they’ve got an hour to do that.

    It has never improved in the 14 years since I’ve started using it, indeed, it’s got worse..

• Eurorrocket says:

  7 Feb7 February 15:28

  I’m in the lounge now, having failed to notice that I’m on the 18:13 and not the 17:13. Eurostar staff were charming as usual and let us in early and so here we are about two hours before our train leaves.
  So what can I tell you? Well, I like the little cubicles off the corridor. Well thought out and classy and comfortable. I’m right opposite the bar and the bar man is giving it his stuff. Good man! The wifi works better at the entrance end and certainly doesn’t work down here and that is pretty stupid in 2017. The barman was aware of the problem.
  Other than that, I’m disappointed that there is no bottled water, as I used to pick up a couple to take on the train. I guess this way Eurostar will make a couple of euros extra from those of us who travel in standard but access the lounge on our Platinum Amex.
  For a first experience, I’ll give it 6 since I’m not looking forward to having to walk through to the train when we have to board and I’m otherwise underwhelmed.

• Nick says:

  7 Feb7 February 23:16

  Soooo Mr Russell know-it-all… if there’s no ‘intra-country’ eurostars, how do the Paris-Calais-London ones work then? The ones that SNCF happily sells tickets for?

  The Brussels rule about one-train-only is completely stupid to be honest. Why can’t they just ask conductors to check tickets onboard? Union issues?

  Thank heavens Lille is rarely plagued by these issues. Usually they don’t even open ‘check-in’ until 20 mins before the train arrives and it’s always a peaceful pleasant experience.

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