Club Eurostar has announced some changes for those who travel aboard Eurostar. And whilst one of them maybe positive, the other will not be.
Eurostar trains at London St Pancras – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
The positive: Status extensions
Let’s start with the positive – where Club Eurostar will offer five-month status extensions. These should be loaded in your Club Eurostar account, tiding you over to the New Year and beyond depending on your status level and qualification date.
The negative: Network Fees
Onto the negative – and its news that Club Eurostar will impose a network fee charge when redeeming points for a ticket. Currently, Club Eurostar offers a redemption ticket with no taxes or fees to pay.
That’s going to change from the 6th of October 2020, where a network fee of £16 per one-way journey will be charged (so a return “free” ticket will now have £32 of charges attached). The fee will apply to all classes of travel (Standard, Standard Premier and Business Premier).
The In-between: Changes in Passenger Experience
In a move that could be described as “huh?” Eurostar is limiting the use of Wi-Fi aboard its trains to passengers in Business Premier and Standard Premier passengers. No reason has been given why Standard passengers are not allowed to use Wi-Fi onboard (however, based on a couple of previous experiences, the performance of the Wi-Fi isn’t that great…).
Catering will resume on Eurostar services from the 7th of September too.
Finally, Eurostar will be adding more services to their timetable as things progress. You can find out when they are operating at https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en
In Quotes
In a statement by Club Eurostar, they write
This is a cost Eurostar in turn pays directly to our partners. Up until now, we have absorbed this cost on your behalf.
We know it’s disappointing news and hope you understand that we’ve had to make some tough decisions recently. The introduction of this fee is a necessary change that will allow us to continue offering tickets in exchange for points. It’s also an approach that is in keeping with the rest of the travel industry.
Nothing is truly free
Like all companies, Eurostar is bleeding cash. But it seems that for passengers paying on points, it is an easy way to claw back £16 a one-way journey, per person.
How that will settle with Eurostars travellers in the longer term will be something to keep an eye on as travel restrictions continue to fluctuate in Europe.
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