Sherwood Hampton

No they haven't!

Reason077

Not entirely, but there aren't a lot of flights left these days. Looking at Paris, I count 17 flights total from LHR split between AF & BA, on small A319 & A320 aircraft... ~120 seats each. BMI and others are long gone. There's also a handful of Cityflyer Turboprop services LCY-ORY.

Compare that to Eurostar who have around 20 daily services to Paris on a train that seats 750. Who do you think has more market share?

Sherwood Hampton

I would say Eurostar, as I would have said all along. But that wasn't what you said. You stated "the airlines have all but abandoned the Brussels and Paris routes".

Which leads me onto......

17 flights per day between just LHR and CDG is hardly what I would call "abandoning" the route. That works out at roughly one per hour if you take into account curfews. And just between two of the airports. And I think you mean "CityJet" not "CityFlyer". CityFlyer don't fly from City to Paris. And CityJet have six flights per day. Not really a "handful" is it?

Sherwood Hampton

I used the Eurostar a few days ago from Brussels to London. This was the first time since the "enhancements" to Leisure Select. Normally I would travel in Leisure Select but just didn't think it was worth the price difference compared with standard class. Sure, it is worth paying a bit more for the one free drink and the extra space, but not as much as I would have paid before. So this time I was in standard class.

One side effect of people refusing to pay for the new Standard Premier class is that standard class is now absolutely packed! I've never seen it so busy! Therefore the Eurostar is now not my prefered option when travelling between Brussels and London. So these actions by Eurostar have not just lost people from paying the extra for the premium service, but they've lost my custom altogether.

stut

There is still a good number of flights (although I imagine a good proportion of the traffic on LHR-CDG is connecting traffic on AF), but the capacity is significantly reduced compared to even a decade ago. OK, AF have been showing off their A380 on LHR-CDG, but I remember when LON-PAR was covered by BA from LHR, LGW and LCY, AF from LHR and LCY, BD from LHR - even Buzz from STN and Debonair on their odd service to Cergy-Pointoise. It was common to see widebodies on the route - or at least 757s and 321s. Now you even see 318 to LHR.

OK, it's not abandoned by any means, but Eurostar now has the lion's share.

Sherwood Hampton

Around 70% in fact. But that still leaves nearly a third of the capacity still provided by the airlines. It was only the use of the phrase "all but abandoned" that I had a problem with.

Reason077

Eurostar's share is now over 80% - and if you look at it in terms of capacity, they are providing close to 90% of the available seats each day.

"all but abandoned" maybe wasn't the right phrase to use - admittedly 17 services daily is still a healthy number - but the point is that airline capacity has shrunk dramatically in recent years as Eurostar's journey times improved.

Sherwood Hampton

But Eurostar have grown the market haven't they?

BahrainLad

Just booked a couple of tickets for the next few months, all Standard. 12 months ago I would have been happy to pay L.Select, but no more.

Silly silly silly Eurostar.

JOUY31

Leisure Select was the only reason I had some of my PAR-LON travel on Eurostar. ORY-LCY with AF is so much more convenient for my meetings in Canary Wharf, just as CDG-LHR (preferrably with AF) and LHR-CDG (preferrably with BA) is so much more convenient for the other half of my "London" meetings in Uxbridge.

jib71

+1. Standard class from St. Pancras to Brussels and back last week.

Unlike you, I don't find it convenient to fly that route. If I hadn't moved from W5, I would surely feel differently. So I'll continue to pay Eurostar's standard fare. In the past I've used Leisure Select, but Standard Premier simply isn't worth the price.

Just thinking about it now ... Eurostar's loss was Hilton's gain, since I called Room Service when I reached my room. Not my normal MO. I'll get an earlier train next time. Standard class, of course.

cdevaux

I used to take Eurostar in First Class not only to have more space but also to eat something while travelling. This week, I travelled for the first time again in first class since they changed their catering in September. I had read reviews saying that the meals were not good and I must confirm all these negative reviews. If the price went up, the quality went down! We managed to get 2 small bottles of wine (and they were nos so happy to have to bring the second bottles!) and I could not resist to stop the train manager and let him know that it was now ridiculous and that it was not worth the price paid. Of course he could not say anything, he just invited us to write to Eurostar ... "just as other people do each week". If at least they offered free wifi in first class like on the Thalys, but they don't ... So why pay more for this? Just go in second class, buy some drinks and food before boarding and you will save money.

My photos will be posted on www.airlinemeals.net under the EUROSTAR section.

AVSA

My wife and I tried Standard Premier a couple weeks ago on a round trip between Brussels and London. It was not our first time on Eurostar but the first time on the new Standard Premier service. We used the Leisure Select on numerous occasions before and we were happy with the service and price.

The Standard Premier product was a total disappointment. Firstly, the interior of the carriages on both legs was dated, carpets stained and seats worn-out (armrest were showing metal pieces through the material).

The food and beverage service was unacceptable. Breakfast consisting of stale roll and soggy croissant was inedible. The evening meal, which is advertised on Eurostar website as “a trio of savoury gourmet taster dishes which are stylishly presented”, consisted of some sort of mystery tarts – couldn’t figure what the filling was but in any case the dough as hard as it was made of cement. “Stylishly presented”? Well, they were on a plate. Very stylish indeed.

During the return trip we were approached by a Eurostar representative conducting a customer survey. We were given an electronic device to complete the survey. We were looking forward to expressing our opinion but the device stopped working half way through. No replacement was given.

We are very surprised that Eurostar is trying to promote the Standard Premier service as some sort of improvement, obviously hoping the customers are not going to notice that it is in fact substandard. The customer do notice which is evident while talking to other travellers on the train or reading travel forums.

The Leisure Select product was excellent – such a shame it has been discontinued and replaced with something which offers inedible food in dirty carriages at inflated prices. So, I tried the Standard Premier - it was my first and the last time I used that service.

vla

1. Old carriages
2. Dusty air ducts
3. Food quantity a joke.



Two thin slices of chicken, as what you would find on 1/4 of a Pret sandwich, on ratatouille topped with hummus. Five mushrooms. A bit of fruit crumble. A bread roll (not pictured, two passes), one and not more bottle of red, white or rose, the white was nasty and in a plastic bottle. One coffee run, one tea run. In fairness, the food was fairly tasty, however. There just wasn't nearly enough of it, and the drinks are both cheap and stingy.

4. No WiFi
5. Old seat feels nominally cramped, at least compared to the Thalys, on which I continued my journey from Brussels South. Which had free WiFi (which worked well) in 1st Class, numerous drinks rounds were offered, choice of sandwiches (and a three-course meal served between Paris and Brussels).
6. Not impressed at all, and think competition on this route would be most welcome.

Strawb

Standard Premier was announced last spring. It was introduced in the autumn. Why are people still using this service and expecting a First Class or at least a premium product? There is nothing premium about Standard Premier. It's supposed to be an upgraded Standard Class product with a few frills. Certainly not worth paying for. The old leisure First Class product with hot meal, unlimited champers and drinks is all but a memory.