The Trans-European Race, taking place this week from London to Istanbul, has echoes of a mystery tour. The organiser, Wigan-based Lupine Travel, did not reveal the location of checkpoints dotted around the continent until a few minutes before the start at 10am on Saturday. Except for the first. The race director, James Finnerty, told me: “Ahead of time they’ve been given the first checkpoint, which is in Paris, because forcing people to purchase a last-minute Eurostar ticket would be exploitative.”
I checked: the only seats were in Business Premier at a one-way fare of £325. Space on the high-speed train from London St Pancras International to Paris Nord is a scarce and much sought-after commodity and the usual way in which such desirable items are allocated is by price. Good luck to Eurostar, which was arguably harder hit by the Covid pandemic – and absurd decisions on travel restrictions by governments on both sides of the Channel – than any other transport enterprise.
Booking for midweek, a day ahead, I can find London-Paris tickets for £149 one way – though only on the last train of the day. Almost all departures are priced at £195 or £218. In comparison, easyJet from Luton to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and Vueling from Gatwick to Paris Orly are well below £100, even at the last minute.
Demand is evidently red hot – at the same time that supply is constrained as a result of post-Brexit passport requirements. After the democratic decision to leave the European Union the UK government negotiated for British holidaymakers to become third-country nationals who require their passports to be carefully examined and stamped. When the Eurostar terminals at London St Pancras International and elsewhere were being designed, no one envisaged such a situation. As a result, selling every seat – particularly on morning trains – simply isn’t possible without the whole concise complex grinding to a halt. Capacity is capped.
For a summer assessment of the operation and to ask about those fares, I grabbed literally the last available seat on a train from London to Paris. On arrival in the French capital, I sat down to talk with Eurostar chief executive Gwendoline Cazenave.
Since our last meeting, she says, the squeeze has eased thanks to increased staffing and improved eGates.
“When we met…
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