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Buying rail Tickets to Germany at St. Pancras

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STEVIEBOY1

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Can you buy through rail tickets to Germany in person at St. Pancras Railway Station?
 
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JonathanP

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Of course not. Why on earth would you want to buy a train ticket of all things in a station? Stations are where you go to buy designer clothing and luxury fragrances.

Seriously, I think your best reference for this is Seat61. It claims that "The Eurostar ticket office at London St Pancras only sells tickets as far as Paris or Brussels plus a few major cities in France, Germany & the Netherlands", presumably the same ones that can be purchased via eurostar.com.

I wouldn't particularly recommend buying through Eurostar for a E* + ICE jounrey though because Deutsche Bahn has better deals, at least currently(the ability to book through tickets through them is under threat). For a randomn journey I picked, London - Frankfurt in mid-January, Eurostar wanted €102, for the same journey DB would have only charged €79.
 

Quakkerillo

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Where do you want a ticket to? You'll have to go online, but depending on your travel wishes, maybe we can also advise on where to buy what ticket for your journey.
 

STEVIEBOY1

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The reason I asked was, a very sprightly 86 year old friend of mine wanted to go to Nuremberg in Germany by train, he does not do the internet. He was told at St. Pancras that they can only book to France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Anything else had to be done online. I can of course help him now, but there must be alot of people that for a number of reasons can not do internet bookings.

I was interested to see the above comment regarding DB, that the ability to book through tickets through them is under threat? I have always found their website along with SBB very good indeed for all sorts of journeys/enquires etc.
 

mad_rich

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There are some good rail booking agents mentioned on Seat61, including one with premises in Victoria (assuming he's in London), but yes. As in many areas of the consumer world, if you aren't comfortable online the options get fewer and fewer (and more and more expensive) every year.
 

30907

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The reason I asked was, a very sprightly 86 year old friend of mine wanted to go to Nuremberg in Germany by train, he does not do the internet. He was told at St. Pancras that they can only book to France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Anything else had to be done online. I can of course help him now, but there must be alot of people that for a number of reasons can not do internet bookings.

I was interested to see the above comment regarding DB, that the ability to book through tickets through them is under threat? I have always found their website along with SBB very good indeed for all sorts of journeys/enquires etc.

DB UK Telesales are still in business and are reportedly competent (years since I used them) - is your friend comfortable with phoning?

The through ticket issue applies specifically to Saver/Sparpreis tickets, and ATM applies from late March.
 

TeaLovingDave

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DB UK Telesales are still in business and are reportedly competent (years since I used them) - is your friend comfortable with phoning?

I have used them many times - most recently this time last year - and have always found them friendly, efficient and reliable; tickets ordered through them almost always arrive within 48 hours, even though they generally say it can take up to 5 working days.
 

duesselmartin

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I think what the consumer cannot understand, rightly so is that I can buy a ticket at a German station to London but not vice versa.
At that point most people will fly.
 

AlbertBeale

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This appears to be closed now.

However, maybe SBB's office in London may work?

http://www.swisstravelsystem.co.uk/en/node/10?currency=GBP

I wonder why this isn't mentioned on Seat61?

I've found the Swiss Tourist Office rail ticket desk is useful for over-the-counter sales, including for journeys outside Switzerland (though for some journeys not involving Switzerland there's a commission added; and they're not always able to provide the best prices from some countries). I think I've previously mentioned this option on a thread here somewhere...

I'm sure I dropped a note about this place to Seat61 some time ago, but - as noted - it doesn't seem to be given in the list of sales options on the site.

The general point about the difficulty - especially in this country - of getting integrated international tickets (or even any international tickets!) "over the counter" is indeed a scandal. A recent thread of mine about other aspects of Eurostar silliness (https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/when-is-a-fare-not-a-fare-on-eurostar.196857/) has, in passing, bemoaned their unwillingness to provide a proper international rail booking service at St P.

And it used to be so easy (even in some British stations) 20-odd years ago, when it was all public service railways, which co-operated with one another.
 

dutchflyer

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All right and yes, but most railways have discovered its a giant money bleeder (es they say in the US).
PLUS since the old system is about to be given up-it was based on the same fare all the time, the highest possible, so even if they could do it on the spot, it would be astronomically high (but perhaps a bit less so for Brits used to such price gouging by railways). Compare it to airagents only selling full fare IATA tickets for airplanes versus the very cheap online and in effect advance airfares.
Yes, I am very well aware that once there were times one could even buy a manually written and 6 monthes valid INTernational train+ferryticket from UK or even IE to as far as Iran or Vladivostok in the then CCCP, with the holder required to fetch for himself any sleeper etc on the way, but there are more things history now that people moan about.
 

radamfi

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Not sure what you mean by that, but they would be someone to talk to face to face about a European rail booking if you so desired!

Can you visit the office in person and pick up international tickets?
 

Aictos

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I have used them many times - most recently this time last year - and have always found them friendly, efficient and reliable; tickets ordered through them almost always arrive within 48 hours, even though they generally say it can take up to 5 working days.

I’ve also used them in the past and can second your experience with them.

Couldn’t fault them at all!
 

Oscar

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The reason I asked was, a very sprightly 86 year old friend of mine wanted to go to Nuremberg in Germany by train, he does not do the internet. He was told at St. Pancras that they can only book to France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Anything else had to be done online. I can of course help him now, but there must be alot of people that for a number of reasons can not do internet bookings.

I was interested to see the above comment regarding DB, that the ability to book through tickets through them is under threat? I have always found their website along with SBB very good indeed for all sorts of journeys/enquires etc.

According to the DB website, sales of London-Germany through tickets will cease on 14 March and tickets cannot be bought for journeys after this date (the German language page gives more precise details). I would be interested to know whether others have manage to book such tickets successfully recently. I made a couple of attempts in November which failed just before the payment stage (a message came up saying that the Eurostar train was not bookable).
 

STEVIEBOY1

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I shall contact my friend to see how he has got on with DB etc. Thank you.
 

Aictos

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According to the DB website, sales of London-Germany through tickets will cease on 14 March and tickets cannot be bought for journeys after this date (the German language page gives more precise details). I would be interested to know whether others have manage to book such tickets successfully recently. I made a couple of attempts in November which failed just before the payment stage (a message came up saying that the Eurostar train was not bookable).

DB does say and I quote "We are working with our partner Eurostar to be able to offer attractive offers for your train journey to London even after this date." The question is how attractive will the offers provided by Eurostar be?
 

matt

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According to the DB website, sales of London-Germany through tickets will cease on 14 March and tickets cannot be bought for journeys after this date (the German language page gives more precise details). I would be interested to know whether others have manage to book such tickets successfully recently. I made a couple of attempts in November which failed just before the payment stage (a message came up saying that the Eurostar train was not bookable).

I made a booking recently for travel in February and I'll be making a Germany to London booking today.

The Germany to London booking said "Reservation request not accomplishable" but I risked it and clicked book and it gave me a reservation for Eurostar.
 
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matt

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The request may not have been available if for example you wanted a window seat but DB can only offer an aisle one.

That's what I thought but it has given me a window seat as requested.
 
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