We are scheduled on the Eurostar from Paris to London late Wednesday morning, May 15.
Does anyone have fresh & reliable info on any check in or backup problems - we've been reading some things about really long delays and cancellations. We have boarding passes in hand.
The Eurostar site is of no help.
Anyone made the trip in the last few days?
Terry
I'll stay here if you don't get enough - for you - responses from people here who have gone in that direction in the last few days.
If you want it I can share from my slightly older experience and contacts within the company.
But, sorry, I haven't gone in the last few days.
Have you looked here?
Tim - thanks - all I could find at their site was today's trains seem to have all departed and arrived on time. We're planning on an early taxi from the 16th, so increased security will probably not interfere with our schedule (fingers crossed).
Nigel - thanks for that - anything more would be helpful. We're planning on arriving about 2 hours before departure time - which seems prudently enough - but I'd like your opinion on that too
Terry
Hi Terry,
We took the Eurostar from Paris to London 2 weeks ago today and did not have any issues. Our train departed at 1304 and we arrived at Gare Du Nord about 1145 and had more than enough time. There is a wait to go through boarder patrol, but it was maybe 15-20 minutes. 5 minute wait to get through security and no issues there. Let me know if you have any other questions!
I think, and I have recently been told that 120 minutes on a normal day is excessive.
I'd recommend (and do) 75 to 60 minutes.
On the other hand, if the authorities go back on work-to-rule and slowdown like there was a month ago you would need more. I haven't heard that is expected to return. Best thing is to check a couple of days out and watch what the website advises. Also, put cestlagreve "C'est la Greve" (French for "It is the Strike") on your phone and get advance notice of French labour difficulties which may affect you during your visit.
Not exactly or precisely what you are looking for but my last EuroStar experience at Nord was early last June...yes, it's dated. I always get to Nord one to one and half hours prior to departure time, regardless. My hotel is right in the area anyway.
If delays occur or any other contingencies, better early than not. What I don't do is cutting it close.
Thanks to all who provided information.
It appears we are past work-to-rule for the time being & gilet juane manifestations have only caused some Metro station closures on Saturdays, in the two weeks we've been here.
We are probably being overly cautious w/ our timing, but as Nigel said "better earlier than sorry."
if this thread is still open Wednesday, I'll report our experience.
Terry
Er,, make that what Fred in San Francisco added - and many thanks to all.
You should be fine Wednesday morning with, as Nigel said, arriving 60 tom75 minutes before departure.
Today there happened to be someone who stupidly brought a WWII shell so the whole place had to be shut down and Gare du Nord evacuated. There can always be an exceptional event like that, but otherwise (crosses fingers) things are looking pretty normal these days.
The best way to get an idea of how things are going is to search Eurostar in Twitter and change to “most recent” tweets. Believe me, if there's an issue, you'll see people complaining in a hurry!!
Things are looking normal so far today.
Kim
Wow, that happened to me a couple of years ago and I've heard about it happening at other times. Who are these idiots who think it's OK to take antique ordnance on trains?
We travelled Sunday, May 12. Absolutely no problems. For us, security and frontier passport check was <5 minutes. 90 minutes before was more than enough, but give some traffic wiggle room.
The hardest part was driving through Paris from Loches. The GPS routed us through the heart of Paris. I can check driving a rental car along the banks of the Seine from my list. We are spending a week in London. Tomorrow my wife will be at Westminster Abbey in full academic regalia for a Florence Nightingale celebration. She is being inducted in the Florence Nightingale Society.
Philip — I don't know, but I know it's enough of a problem that they have huge signs displaying photographs of old ordnance with strict instructions not to try to travel with them — and they usually have a person by the bottom of the escalator drawing passengers' attention to the sign before people make it up to the Eurostar concourse. It is shocking to me!!
To anyone still here in this thread, our May 15 Paris - London Eurostar went off without a hitch - except for the unseen - couldn't be anticipated, non ticket, no ID person who managed to somehow get on to our platform before boarding & delaying departure by an hour.
Those who had gone down to the platform - me - had to go back thru passport control & security.
Those who had not started down to the platform - she, 3 people behind me - ended up going back into the concourse waiting area. That group accounted for most of the passengers.
Uneventful, other than that.
And, yah, arriving at gare d nord two hours in advance is plenty too much time. 90 minutes, max, should cover it, under normal circumstances.
Thanks to all who provided info here & happy adventure s.
Terry
Terry, i was curious to hear what your experience was, but never dreamed you would have such a dramatic one!! Especially with you and the rest of your traveling party being in different situations!! My goodness. I have never heard of anything like that. I wonder how they even figured out that someone was down there — I can’t think of getting checked down on the platform precisely because you have been checked so many times getting to that point. Wow!
Thanks for coming back to let us know how things went. Hope you have a great time in London.
