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Eurostar/American credit cards

I have been trying to book Eurostar tickets for June using Eurostar web site. After putting in all info, the transaction gets denied at the end. I emailed the Eurostar site and was told they have trouble accepting American credit cards--yet 2 years ago we had no trouble. The longer we wait the higher the prices climb---would a travel agency have better luck booking for us?

Posted by
3057 posts

Did you advise your bank that you would be making a foreign credit card purchase? They might reject it if youmdon't.

Posted by
19 posts

Yes, in fact the bank says they didn't even get a request for the charge from Eurostar...wondering if I should call the UK and try to book by phone.

Posted by
32171 posts

Jeff, A few thoughts and questions..... If using a Visa card, do you use the "Verified by Visa" system? Does the system even ask for that during the purchase process? Does the system provide any kind of message on why the transaction fails? Have you tried using more than one type of credit card? I sometimes find that clearing the Cache and Cookies on the computer helps if I'm having problems with online purchases. Good luck!

Posted by
132 posts

I had the same problem, and finally it worked. I switched from my credit card to debit card and I also put spaces between the sets of 4 digits. I couldn't tell you which one it was that made it work, but I was so excited that it finally did, I didn't care why. I tried about 20 times over 2 days. I would say try spaces first. Otherwise, you might have to change to another card.

Posted by
19 posts

Thanks everyone-the debit card worked! I typed the numbers with spaces after every 4 digits also, just in case. The problem is that Capital One does not use the Verified by Visa program, so those cards will have trouble. But, reps from Eurostar.com emailed me to say they are launching a new web site very soon (by the end of February they hope) that should handle all American cards.

Posted by
2 posts

An alternative is to use another site called Loco2, which accepts international credit and debit cards as long as they are enrolled in 3D Secure (Verified by Visa etc). The prices are the same as the Eurostar UK site and there is no booking fee.