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Earlier this year, One World released some really attractive roundtrip business class fares out of Paris, routing back through London to the US, with fares that started in the low $1300s. My fiancee and I purchased tickets knowing we’d be in London, and thought we’d wrap in a night in Paris to position.
We were really on the fence as to when we’d need to leave London and ultimately purchased Eurostar tickets the night before, and what we discovered was pretty interesting. Package deals, much like we’ve seen with airlines, were pricing far cheaper roundtrip + a hotel, than were single journey tickets alone. Here’s a look at our experience aboard the Eurostar Standard Premier from London to Paris.
Trip Details:
- When: November 2019
- Where: London ( St Pancras ) to Paris ( Nord
- Cabin: Standard Premier
- Seats: 57,58
- Rate: Roundtrip + Hotel for £210 per person
We ended up booking a 2 tickets roundtrip with a one night stay at a 5 star hotel called the Marignan with an incredible view of the Eiffel tower for 210 pounds a piece, in standard premier. Compare this to one way tickets in standard that were pricing at 240 a piece ( sky high ) for train alone. The hotel was pricing in the mid $300s for the night, and even with us dropping the return, it was one helluva a better deal. Upgraded cabin and a hotel for 60 pounds cheaper. Had we picked a lesser quality hotel we could have nabbed it for the low £300s train and hotel.
You can watch the full review here:
Arrival:
We arrived roughly 90 minutes prior to departure and entered right next to Eurostar . We printed off our tickets and headed to security.
Security and Immigration
You’ll take your bags to departures with your printed ticket, or e-ticket, scan it and then head on towards security. After scanning your bags, you’ll exit the UK, enter the EU ( via France ), and head to the waiting area.
Waiting Area post immigration
All of the Eurostar trains hold passengers in one communal area. There are two coffee shops, a sundry store, and international exchange plus ATMs. We grabbed a quick coffee. Our train boarded roughly 30 mins later.
Boarding
There are two automated ramps up to the platform. One was broken and instead of waiting in the massive queue to go up the automated line, we lugged our bags up. We found our car, #9, and hopped on. You’ll be greeted by various personnel, and we promptly found our seats.
Standard Premier
Our train was changed last minute, and as a result our seating changed too. It was a stroke of good luck, placing us in the very back of the cabin in seats 57, 58. These seats not only permitted stowage under the seats in front of you, but since no one was behind you, you could place items behind as well.
Here’s a view of the entire cabin
Dining
With Standard Premier
As a part of Standard Premier you get a light snack that’s served with your choice of beverage. I had extremely low expectations and honestly, the food was excellent. It was the perfect little snack for a 2 hour journey. We had some cous cous, quiche, and a chocolate dessert served along side a white wine, water, and coffee.
The dining car
There are two dining cars that offer a place to buy beverages and snacks as well as have a place to stand and eat them. Here’s a quick look at the offerings. In addition to the picture, they offered a selection of sandwiches, pasta, and paninis.
Arrival into Nord
This is the easiest thing ever. Because you will have already cleared immigration prior to boarding, you’ll hop of the train, and either walk to your hotel, hop in a taxi, summon an uber, but you’ll be in it quickly. The taxi queue was roughly 10 minutes but it moved very fast, and we were to our hotel in about 20 minutes.
Overall:
Spending 2 hours and 15 minutes jetting across the English countryside, through the Chunnel, and popping out into France steaming towards Paris is super fun. I have another one of these Paris flights scheduled for next year and will surely use the Eurostar again. Arriving into Nord was super easy, and it’s quite the experience to hop off the train and slide right into the Paris within minutes. I would highly recommend the Eurostar, and urge you to price out the hotel and train packages vs train alone.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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