Help we are not seated together on eurostar

[sazzy75]

I know seating together is never set in stone there is five of us 2 children 1 baby on lap and 2 adults 2 of the seats are together the other two are close by but they are not together. you would think they would have a least 2 and 2 together. I have been on the eurostar web site and they say if you booked through a travel agents you cant change seats. All you can do is speak to a manager on the day and see if any seats are available.

I would have thought this time of year the train would not be full we are going on the 17th jan. Also the seat we have got are those with the folding table how are we going to have room for a baby on lap.

If anyone has ever had this prob please help me do you think they will have yhe space to change it. Sorry for long post I am very streesed now and getting a headache.

 

[Ware Bears]

Sorry, I can't help but just wanted to send you

 

[sazzy75]

oh thankyoux Please can anyone else help me please.

 

[EeyoretheDonkey]

Hi there.

I would have thought that even with the folding tables you'll have plenty of room for a baby on your knee; the tables fold away a bit differently to those on a domestic train, although I can't really think of a way to describe it. When we travelled on the Eurostar last month there was a lady with quite a big (I mean in age, not physical size) toddler who sat on her knee and was just fine.

With regard to them being together, I'm afraid I don't know about changing seats, but there are sets of 4 round a table, and sets of 2 like you'd find on a coach. They do say I think that they can't guarantee seats together, but ask for a preference and attempt to suit that; this was certainly the position with us, but we did book online directly with Eurostar; not though a 3rd party.

Sorry this is stressing you out; it'll be worth it when you get there!!

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

You could always ask if the person wouldnt mind swapping there seats so you can sit closer together.

 

[kevankiki]

Have you checked the seating layout, the numbers are not strictly in order, and you may find that you are sat together anyway. As Eeyore says, the tables fold in half anyway, so there is more space than you think.

If you have done this, and you definitely aren't together, then I would be tempted to phone Eurostar anyway, and explain your situation nice and politely. They may be able to do something in advance, I don't think you have anything to lose.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on, please.

 

[flea72]

we recently travelled with a 7m old on eurostar. i sat with my other child as that meant we had more room to fit the baby on the seat between us, but i found that most of the time, i had the table down and baby sat on that (i did put a blanket over it, and gave it a wipe over before we left - before someone queries bums on tables people might eat off - but then again, i wiped it before i even put the blanket down on it, as you can never be too careful lol)

as for not sitting together, it might be worth all of you getting settled in your booked seats, then once the train is out of ashford, one of the adults take a walk down the carriages, and see if there are any empty seats together that you could all move to. its fairly easy to walk through the train. ive even seen some people sit on the fold down seats they have in the baggage areas, as its quieter in there and the kids have a little bit of room to jump around.

hth Flea

 

[sazzy75]

Thankyou for the replys feel a bit better knowing them chairs will ok hopefully. I called eurostar they couldent have been more unhelpful if they tryed I think the women I spoke to wjust wanted to go home she said take it up with the travel agents im going to call them in the morning.
Sorry about the spellings my baby is helping me type.

 

[karengr]

snap we are going on the 18th and we are myself , hubby , 5 year old and 9 year old. 9 year old and hubby sat together , myself in front of them and my 5 year old the other side of the isle from my hubby next to a stranger we emailed to try and change it but havent heard back as yet . i am hoping to speak to someone on the day to try and sort it as she will not sit next to someone she doesnt know and dont we drum it into our kids not to talk to strangers or go off with people we dont know. course i might be getting my knickers in a twist over nothing andf noone will be sat next to her and therefor i will sit there. coming back is fine we are all sat together.

karen

 

[sazzy75]

The way they work this out is rubbish its not even that they are fully booked I went on eurostar today and booked same train same destination and time and guess what was givern the choice of how I want to be seated. I also have a 5 year old and he is no way siting by himself.

 

[Cyrano]

Hi sazzy75 and welcome to DLP DIS board
We are a friendly bunch here so please join in on any other thread or if you have a number of questions then just start a new thread for each

If you have not had a look yet, DLP posting rules are here, DIS posting guidelines can be found here.

Sending you that it all works out

 

[kevankiki]

Thankyou for the replys feel a bit better knowing them chairs will ok hopefully. I called eurostar they couldent have been more unhelpful if they tryed I think the women I spoke to wjust wanted to go home she said take it up with the travel agents im going to call them in the morning.
Sorry about the spellings my baby is helping me type.

Sorry to hear that you had such an unhelpful member of staff, hopefully your travel agent can sort it out for you, as you say, there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to be seated together if the train isn't even full yet!

Sending you some luck -

 

[tfortracey]

id call them hun and remind them that unaccompanied children are not allowed on the train so could they please seat your party in one group as otherwise you and dh will sit together and the kids can run riot with whoever they are sitting with they might well be able to help

 

[sazzy75]

id call them hun and remind them that unaccompanied children are not allowed on the train so could they please seat your party in one group as otherwise you and dh will sit together and the kids can run riot with whoever they are sitting with they might well be able to help

Thankyou didnt think to say that I am not going to bother stressing my self now will wait to the day and say what you just said. Im sure I saw somewhere that on the seating plans it looks like some chairs are back to back when in fact they are facing maybe I have got it wrong the plans look really confusing to me. Thankyoux

 

[nightrider68]

On a return journey, we knew that seven of us were split in the same carriage and our travel agent Thomas Cook insisted that they could do not do anything about our seating as when we were allocated our seats there were supposedly not seven seats together.

When we boarded we had another family which were split and the father refused to move so that some of us could sit together and he could have sat with his wife and child (obviously hadn't found any disney magic during his holiday). He then sat and read his book all the way home while his wife and son were very friendly.

I managed to find the train manager who was on the platform and not the train and he had a list of all booked seats and said that there were actually four seats together in our carriage which were not booked when his list was printed. Three of us moved to them and had no problems.

Other times we have found that many families sit their under 3's in seats which were booked by others, who were made to feel guilty when they actually asked for their seat.

Never travelled in January but would expect there to be some space - fingers crossed for you.

 

[stefanie C]

Just tell everyone that your child gets terribly travel sick, you'll find people will happily move to accomodate your family all together! Try this with your travel agent and Eurostar, I've always found the Eurostar staff very helpful, especially on the phone, maybe the person you spoke to was having an off day.

 

[ema74]

The Eurostar stuff is definitely the worst I've dealt with. First time we booked tickets I did it over the phone because the website wasn't working properly. They offered us the family area and it was all fine.

Second time we travelled via Lille (never again!)

Third time and again in April this year, I booked it over the internet. Before I put my payment details, they asked if we wanted a family area or not so I obviously clicked 'Yes'. Finally booked it, tickets arrived and it wasn't a family area. Called Eurostar directly and got a short answer... Because I booked tickets online, they couldn't change or upgrade even tho it asked on the website. She said I should have called and booked over the phone (booking over the phone is an extra £5 on top of the cost of the tickets) - apparently when booking over the phone they're able to assist with seating together or a family area...

Don't really understand why or how but I believe if you asked someone to swap, they'll be glad to do so...

Enjoy!

 

[liberty]

Hiya
This happened to me back in October, and i wasn't even seated in the same coach as every body else!, i spoke to my travel agent and they said you can't change the booking so i rang eurostar direct and they couldn't do anything either, partly becuase the train was fully booked due 300 people getting on at Ashford, but they suggested that once we got onto the platform to speak to one of the station masters, so we did and they were able to find us some seats together...so maybe thats worth a try??...it worked for us.

 

[karengr]

i went to our travel agent to try and change ours she phoned through and was told that we would have to see the train manager on friday morning. we have a plan if they cant change it but lets hope its not full and we can swap around.

karen

 

[sazzy75]

TO Last poster so your going the day after me. Its frustrating you pay so much to get on the train in the beginning Madness. I have spokern to other people and have found its a common prob someone said they went last jan there seats was not together but the train was so empty they all sat together in the end hope that happens to us