Eurostar ticket 'snap sale' offers trains to Paris for just £19

Eurostar says the offer is cheaper than the Heathrow Express

Eurostar, the cross-Channel train operator, is claiming it is charging less than the Heathrow Express and Gatwick Express on trains to and from the Continent.

On Wednesday only, Eurostar is selling tickets from London St Pancras to Paris and Brussels for £19 each way. The deal is available only through its “Snap” sales channel, which allows buyers to choose only their destination and either a morning or afternoon train. Travellers must log in using Facebook or Twitter.

The company says: “In little over 2 hours, travellers can explore the cafés, culture and cuisine of Paris or Brussels for less than the price of an express train to London airports.”

Eurostar points out that the standard one-way Gatwick Express fare is £19.90, while a standard class, buy on-board Heathrow Express single is £27.

The airport express operators also offer a range of cheaper tickets which undercut the £19 Eurostar fare.

When Eurostar first began services in 1994, the cheapest return ticket cost £95. The reduction by 60 per cent to just £38 return reflects pressure from low-cost airlines and a willingness to fill seats at prices that just cover marginal costs.

The very short window of the flash sale, and the fact that the actual train departure time is revealed only two days before travel, are designed to avoid cannibalising existing sales.

The cheap tickets are on sale until midnight on Wednesday, and are for travel on some Eurostar services from 6 to 29 June.

Virgin Trains East Coast is also conducting a flash sale with one-way seats from London to Leeds for £5, to Newcastle for £10 and to Edinburgh for £20. They are for travel only on Saturday and Sunday, 27 and 28 May; traffic temporarily dips during bank holiday weekends. The sale closes at one minute to midnight on Thursday.

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