Rail-booking websites and tight connections

One of the things that ‘tech’ often does really badly is choice.

Choosing and booking things online, you get the illusion of choice. But what you really get is a fraction of what’s possible. This happens a lot with rail travel. 

And it could cause you real-life if you are unaware of this. 

Rail-booking websites like Trainline, RailEurope, SNCF Connect, Eurostar etc are useful but they should also coming with a massive warning. 

But they don’t, so this is the reason for this blog article. 

Algorithms are programmed to pair or group trains in certain ways, according to certain parameters.  

The user interface (the website or app) needs to be look simple enough that the user (you) feel that it will be easy to you. 

As a result, you (the traveller) are presented with simple choices on a simple interface. 

And often, that’s not a good thing but a recipe for hassle. 

Here’s an example, from Trainline’s website. 

Let’s say you want to travel from London to Bourg St Maurice on Saturday 4th January. 

Trainline shows you the following options: 

As you've seen above, the Eurostar arrives Paris-Nord at 13:48 and the TGV departs at 14:48, giving exactly 60 minutes between trains.  It's possible to do that, but it does risk missing it in case of any kind of delay, and it means that the transfer will be rushed rather than relaxed – at best.

Now I know what you might be thinking:  just book the tickets separately. But there are two disadvantages to booking separately.  The first is consumer protection: if you book the journey in one go then the whole journey is protected in the case of one leg being delayed or cancelled. Delays and cancellations may be unlikely, but they can happen.

Second, it costs more. The combined outbound journey above, booked in one go on Trainline, cost £140. 

Look what happens if you try booking it separately.  Firstly, the Eurostar costs £111 from London to Paris (see screenshot below)

And then the TGV from Paris to Bourg St Maurice, booked separetely, costs £43 (see screenshot below).

So that's £153 in total, more than 10% extra, and less consumer protection. 

What are the solutions?

Well, one solution is to use a rail-booking agent instead. You can find details of agents such as The Travel Bureau and Trainseurope in our train-travel booking guide.

These agents have sophisticated booking systems, real-world experience and human intelligence.  Website algorithms can't match that.

The other solution is to change your Eurostar booking to a different train.

Because if you've booked your Eurostar and TGV (or other onward trains) already, and want to give yourself more time in Paris, you can change your Eurostar train time without any fee.

This is the page on Eurostar's websiste about how to change your Eurostar train.

It says:

Eurostar Standard and Eurostar Plus

You can change the date and/or time of your ticket up until one hour before your original departure time with no fee. You can’t change your destination.

You can also exchange your ticket to upgrade to Eurostar Plus. Upgrades to Eurostar Premier are not allowed.

Please be aware:

a) if the cost of your new ticket is more than the cost of your original ticket, you will need to pay the difference;

b) if the cost of your new ticket is less than the cost of your original ticket, you will not receive a refund of the difference.

Tickets that are exchanged less than seven days before the departure date to a new later departure date will in all circumstances become non-refundable.

So this gives you a second chance at getting the timings right.

I hope you find this useful advice.

I'd love to hear if this issue has affected you and whether you've successfully managed to use the suggested solutions above.