Eurostar to Paris rates

Can somebody tell me how one goes about getting those super-cheap, 79-pound return tickets from London Waterloo to Paris?  I travel to Paris frequently because my sister lives there. But I have yet to find any good deals. We're going this coming weekend and we paid a ridiculous 287 pounds for two return tickets in standard class!  And that was booked 3 weeks in advance!  Yes, it's Friday-Sunday but still shouldn't be that expensive.

And I'm not really interested in flying because it actually takes longer when you take into account all the transfers and security lines, etc.

I guess I don't understand how you don't think it shouldn't be more expensive to travel for a weekend break (Friday - Sunday) than it might be during the week?  It's almost always more expensive to travel then. 

It is all down to availability. Anything booked within several weeks is always expensive. You might find the odd cheap fare now and again. I booked today someone traveling from the IOM and wanted to go to Venice. The flights with Jet2 to Venice from Manchester were £80 cheaper than the IOM to Manchester ones were. Found her a beautiful hotel tho. It only has 6 rooms, and a few apartments. Palazzo Schiavoni.


From looking at their sight you have to book accomdation with them as well for some of the cheap prices....

One said book a last minute Eurostar break from just £59.00 having looked at it the you get a much better deal if you stay in a hotel. They will hold allocation back of seats to package up with hotels. They will also hold allocation on non direct trains going to disney as well. They will allocate those seats to ppl like Disney themselves and tour operators such as Bridge Travel.

>>I guess I don't understand how you don't think it shouldn't be more expensive to travel for a weekend break (Friday - Sunday) than it might be during the week?  It's almost always more expensive to travel then. <<

Hey I'm not a moron. Obviously I know it's more expensive to travel on weekends. What I meant was that I don't understand why the website sometimes advertises WEEKEND rates of 79 pounds return but then when you search for them, they are never available.  If they only offer 4 seats per train at that rate, it's misleading advertising when the majority of seats cost 150 pounds return.

MeShell: Another coworker also suggested websites like lastminute.com, etc.  Sometimes the rates are only 99 pounds return with 2-star hotel included. Since I have a place to stay with relatives, I guess I could just buy the package deal and throw away the hotel voucher, and I'd still make out!