Eurostar

I'm having a little difficulty figuring out how to optimize the prices on Eurostar. Anyone have any advice? I'm selecting "I can be flexible" because we can and it's 1/2 the price. Yet every date I do only allows for a return date of the very same day with only an hour difference.

For example I'll select depart London on July 15th morning and return on July 17th evening. Then I'll have a few options for depart time and day, I'll select 15th and then for return it will only allow for the 15th with about an hour difference.

I've tried a few different days and times, but keep running into the same problem. Also, does it use military time or how do I figure out the hours used on the site? Don't ever see any AM's or PM's.

Thanks for the tips!

Are you sure you're going right through the entire booking process?

I just tried the dates you've given with the flexible dates button clicked and had no problem with the booking at all, although it did almost catch me out with the different booknig pages.

It takes you through several steps:

1) Enter journey details and click Search
2) Select date and travel class/price. Click 'select and continue'
3) Outward journey is highlighted at top. Scroll down to choose outward journey time (July 15th). Click 'select outward fare and continue'
4) Select inward date and class/price (as in step 2). Click 'select and continue'
5) Outward journey is highlighted at top. Scroll down to choose outward journey time (July 17th). Click 'select returning fare and continue'
6) Your full itinerary is shown. Either Log In or Continue as Guest.
7) Enter travellers details etc.

Thanks for taking the time to try it out. What times did you choose? I still can't get it to work properly. Here's what it looks like:

 It says I'm leaving at July 15th, I've chosen the time (5am). It then took me to outward journey and it is showing the date that I originally selected (July 17th), but the only outward time I can select is July 15th. If I click that and go to next, the details are July 15th leave to Paris, 1 hour later leave from Paris, July 15h.

Oh, and there are no AM's or PM's because the site uses the 24-hour clock, so anything after 12pm will continue into the teens:

1pm = 13:00
2pm = 14:00
.
.
.
10pm = 22:00
11pm = 23:00
12am = 00:00
etc.

So you know that anything before 12:00 (noon) is AM and anything after 12:00 is PM (something to get used to as the 24-hour clock is the most common form of time notation in the world - the only countries that dominantly use the 12-hour clock are the US and Canada (and sometimes Australia).

Oh I know how to use military time, or the 24 hour clock. It's just on the first page all the times were before 12:00 so I couldn't conclude that it was 24 hours or 'military'. Thanks for the extra tips though, that's great. Good to know that's usually what England uses!

Hmm, I get 6 different options for travel on the 17th. I chose outward journey leaving at 5.25am on the 15th and return journey leaving at 11.23am on the 17th. It sounds like there's a bug in the page or something. Maybe you could try deleting cookies or something and then starting over again?

Tried it on two different computers. Another annoying thing is that when I first go to the eurostar page if I select "US" then I cannot select "flexible." If I select UK, I can. What's up with that? I guess I'll try the cookie thing and a third computer. This is very weird!

Can you check to see if you get a different result selecting "2 youth." ?

Tried it on two different computers. Another annoying thing is that when I first go to the eurostar page if I select "US" then I cannot select "flexible." If I select UK, I can. What's up with that? I guess I'll try the cookie thing and a third computer. This is very weird!

That happens in the US too - you can only select flexible dates on the US Yahoo Travel site, but not on the UK Yahoo Travel site, and you can sometimes only select flexible dates for domestic US flights.

Ahh, that's the issue... I got the same thing as you when I did youth instead of adult fare. To be honest though, it's only £10 more to book as 2 adults instead of 2 youths, so maybe it's worth doing that and getting the correct dates.

Definitely. I'll have to reset it and just do 2 adults. I don't know why it's impossible to make the youths work, why do they even have the discount?

So it's okay that I select UK then? We can't afford the US prices with no flexible, it's outrageous. Will I be able to pay with my Bank of America US debit card?

Any info on the difference between "London" and London "St Pancras". Different stations is all?

Definitely. I'll have to reset it and just do 2 adults. I don't know why it's impossible to make the youths work, why do they even have the discount?

So it's okay that I select UK then? We can't afford the US prices with no flexible, it's outrageous. Will I be able to pay with my Bank of America US debit card?

Any info on the difference between "London" and London "St Pancras". Different stations is all?

I'm not sure on the US credit card - it may require a UK address for payment, but I just did a search via the US section and it's about the same price: 2 adults, UK site - £59 ($118), 2 adults, US site, $123.50 (or about £61).

St. Pancras is a different station, reopened a few months ago after a major renovation and it is now advertised as the 'new home of Eurostar'. Before that, all the Eurostar trains left from Waterloo station, so it shouldn't matter what you put.

Thanks a bunch for all the info. That's weird because when I do a US search for the exact same dates/times as x2 adult it says $247.00 for just one way. For the UK site it's 59.99 GBP for 2 adults for one way, or $120.00. You searched the same way?

Any info on using Eurostar to Amsterdam? They don't seem to have any return dates. Is there a better way to get to and fro to Amsterdam from London?

Taking Eurostar from London to Amsterdam seems an awfy awkward way to go.   Fly!   Easyjet does cheap deals quite often.

Oh I know how to use military time, or the 24 hour clock. It's just on the first page all the times were before 12:00 so I couldn't conclude that it was 24 hours or 'military'. Thanks for the extra tips though, that's great. Good to know that's usually what England uses!

Just a tip -- you will get some strange looks if you talk about 'military time' here.   No one (except Americans) will know what you are on about! 

Hum, Easyjet is cheaper than Eurostar for Paris as well. Any reason to  use eurostar over Easyjet except avoiding airport stuff?