Eurostar Service Quality Performance

1. Travel information and ticket sales

2. Punctuality and cancellations

3. Cleanliness

4. Customer satisfaction

5. Complaints and compensation

6. Assistance

7. Details of ticket office opening hours and European contact centre availability

1. Travel information and ticket sales

Before travel

Customers can request a copy of our Conditions of Carriage from our contact centre or find them on eurostar.com.

Our train times are always available online through the booking magnet on eurostar.com via the main page and travel info.

Information on ticket prices and conditions are always available via eurostar.com, and can also be obtained from our stations and contact centre, details of which can be found at the bottom of this document. In response to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic we have adapted our conditions to meet the needs of our customers.

Information on accessibility, access conditions and availability of onboard facilities for disabled people and people with reduced mobility is available on request from all Eurostar stations, our contact centre and on eurostar.com.

Information on accessibility and access conditions for bicycles is also available from all Eurostar stations, our contact centre and on eurostar.com.

Information about incidents which cause significant disruption (i.e. delays of more than 60 minutes which affect more than one train) is available via our live travel information page on eurostar.com. Our contact centre can provide additional help for customers who are unable to use our website.

When services are severely disrupted, we will aim to issue information through travel bulletins on local radio and television, and also through social media such as Twitter. Live travel information is also available on eurostar.com. Customers can also opt in (at the time of booking) to receive updates by text and email about possible delays or service alterations, prior to their arrival at the departure station. In the event of a delay in which customers are eligible for compensation, this system is also used to inform customers about who they need to contact to receive this.

Information about our travel classes and availability of onboard services is available from all Eurostar stations, our contact centre and via eurostar.com.

To find out about procedures for reclaiming lost luggage customers can visit eurostar.com or contact the station where the item was last seen or where the train arrived.

During the journey

All our trains have clear signage above the internal doors at the end of each coach, giving information about the location and availability of onboard toilets and the bar coaches. Customers can also ask any member of the Eurostar onboard team for this information.

Information regarding the next station will be announced onboard by our train managers.

In the case of delays the train manager will announce information at appropriate intervals.

The train manager will also make announcements about main connecting services.

Safety guideline leaflets can be found onboard, and the train manager will also make announcements shortly before departure. Further announcements are made shortly after departure. Train managers can also be contacted at all times via the team at the bar coaches.

Tickets

Buying tickets

Customers can buy tickets for travel in advance or on the day of travel by visiting eurostar.com, by calling our contact centre, or by visiting one of our stations in person.

Ticket refunds

Refunds of unused tickets are made through the original point of sale, provided the ticket purchased is refundable. Therefore, if the customer bought the ticket on eurostar.com and it is refundable, it may be refunded via eurostar.com.

If the customer has already taken part of a ticketed journey and is requesting a refund as a result of a cancellation or compensation for a delay for which compensation is payable, the refund is made by our Traveller Care Team. We will aim to make such refunds within one month of a request and where not possible, no later than three months of a request.

If, before departure, it is reasonably expected that there will be a delay of 60 minutes or more on the Eurostar service, customers will be entitled to either a full refund or to postpone their journey to a later date. To claim the refund customers simply need to call our contact centre with details of the original ticket or complete our online refund request form. To change their booking customers can make the change directly through the Manage Your Booking section at eurostar.com.

2. Punctuality and cancellations

At Eurostar we set ourselves high standards of train punctuality and make every effort to get passengers to their destination on time. Our 2022 target was to ensure:

• 82% of trains arrive within 5 minutes of their scheduled arrival time
• 90.5% of trains arrive within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time

At Eurostar we set ourselves high standards of train punctuality and make every effort to get passengers to their destination on time. Our 2022 target was to ensure:

• 82% of trains arrive within 5 minutes of their scheduled arrival time
• 90.5% of trains arrive within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time

There are occasions, usually outside of our control, where trains may be delayed or disrupted. When this is the case, this is how we will help customers:

Delays of 30 – 60 minutes affecting more than one service:

Updated announcements will be made within the station every 10 minutes.

Updated announcements will be made onboard the affected trains at appropriate intervals (usually every 10 minutes for the first 30 minutes and at least every 15 minutes thereafter).

Information about connections and onward travel will be available from the train manager.

Delays in excess of 60 minutes affecting more than one service

Updated announcements will be made within the station every 10 minutes.

Updated announcements will be made onboard the affected trains at appropriate intervals (usually every 10 minutes for the first 30 minutes and at least every 15 minutes thereafter).

Information and help regarding connections and onward travel will be available from the train manager.

The train manager will make an announcement regarding the reason for the delay, the effect on arrival times and whether compensation is applicable.

Regular announcements about delay compensation will be made onboard the affected trains.

We will make every effort to give customers refreshments appropriate to the circumstances, location and duration of the delay.

Where possible, passengers will be assisted with rebooking onward connections. And as a member of the Railteam alliance, customers are entitled through the ‘Hop on the next available train’ agreement to take the next high-speed service leaving from the same station as originally planned when a delay or cancellation of a preceding Railteam member’s high-speed service results in the customer making their originally planned connection. This applies between high-speed services of Railteam alliance members.

Where possible, a taxi or hotel will be made available to customers on arrival when the delay occurs late at night and public transport is unavailable.

Subject to availability we will book hotels for customers who cannot reach their onward connection or final destination on the same day and are unable to make their own arrangements.

Delays in excess of 60 minutes affecting the majority of services

When major disruptions occur, we will do our best to help our travellers with onward connections, refreshments, hotels and taxis. As well as the usual communication channels we will also provide further information through the local press and eurostar.com so customers can decide whether they still wish to continue their journey as booked.

Delay Compensation Policy

For delays to Eurostar services we will make the following compensation available to customers:

Delays of 60-119 minutes - We offer a Eurostar e-voucher (“e-voucher”) worth 25% of the affected leg. Alternatively, customers may claim a 25% refund of the affected leg of the journey.*

Delays of 120-179 minutes - We offer a Eurostar e-voucher (“e-voucher”) worth 50% of the affected leg. Alternatively, customers may claim a 50% refund of the affected leg of the journey.*

Delays of 180 minutes or more - We offer a Eurostar e-voucher (“e-voucher”) worth 75% of the affected leg. Alternatively, customers may claim a 50% refund of the affected leg of the journey.*

* This will be calculated based on the price actually paid by you for the leg of the journey subject to the delay

If customers choose an e-voucher, they have one year from the date of the delay to claim it and redeem it on a new journey. To claim, customers can go to compensation.eurostar.com.

Partial refunds will be provided by way of a bank transfer or refund to the original credit card used, and must be claimed within two months of the delay on our website, using the details of the original ticket.

To apply for a refund, customers should submit their request online.

Punctuality Performance

Year to date results for May 2021 to the end of April 2022 are:

• 85.3 % our trains arrived with less than 5 minutes delay
• 92.4% trains arrive within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time

Cancellation of trains

When trains are cancelled, we provide the same information and help we give to customers affected by delays, and the same compensation policy applies.

If a train is cancelled and as a result there will be a delay in arrival at the destination station of 60 minutes or more, customers will be entitled to either a full refund of their ticket for the affected journey if they choose not to travel or can postpone their journey to a later date or time. If they travel on the next available service the same day they are entitled to delay compensation if they arrive with an overall delay of 60 minutes or more.

3. Cleanliness

Train cleaning

Our trains are cleaned after each commercial service and also undertake periodic deep cleaning operations. On some services we have in-journey cleaners that focus on maintaining the overall level of cleanliness en route. We conduct a number of independent train cleaning audits each month across our locations and our suppliers also conduct their own audits against the same criteria.

Train cleaning audits are carried out against an agreed criteria for 'What good looks like' and allocated a score of good, satisfactory or unacceptable. Appropriate weighting is applied to the scoring and any overall audit score below 95% is considered unacceptable. During periods of major disruption, the specification is slightly modified to reduce the delay of the subsequent journey, however all priority items are cleaned after every journey. The monthly KPI target for cleaning audits is 95% .

Performance: on board cleaning

The on board cleaning target for 2021 was 91% for the first six months and 92% for the last six months (customers rating the on board cleanliness as good, very good and outstanding). Overall result for 2021 was 95.1%. Target for 2022 is 92%. The monthly Customer Satisfaction survey is run by Kokoro on behalf of Eurostar.

Stations

Our Stations are also deep cleaned regularly and there are always cleaners present during our hours of operation to keep the station environment as clean, safe and clear of litter as possible. Each month we conduct audits of our stations. All of these audits are accompanied by a representative from the cleaning supplier.

Air conditioning

Our trains are equipped with air conditioning. Should this fail our train manager will do everything he or she can to move customers to an alternative coach.

4. Customer satisfaction

Customer Satisfaction Survey

We continuously monitor customer satisfaction through a range of different methods. We use a post-journey online survey to ask customers what they think about the key aspects of their Eurostar experience, their satisfaction with each stage of the customer journey as well as their experience of interacting with Eurostar staff. We also ask customers how likely they are to recommend Eurostar (NPS). This survey is conducted by the independent market research agency Kokoro. We give all our customers (for whom we have email addresses for) the opportunity to complete this survey and usually obtain a c.10% response rate. The questionnaire takes around 10-15 minutes to complete.

We also utilise Usabilla on Eurostar.com to get live feedback from customers when they are using our website; this allows us to make enhancements to our website based on customer feedback.

Ad-hoc research including quantitative surveys, qualitative methods and ethnography is deployed to fill the gaps in the business’ knowledge not covered by the above.

All this customer feedback is used across the business by senior management to direct long-term strategy, and tactically by customer-facing teams to help improve customer service.

5. Complaints and compensation

Our Traveller Care Team is here to correspond with customers who are unhappy with their experience of Eurostar. Complaints and feedback are raised to responsible managers for comment, investigation and remedial action as required. Appropriate compensation will be considered on a case by case basis.

We will use the customer’s preferred contact method when responding to a complaint.

Information on how to submit a complaint regarding our services is available via eurostar.com.

The table below shows a breakdown of the top ten reasons for complaints dealt with by our Customer Care team between 1st May 2021 until 30th April 2022. This team also responds in cases where customers praise our service and also passes on suggestions for changes to services as well as complaints and requests for compensation due to delays.

Types of complaint – breakdown by theme

Top 10 complaints - May 2021 – April 2022

Amending or refunding tickets - 20.9%

Website - 11.2%

Stations - Paris Gare du Nord - 5.0%

Onboard Catering - 4.4%

Station Staff Paris Gare du Nord - 3.6%

Onboard Seating - 3.0%

Onboard Other passengers - 3.0%

Station Staff St Pancras - 2.8%

Station Staff Amsterdam - 2.8%

Hotel packages - 2.2%

6. Assistance

For customers with a disability or reduced mobility we offer assistance on departure and arrival, with 2 options as follows :

1. Pre booking

For a guaranteed assistance booking on the day of travel, we ask customers to pre book at least 48 hours before their journey and arrive 75 minutes before departure.

To pre book an assistance customers can either:

• Call our contact centre on +44 (0)3432 186 186 - Select “option 2”, followed by “option 4”.
• Email us directly at: contactus@eurostar.com with “Special Assistance” in the subject line.

Or

• On our website, select the “contact us” tab, followed by the “email” tab and fill out the “contact us form”, selecting “Assistance” in the category drop-down menu.

2. Turn-up-and-go

If pre booking 48 hours in advance is not possible, we ask our customers to arrive at least 75 minutes before departure – this is a non-guaranteed assistance booking, therefore we may have to change the customers initial ticket to a later departing train. Any ticket changes in these circumstances are made with no charge to the customer.

Customers who are disabled or have reduced mobility have the following services available to them:

• An assistance welcome point at each station.
• Wheelchair provision (if required) to take the customer through from check-in to the train.
• Assistance through check-in, security, and immigration authorities.
• Help boarding the train.
• Help disembarking from the train.
• Help with x2 bags, with a maximum weight limit of 15kg per bag.
• Assistance for the entire journey, if making a connection when booked at least 48 hours in advance.

Comprehensive information about the assistance services we provide and what to expect when travelling with us can be found on eurostar.com.

7. Details of ticket office opening hours and European contact centre availability

Contact Centre opening times

Eurostar Contact Centre - UK

Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 17:00

UK Bank Holidays, 08.00 to 15.30

Closed at weekends

08432 186186

The Special assistance line is open as above. Phone number is 08432 186186 then select “option 2”, followed by “option 4”.

Eurostar Contact Centre – France

Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 18:00

UK Bank Holidays, 09.00 to 16.30

Closed at weekends

01 70 70 60 88

Eurostar Contact Centre - Belgium

Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 18:00

UK Bank Holidays, 09.00 to 16.30

Closed at weekends

01 70 70 60 88

Eurostar Contact Centre - Netherlands

Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 18:00

UK Bank Holidays, 09.00 to 16.30

Closed at weekends

02 071 68 325

Ticket Office opening times

London St Pancras

Self service ticket machines are available with staff members on hand to offer further assistance when needed during operating hours (05.30-19.30 everyday)

Paris Ticket Office

Monday to Saturday, 06:00 to 21:00

Sunday and Bank Holidays, 07:20 to 21:00

Brussels Ticket Office

Monday to Sunday, 06:00 to 22:00

Lille Ticket Office

Monday to Saturday, 05:45 to 22:00

Sunday and Bank Holidays, 07:30 to 22:00

Marne-la-Vallée Ticket Office

Monday to Sunday, 06:30 to 22:00

Please note ticket office opening times are shown above up to February 2022 but have been subject to change since then in line with operational changes due to COVID-19 and our ongoing recovery.