Eurotunnel Pricing

Author
Discussion

EAndy

Original Poster:

228 posts

141 months

Thursday 16th October 2014
quotequote all
Monday heading out to Germany to pick up some work equipment (it's £2k+ to ship) so works out far cheaper to drive out to Gottingen and return back home.

Usually I wake up at around 1am it's 2hours down to catch the Eurotunnel grab that and drive across, anyone long story short I arrive back at the tunnel about 10-11pm and head back home for about 2-3am the next day knackered. I will say I stop off every 2-3 hours and through out that usually grab an hour kip several times throughout the day at services when I do fuel stops as it's around 1100-1200 miles all in.

I've done this probably 20 odd times in last 3 years but as getting older and the days have less 'sunlight hours' it gets a bit more tiring.

Plan is to grab tunnel out and then from Gottingen go to Hook of Holland and grab overnight ferry back to Harwich.

So this is where the Eurotunnel pricing confuses me.

A single is £73 between 12.00 - 06.00

If however I book a return prices change to £23 between 12.00 - 06.00 and then same through out day. Basically a return will cost me £46.

Anyone able to explain to my confused brain how a single is £73 yet a return is £46.

I'll book a return because it's cheaper but just means someone actually wanting that slot will miss out I guess as the high carriages the buses and vans use such as what I will are always full.

irocfan

40,152 posts

189 months

Thursday 16th October 2014
quotequote all
IIRC (as weird as this sounds) if you don't complete the journey they will try and get the extra back

PositronicRay

26,957 posts

182 months

Thursday 16th October 2014
quotequote all
Tis odd, it's a discount for a short break.

lowdrag

12,869 posts

212 months

Thursday 16th October 2014
quotequote all
There is no reasoning in ticket pricing, whether it be train plane or boat. Why, for example, is it cheaper for example, if you take the train from London to Manchester to book London-Birmingham and Birmingham - Manchester (just a hypothetical example before someone jumps in) all for the same train? The Calais/Dover used to be £5 return and people binned the return until they caught up with the wheeze, and ferries could be considerably cheaper if you booked the UK side of the channel rather than in euroland, or at time vice-versa. I know I've paid at least £100 cheaper by comparing .co.uk sites with .fr ones.

In brief, you've found the in the armour and it may also profit a lot of PHers. Well done!

Christamighty. I can no longer say c-h-i-n-k in the armour? PC gone mad.

Edited by lowdrag on Thursday 16th October 14:33

mcflurry

9,079 posts

252 months

Thursday 16th October 2014
quotequote all
The £70 ticket is probably slightly flexible too. Not to the extent of their £199 offering, but changable by paying the difference in advance smile


thelawnet

1,539 posts

154 months

Thursday 16th October 2014
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Their fares:

Standard Single - expensive if you're travelling soon, otherwise normally priced (they want to make more money out of last-minute, desperate travellers)
FlexiPlus - fully flexible, super-expensive ticket. You also get a lounge and your own check-in line. (even more profit)
Day/overnight return - super-cheap, but you will get charged if you stay over/don't return. (this is for casual travellers)
Short-stay saver - 5-day return, it's cheaper than the standard single if you want to go tomorrow, for example (this is for last-minute holiday bookers, they know they can't convince you to pay the full £400 return, so they will settle for £200, say)

So yeah, it's priced based on perceived willingness to pay. If you are booking immediately, one-way, you will get shafted.

And people trying to book the day return to save ~90% is well-documented, they don't like it and may try and charge you the difference.

EAndy

Original Poster:

228 posts

141 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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Well I booked a return, went out early Monday and caught a ferry back from Hook of Holland in the evening (Hoek Van Holland I should say after 20 minutes of trying to plumb it into my Sat Nav).

Shall await and see if they try to recover the cost of me not taking the return trip, if they do then I'm no worse off, if they don't I'm quids in.

I could always plead a case of my vehicle broke down so I had it recovered hence didn't use the return trip but we shall see. I don't think they'll chase up me for not returning but if they do I'll let you know otherwise take the silence as never paying anything additional.

//j17

4,471 posts

222 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
You should try booking flights from London City to Edinburgh on ba.com, out one day/back the next.

Tomorrow's 07:50 flight from City will cost you £138.
Friday's 18:00 flight back will cost you £219.
So £357 all-in.

Of course you probably need a hotel overnight in Edinburgh and so you could book a package through ba.com.
Same dates, same flights but with the additional cost of a night in a 3* Best Western hotel - £208.
Hell you can stay in a 5* hotel for £297.

Yep, it's actually £60 cheaper to book with a room in a 5* hotel than flights alone, and if you're happy to book a 3 star hotel you save £149 - more than the cost of the outbound flight booked separately!


Hackney

6,811 posts

207 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
lowdrag said:
There is no reasoning in ticket pricing, whether it be train plane or boat. Why, for example, is it cheaper for example, if you take the train from London to Manchester to book London-Birmingham and Birmingham - Manchester (just a hypothetical example before someone jumps in) all for the same train?
Ah, well that's because trains were a monopoly (they weren't) so they were privatised so that you can have "choice", which goes hand in hand with "complicated" and "easy to get wrong and therefore an excess to pay".

When all you wanted "cheap" and "simple"

lowdrag

12,869 posts

212 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
T'was never thus, sadly. Does anyone remember phone tapping? No, not spying, but the old way of making a long distance call for nowt. Our number was Droxford 51, so to ring the next village was 9, and from that village to the next in line was 8, and so on. You could phone London from Hampshire for nothing in the day. It was a question of technique, tapping the rest the correct number of times. Phone calls were damned expensive in the day if you dialled the number. There's always been a way around extortionate prices.

Lost soul

8,712 posts

181 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
Notadoctor said:
As I understand it, a single will likely be used by a "distressed" passenger
When I was living in Germany my Mother had a heart attack and was in hospital , I got to Calais and tried to get a single as I did not know how long or when and was told £150- they are real bandits

EAndy

Original Poster:

228 posts

141 months

Thursday 30th October 2014
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Well week and bit weeks since I used the tunnel I'm yet to have any incurred charges.

I did message them the same week I returned asking what would happen but got some response totally ignoring what I was actually asking.

"Thank you for your email.

We are sorry to hear the reasons that prevented you from using your return journey. As advised at the time of booking, your ticket is not refundable and is a 1-2 day return ticket which as you had not used the return journey before midnight on the 2nd day the ticket automatically expires and can no longer be used for travel.

If we can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us."

I wasn't asking for a refund or anything simply whether I would be charged, from the response I can't see any suggestion of being charged more for not using a service.