[Eurostar Snap]
Years ago Eurostar brought up a very creative sales idea called Eurostar Snap. Basically you tell them on which day you want to travel and they offer you a deeply discounted price but will only book you on a particular train close to the departure date.
It’s been years since that program ceased to operate, yet surprisingly they’ve decided to restart it.
- Valid for select routes: London – Paris / Brussels and Paris – Brussels / Cologne / Amsterdam
- Choose a travel date in the next 14 days
- Eurostar will email you the ticket 48 hours in advance
- Tickets are non-changeable and non-refundable, but eligible for point earning
- Your seat will be allocated at random
Here is an example search page:
Compared to its previous version, Snap has become much less generous and more restricted. Firstly you can no longer select a time range, so could end up on any train however early or late. Secondly it’s also priced much higher – I revisited some 2018 stats and it was as cheap as £25, as opposed to the current £60 or £70.
Since you can purchase a regular ticket for under £40 if planned in advance, I don’t find Snap very appealing anymore. If you have a last-minute travel plan and are flexible enough however, it might work out.
[Secret Fare]
The heritage of Eurostar Snap has also been resurrecting in other UK train companies over the past years, thanks to SeatFrog for bringing the idea back to life.
EMR and Transpennine Express offer a deal called Secret Fare via SeatFrog. Rules are:
- Book at least 7 days in advance
- Choose your origin, destination and day of travel
- Pick from morning, afternoon or evening
- The ticket will be emailed to you 24 hours in advance
Main EMR destinations are: London, Luton, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield, Liverpool and Manchester. Main Transpennine destinations are: Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, York, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Also powered by SeatFrog, Avanti has a Superfare program on their own platform which you can access here.
Rules are pretty much the same and some advised fares are (one-way):
- London – Birmingham £9
- London – Liverpool £15
- London – Manchester £20
- London – Glasgow £30
I find the SeatFrog terms much more practical, as you know vaguely when you are going to travel and the fares are indeed a bargain. If you are not too fussed about travel times, with such fares you can make substantial savings, especially if you don’t have access to other discount programs such as railcard and group save.
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