There has always been a problem with one-way fares on Eurostar. If you visit www.eurostar.com and ask for a one-way ticket from London to Paris or Brussels, they will often only offer you an expensive fully-flexible one-way business fare for £155, even on trains where there's a cheap return ticket available for as little as £59. That's because Eurostar is trying to safeguard its business travel revenue. So there are several different ways to get a sensible one-way price for Eurostar:
Option 1: As of October 2007, Eurostar has at long last introduced a sensible, affordable £44 one-way fare on a trial basis, for journeys between January & May 2008 (it may be extended). It must be booked well in advance, limited availability. The £44 fare can be bought at www.eurostar.com or www.raileurope.co.uk or from the various European ticketing agencies by phone.
Option 2: Buy a return ticket from £59 and throw away the return half after using the outward portion. There are no problems with doing this, indeed Eurostar sales staff often suggest doing this themselves! Since Eurostar started in 1994, buying a return ticket and throwing away the return portion has always been the most usual way people travel one-way affordably on Eurostar.
Option 3 is cheaper (if it works, it may now not work):
- Delete all the cookies on your PC using 'tools' then 'delete browsing history'.
- Go to www.eurostar.com, but select 'Spain' or 'Austria' as your country of residence.
- You may now be offered legitimate one-way leisure fares from just 38.50 euros (£28) 2nd class or £68 (95 euros) 1st class which you can buy online and pick up at the station on departure.
- There have been a few reports that UK credit cards are rejected at the final payment stage with these fares, but other UK-issued credit cards certainly work, including my own.
- Recent checks of the Eurostar website suggest that these cheap one-way fares have disappeared, but see what the system offers you!
Experienced travellers use these methods to make affordable one-way Eurostar trips all the time, there are no problems with either of these options. Unofficially at least, Eurostar realises it's getting your business instead of you switching to coach or air or train+ferry to find an affordable one-way fare..!