Availability

• There is a 90 day booking horizon for French trains, 120 days for Eurostar.
• Use Encode/Decode in ELGAR to find station codes, or see Destinations.
• A break of journey of up to 24 hours is permitted in Paris or Lille.
• Eurostar recommend allowing at least an hour to cross Paris, and a further 30 minutes for return check-in on Eurostar (90 minutes in total for inbound journeys)
• TGV services always have train code beginning with TG, and show RN for Reservation Needed. Non-TGV trains show RR for Reservation Recommended. Non-reservable trains show neither RR or RN.
• Where some trains appear twice in availability, the TGV have alternative train numbers. Book either service.
• When requesting minimum connection times it is necessary to specify via Paris or Lille.

Connecting station codes

Selling and open sectors

• If ELGAR does not respond after a sell entry, your agency may not have requested access to French Provinces on ELGAR. Call eurostar4agents on 0870 6000 792.
• If the train shows neither an RR or RN on the availability screen, then it is non-reservable and can be sold using an open sector entry.
• When booking open sectors, ensure the correct Paris or Lille connecting station code is entered. Routing, times and connecting stations should first be checked by doing an availability display for the whole journey. An open ticket is produced and is valid on any non-TGV service within 24 hours of the Eurostar connection.

Pricing

The fare quote format is the same for all ELGAR reservations; a passenger type corresponding to the class of service needs to be specified. The classes of service in the Eurostar and French segments must be compatible in order to fare quote successfully. Refer to the Quick Reference Fare Guide or Fares pages for French Provinces and Disney fares and Eurostar passenger types.

Seats

• Eurostar and TGV seat reservations are compulsory. On some other services, seat reservations are not compulsory, but recommended. Codes on the ELGAR Availability screen indicate whether seat reservations are required: RN-Reservation Needed RR- Reservation Recommended
• All seat reservations made on ELGAR are included in the price of the ticket.
• All services are non-smoking.
• The seat map display on ELGAR is available for Eurostar only, and specific seats cannot be requested on French services.
• The following Eurostar seat options are also valid on the TGV: W (window), A (aisle), SOLO, DUO, CLUB2, CLUB4 and CARRE.

Ticketing

Enter form of payment and end and retrieve using ELGAR entries before ticketing as normal in ELGAR. A coupon will be printed for every segment booked. A typical four-segment booking will generate four ticket coupons but only two ticket numbers will be generated; one for the outbound segments, one for the return segments.

Ticket on Departure can be set up for St Pancras, Ebbsfleet and Ashford International, and Paris Gare du Nord using the usual entry, and for Lille and selected French stations by using a new entry. Please see Ticketing page within Direct Services.