A merger in the works since 2019 has finally been confirmed: from October 2023, Thalys will be gone, and Eurostar will reign supreme. Hoera?
Say doei to Thalys, because this autumn, it will no longer exist as we know it.
Eurostar and Thalys’ have said their shared mission is to connect Europeans and provide routes across the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, and England.
What’s in it for us?
Holding a hot little Thalys ticket in your hand and sweating that it’s now no more than a piece of paper? Stress less. According to Thalys, tickets booked through their website will be automatically transferred to the new eurostar.com website.
But hold on, what does the merger change then? Will we be charged more? Will the journeys be longer? Will some routes stop existing? We have so many questions.
Alright, firstly, we know that this means everything will be in one place: one website, app, and ticket.
According to Thalys, having one ticket means easier transfers (but we’ve all heard enough missed-train-connection horror stories to be sceptical).
READ MORE | Thalys waves doei to the Netherlands, but it’s good news for international trains
We also know the merger means we can continue to go to London (whoop-de-doop) and other cities — but there’s also a funky new reward programme. Benefits from Thalys and Eurostar are grouped in one programme called Club Eurostar.
Are you the Thalys-Eurostar merger because you look hot but you intimidate me and I believe that it won’t turn out great in the end
— Alkinoos (@AlkinoosKanaris) October 25, 2022
If you were a My Thalys member, you won’t lose any points or benefits; they’ll just be transferred to a new account that you’ll just have to activate.
Are there downsides?
Besides the trains being blue and not red anymore, tickets could get more expensive because Eurostar will have a monopoly.
With this market share, Eurostar can charge more for tickets, and we just have to deal with it — Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. 💵
But whether the company decides to up ticket prices remains to be seen. We’ll just have to find out when the merger goes through in October.Â
What do you think of this merger? Tell us in the comments below!
Eurostar a monopoly? Are you unfamiliar with planes, ferries, buses and cars?
It’s annoying that the plane is cheaper to the UK from Amsterdam and there’s no through train the the rest of the country.
‘England’ or Britain / UK? 🙄
Do you have attractive routes?
What we need is way more through routes from London to other European cities, not just Paris and Brussels. Also, sleeping trains which depart from London – currently you have to change in Paris or Brussels…
They might even get around to recusitating the stillborn Nightstar sleepong yrains from the north of Britain to the continemt if thr border controld could get sorted out to svoid situations which caused the withdraeal of the London Victoria – Folkestone leg of the VSOE.