Disneyland via Eurostar - seats not together - anything we can do?

[IsItMeOr]

Just been checking my tickets for our holiday next week, and spotted that the allocated seats for our return journey have me, DH and DS all sat separately.

As DS is 6yo with autism, I am wondering whether there is anything I can do about this in advance, or whether we just cross our fingers, and hope that some kind soul will swap with us on the day.

Does anybody have any experience of successfully sorting this in advance? The train is fully booked, so I can't see what Eurostar will be able to do at this point.

Thanks in advance.

www.seat61.com/train-seat-plans.htm#Eurostar

This page has a link to the Eurostar seating plans, if that's of any use?

Hopefully you may find someone to swap with on the day.

Thanks Chippy - yes, that seating plan confirms what I had found somewhere else. I'm pretty sure we got some of the last seats available on the train, so it makes sense - I never thought to wonder where they were.

Ah well - hopefully the person in the seat opposite one of ours will be willing to move. If not, DS will probably be fine if we have a tablet charged. And if he isn't fine...I imagine whoever is sat closest to him will be delighted to swap with one of us at that point.

What about ringing Eurostar to see if they can swap them with someone else? I'd have thought putting any 6 year old separate from their adult was a bit much and with the extra complication of autism would hope that they would inconvenience someone else instead!

I agree that people will probably swap on the day, but if it was me I think I'd see if we could sort it in advance.

i am always swapping seats on Eurostar and never had a problem (to sit with someone/have a seat with power or whatever). Actually once I did - my french skills were so perfect they cancelled my seat and booked me on the next one....even that was quickly sorted.

I an usually going to Brussels and there is an information desk there just by the check in who do all the faffing/reprinting tickets etc. I guess its the same in the french bit.

hth. Have a great trip!

How did it go?

Thanks for asking WhenMarnie. Sorry for slow update. Okay-ish in the (protracted) end.

The granny sat opposite was, I think in my kinder moments, a bit thrown by the request to switch seats. It would have meant her not being easily able to chat with her son and his family (wife, 2 kids) sat across the aisle.

Unfortunately DS was stood right next to me while I was asking, getting visibly tenser, so I had to put on a brave face of "oh, I'm sure it will be fine" to stop him hitting her getting upset.

I repeatedly asked the train staff about moving so that at least one of us could be sat with DS. They said there were no spaces, in premium (where we were) or standard.

At the point when I was about to cry, one of the staff managed to find two seats together, so that DS and I could sit together.

Lesson learned for any future seat-allocated trips!

I think you said upthread that you bought the tickets latish and that was why you weren't together, but under ordinary circumstances you can change your seats on eurostar (thinking about it, it would have been worth checking if you could before your journey this time). I think the option comes up when you get the confirmed booking page (if you book directly with eurostar.com), and i imagine you can change them with some kind of 'manage my booking' option on the website.

You can see the whole train and what is booked/what isn't. Recently there has been some doubt (by eurostar) over direction of travel, but given we always book early and book a table it doesn't matter to us which seat is going in which direction (as dp always needs to travel forwards ).

Thanks Janek - I booked in early Jan for end of March travel, but as it was Easter and the direct train to DLP, I think they had already sold all the standard seats, and these were some of the last in the more expensive carriages.

I did ring Eurostar about a week before travelling, but they said it was fully booked and nothing they could do in advance. They said that the staff on the train would help to sort it out, and usually something could be organised.

As it happened, it was clear from the discussion of the family we ended up sitting opposite that they had only got their tickets for the train home at short notice, as their baby had been poorly, and Eurostar had let them transfer to an earlier train. So obviously things do change right up to the time of travel.

Anyway, I will know to ask for the seat numbers next time.

Iam sorry you had a problem. We use Eurostar a lot and book a lot last minute but have always managed to get 2 seats next to each other (put of the 3 needed), mind you we have never needed to go to DLP and so I expect that has helped. Good luck for next time