Eurotunnel - when to leave terminal

A snowHead

Messed up last April - arrived early, were waiting in the terminal for our boarding time.
Our time slot was showing as 'Wait' on the tableau for ages, then changed to 'Boarding soon'.
Had a moment of stupidity thinking we need to wait until the message changes to 'Proceed to boarding' which never happened and it shortly changed to 'Boarding closed', ended up losing 1-2 hours.

Now the Standard tickets are valid only for the booked time, how do I make sure I get on my train, when do I leave terminal and head for passport controls ?
If it is 'start leaving terminal 25 minutes before train time', how does it work with e.g. the trains being delayed and they running shifted schedule.

p.s. Also, if booked with 'nothing on top', can I still have rack rails mounted (thinking of moving a soft bag inside and then moving it to the roof once we get to the other side, for more space inside the car and unrestricted rear view)

Thanks

A snowHead

We've not been in your situation, but I agree the messages are confusing. I assume they show some flexibility in practice, once you are in the boarding queue you will go on the train that queue is for regardless of the number on your windscreen hanger; the messages relate to several different codes simultaneously who all seem to be directed to the same queue.

I assume the roof luggage issue is about total height of vehicle: whether it will go in the two-level carriages for car or needs the full height carriages for motor-homes etc. You might need to check the small print for that, I think they take your height without luggage off the car type without you having to enter a figure. Rails would be more of a problem on a tall SUV than a small hatchback.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Don't know about rails, I had no problem with them on my small hatchback. I'd be wary about carrying a bag on the roof unless it was 1000% waterproof. And made fast with proper ropes or strap, not the dreaded bungees.

As far as leaving the terminal is concerned, I'd go as soon as your boarding letter has changed from "WAIT". Sometimes it all happens quite quickly. If you try to jump ahead and go before you get the go-ahead you can be turned back by the people waving their arms at the roundabout. But absolutely not "leave X minutes before train time".

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@nnnnnn, Roof luggage: my car WITH ski box is 180cm tall. The limit for a normal car is 185cm, so I always book for the standard (<185cm) option and it's never been a problem in c. 10 journeys including 3 weeks ago.

What does sometimes happen is they put me into the tall vehicles lane "just in case" although every time they've seen me clear the low vehicle barrier fine. Apparently there is some monitoring of clearance height against that barrier, and the staff administering the final departure lanes get an alert if a car is close to the limit, so they can go and check them.

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@nnnnnn, Theheight limit is 1.85 so there should be no problem with most stuff on the roof rails. I regularly have my skis on the roof and it passes through without difficulty to the normal double decker's. 1.85 is well above my head height.

When Iv'e arrived early they have often put me on an earlier train so not had a problem, but as @pam w, says I usually start heading out when the board says anything but wait on the English side and when it says "boarding" on the French side.

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The display changes from boarding soon to your letter and Boarding. Can't see how you missed that

After all it is free

@nnnnnn, I say "no" to the "anything on top or back" question. Unless I'm carrying the bikes, which is a different matter entirely.

I'm always Flexiplus, so I'm not sure if that makes a difference to how the pricing model works.

@snowdave, Can I ask why Flexiplus?

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We went in early July and my advice is go as soon as your group letter says proceed to boarding. e.g. you have B1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and we were B5 on the way out we waited until it was our turn and there was a massive queue to get out of the terminal carpark, and not a peak date, and we missed the train we were meant to be on by three cars. So on the way back we went earlier. We were P5 but went as soon as 1,2 were showing proceed to boarding. It is pretty chaotic and my wife hates the fact there seems to be very little logic to it!

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I go straight through from check in irrespective of booking time, saves on wasting money at the terminal.

You know it makes sense.

@nnnnnn, I have seen people not allowed through if its not their boarding letter

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@Fogliettaz, you aren't always allowed to. We can't as we have to go to pet passport control in Folkestone now, which is after the check in booths. Then to get back round to the exit to go to France, you are directed back into the car park by staff if you try to go too early.

A snowHead

A snowHead

Especially at busy times, they may start to full up trains with other passengers who have already gone through passport booths to the boarding lanes. We've occasionally benefited from that, but I've never seen the signs go from boarding soon to boarding closed without something happening in between. Could have been an IT glitch.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

It is a bit random. But you're usually OK for a train within two hours of booked. And yes, as a few people have noted above, they do sometimes turn people back if they have the wrong code on the mirror. Whether you can get on an earlier train if you arrive earlier, and what that costs extra, if anything, is part of the randomness. My son and family missed their train by some hours last summer as 4 year old had nasty cut which needed stitches and took time. When they explained they were allowed to proceed with no extra charge, but it might have helped that my daughter in law is bilingual and could explain in more detail than I'd have been able to. I got waved on with no extra charge in France once too, having had to divert into Paris to pick up daughter who was on a training course, but was ill. Again, we were man hours late, having had no intention of going into Paris. I'd told her to get herself to the end of the Metro line out on the side of Paris we were approaching then my husband spotted a bus, destination that station. "Follow that bus!" my husband told me.

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Same thing happened to us in june in calais, the display boards seemed to freeze and the information was not updated . The app however was updated so in future i will monitor both.

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There's a countdown system on the boards - minutes to first call etc....
This is the website but the boards were the same last time we travelled.
https://www.eurotunnel.com/uk/travelling-with-us/latest/

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Go to the boarding lanes as early as you can (tail end of the letter before yours). Worst case is you are sent for an extra lap of the parking.

After all it is free

We use the tunnel twice a year. I always head back to the car from the terminal when my letter is around the '10 mins to first call' on the belief that by the time I walk to the car and drive round to the official, I've hit the sweet spot of my number being called.

Saying that, in July, I was the penultimate car in the train before closing - and there wasn't huge customs queues or anything.

Also, on my return journey, we checked in pretty much at the obligatory 1 hour before and got told 45 mins to boarding (which was good as we always go into the French terminal for toilets/duty free). But as I parked up in front of the terminal, a French official told me we could proceed straight to boarding if we wanted to (this was on a Sunday afternoon - busy but not rammed). So we whizzed inside for 20 mins and went straight to customs without even glancing at the departure boards at all!

My advice - don't actually wait for your letter to be called but find the sweet spot of the last call for the letter before you.

We once got sent back for going too early, but I haven't tried that in a very long time. Reckon you just might end up waiting in a boarding lane for longer.

Having used it a few times this summer for Le Mans, Le Mans Classic and a family holiday I don't really understand why they've changed the letter system to A1, 3 and 5 etc instead of just letters. Seems more confusing all round

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We always end up waiting in the car with an eye on board and app - soon as it changes we're off! Fully expect that we may end up on later train due to delays getting through passport control, which is largely outside remit of Le Shuttle.

I know they always have delays in peak times, but following them on Twitter it seems to be becoming a constant thing Confused

Maybe the age of trains? They also seem to have given up on any updates, all messages on Twitter are met with a "please DM us with your details so we can assist" and anyone who does so seems to get a standard "we are working hard to get you away"

I would appreciate a little more honesty from them really - I'd accept an update saying your train is delayed due to issues with boarding. But if you're lucky you'll just see the times change on the board.

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@Boris, I think the eurotunnel has become much more reliable in recent years. I cannot remember being delayed by more than half an hour over the last 5 years, whereas 10years ago delays of over an hour were frequent and on at least one occasion over 3 hours.

Once we set off to get on the train and got almost to the point of boarding, that is at the entrance to the train, when we were informed that the train was full and we would have to go around again and get the next train. Fortunately this had happened to my wife before and she knew exactly what to do. I thnk they are a bit stricter now with people jumping the queue and trying to get on the train before the one they are registered on so it hasn't happened to me or my wife since.

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@johnE, I was delayed a couple of hours a few weeks ago and in January

I'm sitting in the Calais terminal as we speak. I have a non refundable, booked train only ticket with Tesco vouchers. I was able to change the return to an hour earlier FOC so I did. When I got here I was offered another hour earlier FOC, which I took...if I had changed to that booking while at the services earlier today it would have been £71. There us clearly flexibility

All on time this afternoon and the boards are showing the letter, number and instructions as clear as day.

Edit...spoke too soon, now there are delays (as usual)

...and there are no working toilets on any train (not that I use them, they are vile)

You know it makes sense.

I've just found the answer to boarding closed before its even opened...my letter just came up closed. Went to customer services to be told "its because the train is delayed, but if it was on time it would be closed now". technology not keeping up with reality. They've told us to proceed anyway

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I'm letter Y. Got waved through. Letter A turned away

A snowHead

Apparently a train broke down earlier - which has caused today's delays. This is very much unconfirmed from Twitter and from someone stuck in queue.

Lots of people moaning on Twitter and response is "please send us a DM" - if they just said there'll be a delay due to broken down train it would prevent most of the comments they're now having to deal with.

A snowHead

@Boris, trains are always breaking down. I've just arrived in the UK on the rattliest, squeakiest, shakiest shuttle I've ever been on. The emergency alarm went off shortly after departure but no announcement so let's just ignore that, eh?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

This is an old report about upgrades:

https://www.railtech.com/rolling-stock/2019/03/21/bombardier-will-renovate-eurotunnel-shuttle-trains/?gdpr=accept

Anyway have anything more recent?

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and yet their website chat is/was brilliant. So helpful and they answer quickly. I've used it to change dates on my Tesco bookings before, as until recently you couldn't amend them online. I may even have booked on there with a Tesco voucher when I couldn't get anyone to pick up the booking line post-Covid. If they need to speak to you for anything carried out on that chat, for example to take payment for any additional charges they call you.

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We came back with our dog Friday before last. Hadn’t realised the 1-5 day time period for his wormer was actually 24 hours so arrived to get on booked train 15 minutes before the time was up. Told to wait 15 then go on later train. Got to Check In & the lady asked if we wanted to go on the earlier train, so we went on the originally booked train!

Help!!

Eurotunnel - when to leave terminal

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