The SkyTeam airline alliance, which includes Virgin Atlantic, Air France, KLM and SAS in Europe, has announced that Eurostar will become ‘SkyTeam’s first non-airline partner’.
It isn’t entirely clear what this means, and further details will not be released until early next year.
At the very least we will see the ability to book trains alongside flights on a single ticket – say New York to Berlin, flying Air France to Paris and taking a rail connection to Germany.
How this works in practice remains to be seen, especially in terms of which airline websites will be able to handle ‘train and plane’ combinations.
Logically it would work best on stopover tickets – I can see why New York to Paris (flight) to Berlin (train) a few days later may be attractive, but no-one is going to do that trip straight through when direct flights are available.
There is no mention of how the various airline and Eurostar reward schemes will be integrated. I suspect, like an airline codeshare, you won’t be able to earn Virgin Points from Eurostar unless you book an integrated ‘train and plane’ ticket. Similarly, I doubt a Virgin Atlantic Gold member will be able to access Eurostar lounges unless on a connecting ticket.
More to come on this, I’m sure.
How to get Club Eurostar points and lounge access from UK credit cards (October 2024)
Club Eurostar does not have a UK credit card. However, you can earn Club Eurostar points by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.
Cards earning Membership Rewards points include:
- American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 1,333 Club Eurostar points. This card is FREE for your first year and also comes with four free airport lounge passes.
- The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 50,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 3,333 Club Eurostar points. Card benefits include Eurostar lounge access.
- American Express Rewards credit card (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 666 Club Eurostar points. This card is FREE for life.
Membership Rewards points convert at 15:1 into Club Eurostar points. The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, so you will get the equivalent of 1 Club Eurostar point for every £15 you spend.
American Express Platinum comes with a great Eurostar benefit – Eurostar lounge access!
You can enter any Eurostar lounge, irrespective of your ticket type, simply by showing The Platinum Card at the desk. No guests are allowed but you can get entry for your partner by issuing them with a free supplementary Amex Platinum card on your account.