Eurostar slammed for refusing refunds to Disneyland

Eurostar has been criticised by customers and travel agents for refusing to offer refunds to Disneyland Paris despite the park being closed.

Passengers have taken to the train operator’s Facebook page to say they are disappointed by its ‘lack of understanding and compassion’ in the wake of the Paris attacks.

Eurostar has maintained that it is not refunding any ‘non-refundable’ tickets on its services to Paris or Marne la Vallee-Chessy, serving Disneyland Paris, although it is allowing customers to reschedule their trip.

Customers due to go on the operator’s direct service to Disneyland Paris are unable to get a refund despite the fact the park remains closed today.

As part of France’s three-day mourning, Disneyland Paris announced it would close until and including Tuesday, November 17.

Personal Travel Agent, Sue Patterson, was told there would be no refund for her clients who were due to travel on Sunday.

She said that her clients are unable to postpone the trip as they have other holidays booked and were visiting the park for the Christmas activities.

She said: "I was told there would be no refund as trains were running as normal so it was their CHOICE not to go even though parks were closed. Apparently plenty of people were still going – just to sit in the hotels?!! – I would like to find someone that actually did that."

Another passenger said: "What about the fact that yes you are running a service to Disneyland which is not actually open for guests.

"Due to these extreme circumstance you should be more accommodating. Very disappointed at Eurostar’s lack of understanding and compassion."

Eurostar said it needed to abide by its ticket conditions in order to treat all customers consistently, which means not refunding non-refundable tickets on any route.

A spokesman said: "We are continuing to offer free exchanges on travel today so that passengers can postpone their journeys.

"We have been advising passengers at check-in that Disney is closed, and passengers are able to change their date of travel for a later time when the park is open."

Thomas Cook said it was allowing free amendments and/or cancellations for all customers with future bookings to Paris and Disneyland Paris, up to and including November 20, 2015.

It added that following the events in Paris, the operator contacted the small number of primarily accommodation-only customers on holiday in Paris and assisted two bookings where customers chose to return home early.

Jane Atkins, sales and product director at SuperBreak said: "As with most tour operators I think that staff always rise to the occasion, and we ended up with a full contact centre at 8am on Saturday morning, fully briefed and ready to go.

"All social media channels and the website were updated with the latest booking conditions. This continued into Sunday.

"Normal booking conditions now apply, as Paris returns to some form of normality. In terms of the future, we would always advice travellers to be vigilant, in any part of the world, both Europe and
further afield."