Thalys Reviews 677

Brussels Midi to Paris Gare du Nord on Thalys (Eurostar) (Premier Class)

We recently traveled from Brussels Midi to Paris on the Thalys high-speed train, having specifically chosen Premier Class expecting a higher standard of comfort and service. Unfortunately, the experience fell well short of expectations.

The train itself felt very dated, with tired red carpets and worn red seats that gave the whole carriage an old-fashioned, almost shabby appearance. Far from the sleek, modern feel you’d hope for in a premium service, it looked like it hadn’t been refreshed in years.

Most disappointing was the noticeable, unpleasant smell throughout the train. It was immediately obvious upon boarding and made the entire journey feel less clean and far less comfortable than it should have been.

While the onboard staff were polite and service was acceptable, the overall environment didn’t justify the significant price premium for Premier Class. If you’re paying extra for comfort, you expect not only better seating but also a well-maintained, clean, and pleasant-smelling space.

Frankly, the Thalys trains on this route are in serious need of refurbishment or replacement to meet the expectations of modern travelers, especially those opting for their highest class of service.

as 2 people we got put in a four seater twice! its annoying when you want to travel in peace because it takes away your privacy. they should take into account not to put 2 travellers with others. you also get less room. its horrible.

These trains are too dirty. It’s the worst train experience I’ve had in my life and I’ve travelled quite a lot around the world. It gives the impression you’ll get all kind of virus inside… traveling in these conditions for 3h is such a shame.
With your prices I was expecting the bare minimum to be honest.

I had a absolutely horrible experience with a Eurostar staff. I suffer with tachycardia and I had an episode
as I was rushing to be on time for the train. I ask one of your staff if I could quickly go to the nearby chemist for some water and aspirins and Leave my suitcase as my heart was beating out my chest,she replied with no compassion 'your suitcase will be removed if you leave it, you should have had your tablets with you' what? I had already taken my tablets but I do take aspirins when the palpitations get worse and i had enough time to get them. She was so uninterested and dismissive. The man on the counter let me through to get help with my luggage. The young man was very reluctant to help me put my suitcase on the conveyor belt, he put it on and I had to take it off at this time I was having chest pains. There was no understanding of my situation. I ended up in hospital for monitoring later that evening.Your staff was very incompetent, inexperience, with lack of empathy. With elderly passengers your staff needs training in medical issue such as if they need assistance then do so or you may end up causing someone's demise.
Do better. 1 star too many, very disappointed...

Had a train cancellation from Thalys from Paris to Amsterdam back in 2022. Thalys says to talk to Trainline but Trainline says Thalys rejected the claims so money was never refunded despite year long discussion/appeals. No communication channel to Thalys

I travel the Amsterdam-Brussels route, return, every month and have done for the past three years (for work).
The quality of service, the punctuality, the WiFi connection - all utterly appalling.
And considering the tickets are not cheap, it's actually an insult to the passengers.
If only I had a better,.more reliable option, I would take it.

Thalys/ Eurostar my driver. Booked a taxi from gare du nord de to gare de Lyon. When we arrive No taxi so missed our connecting train . Thank you Thalys to make our trip a hell because need to rebooten and paying extra 260 euro never people take my driver from them and don’t expect any service

Horrible experience always. I take the Thalys regularly and each time it is a very unpleasant experience . It is old , dirty , super smelly , with very poor service and unhappy staff , and ALWAYS late with no relevant explanation ever . I also use the Eurostar regularly, which far nicer , so am hoping the alliance won’t drag everything down .

A refreshing experience during latest travel with the 15:58 Thalys from Rotterdam to Brussel, September 18th. For the first time I ‘ve experienced some food and beverages have been offered i the first class and big compliments for customer care by the hostess.

Attempted my 2nd adventure on a Thalys train today, arrived by train 2 hours before our train to the connecting trains underneath Gare Du Nord to be told the platform will pop up on the screen. Train and platform did not pop up! No one to ask and zero signs to indicate we needed to go to the platforms above us for the Thalys trains. Made a dash upstairs about 5 seconds too late to be told sorry you need to wait 2 hours for the next train. After being told to calm down by security. So stressful and completely avoidable with some signage that could have directed us to the appropriate platform. There would have to have been 20 others experiencing the same thing with us.
We got on the next train but all ended up on sitting on the floor of the cafe.

This almost mirrors my previous experience of having a flight cancelled to Paris 10 years back and being told I had to attend the platform for a refund. The platform in Paris I couldn’t actually get up. 🤦‍♀️

This is a joke. Train instead of 3 hours took 8 hours to arrive to Amsterdam. Problems on every station. They try to merge trains, so people need to wait hours… this is absolutely not normal. They also often cancelling trains in the last moment. It was my last time when I bought a ticket for Thalys. Please remember that if train is late you have right for a refund ( depends on how long even 75%)

HORRIBLE!!!! I'm a tourist who needs to travel from France to Amsterdam. I have 4 luggage's in all. I hand over my ticket to first conductor and tells me to go to end of train for first class. Here we are rushing to get there, keep in mind it's a long train. I walk in, of course no employee helps me, they just see me struggling. I'm going thru Hot flashes I have 4 luggages in this heat and you mean to tell me that not one employee was able to help. Smh

Once inside, I notice someone in our seats I tell them and they see my paper and tell me that I am In wrong car. I go back out and ask employee, he says oh your seats are In that other cart as he pointed. Well it wasn't there either.
Either Employees really don't like to work or they need to be retrained or maybe they need to get rid of the mold and hire new employees. Being helpful and good customer service can go a long way for any business. Unfortunately this is a big turn off for us as a tourist's .
The first class isn't so first class, specially with Poor service. Seats are old and worn out. It looks like it's stuck In early 90's.
Im disappointed, upset and turned off about this train service.
Never again will I take this train.
I will also post this for all of my followers to know and avoid when making the "dream trip"
Btw, cabin service; meals and drinks it's FALSE advertisement!

Apart from charging ridiculous ticket prices due to their monopoly on the AMS-BXL-Paris route, you're very lucky if the Thalys arrives on time and is not canceled on a very short notice.
I - unfortunately - travel with Thalys a lot out of necessity and almost every experience I have with them leaves me more frustrated. On the 2nd of September the Thalys arrived to Brussels late because of them not being able to handle how busy things were at the Amsterdam station earlier. Because they were already late and wanted to avoid being delayed even more at the Brussels train station, the train conductors started PHYSICALLY SHOVING people into their carriages, causing people to stumble into each other, fall over luggage, etc.
Disgusting and inhumane treatment by a company that already has no sense of dignity or respect for their customers' time and money.
And of course, Thalys customer service can only be reached via an expensive phone call, since they have insulated themselves from being contacted in any other way - knowing very well they offer terrible service. Shameful.

I love the idea of travelling by train rather than car and we did that for our summer holiday this year, going from Amsterdam to Marseille. I just wish there was a different option than Thalys. The train is old and dated. My seat was broken and would not recline, the nearest toilet was out of order, the next one down was leaking. There was one in the other direction but we could not use this as the (rude) Thalys workers said it was the kitchen and no thoroughfare was allowed. Weirdly all signs point in that direction and on the inbound journey it was not an issue. Food is inedible and drinks are WAY overpriced. The thing is, it seems they know the service is awful but they just don't care...

Train got canceled and now this company denies a reimbursement. Illegal business.

Disgrace for a company! They let anyone inside the train not checking their tickets beforehand, no cameras in the coaches! My bag was stolen from above my seat!!! And the train manager looked like this is something very common!!! How is that even possible if you are paying so much for the trip in the 1st class??? Not be coming back anytime soon, I advise to use a car if you want to travel between Brussels and Amsterdam-at least no one will steal from you.

Club status is a joke! When you have a Club status and decide to use the benefit of framing trains (taking one train before or after) you feel the judgment from the train managers and the Thalys employees and they make everything so that you will be sitting on a jumper seat. The staff is so unpolite and they feel like they are doing you a favour. The company needs to create a technicnological and customer-friendly way of solving this as it becomes an disadvantage of having status (thinking you have the flexibility to then be ashamed and feel like you've done something wrong because you took the train before).

I used to love Thalys, before I got familiar with their customer service. My train got cancelled and I spent 2h30min on the phone yesterday without an answer (had to leave at that point). Today I spent 2h40min again until someone picked up the phone. Not everyone has that kind of time in their day or even the possibility to call with unlimited credit or from one of the listed countries. Providing the option to exchange a ticket or get a refund online is the least they can do.

The worst experience I've ever had, first they canceled the schedule I had and they told me I could leave on the second schedule, I got on the train and they didn't have any more seats when I asked the stewardess she told me that's the only thing There is and if I can't ask for my refund pushing myself, to which I told him not to touch me and when I asked for his name so I could report it, what he did was talk to the train policeman and they got me off the train because the stewardess who was in charge I didn't want me to go on that train at that time, I was very angry because nowhere in the world can a person touch you without your consent, which the police ignored and got me off, it wasn't fair, they argued that it was better for me but it was actually that she had told them to get me off because she didn't want me to get on that train. And well, we waited for the second schedule and when I wanted to get on the train they told me that they canceled my ticket how was it possible if I got on the first train they got me off they told me that everything was fine, I had to buy a bus ticket to get to the destination final (Paris), it was horrible. I ask that the company take responsibility and do something about it with the flight attendant and have a better quality of customer service.

Bought a 117 euro ticket in 1st class and there were no seats available.