Won't it still be "my" seat?
March 17, 2012 7:46 AM Subscribe
AmtrakFilter: I have a one-way ticket but now need to board the train later on the route than my departure city. Do I need to change the ticket with Amtrak or can I just board and claim my paid-for seat?
I purchased two one-way tickets with Amtrak -- SF to Albany, OR and Portland, OR to SF on the Coast Starlight. Events have transpired in such a way that I now need to be in Portland first, and depart from Albany instead of the other way around.
I get that I have to change my ticket and pay the difference to extend my inbound trip, but I'm now being told that I have to pay an increased price to shorten my outbound trip, because "there are no more seats in the bracket my existing ticket is in" (which seems somewhat illogical as I have a claimed seat for everything but the Portland-Albany leg).
So can I do nothing to my Portland-SF ticket, board with it in Albany, and not have any problems, or will that cause a huge kerfuffle with Amtrak/drama over a lost seat on the short leg between Portland and Albany, or will they give away my seat to someone else when I don't turn up in Portland?
I purchased two one-way tickets with Amtrak -- SF to Albany, OR and Portland, OR to SF on the Coast Starlight. Events have transpired in such a way that I now need to be in Portland first, and depart from Albany instead of the other way around.
I get that I have to change my ticket and pay the difference to extend my inbound trip, but I'm now being told that I have to pay an increased price to shorten my outbound trip, because "there are no more seats in the bracket my existing ticket is in" (which seems somewhat illogical as I have a claimed seat for everything but the Portland-Albany leg).
So can I do nothing to my Portland-SF ticket, board with it in Albany, and not have any problems, or will that cause a huge kerfuffle with Amtrak/drama over a lost seat on the short leg between Portland and Albany, or will they give away my seat to someone else when I don't turn up in Portland?
Depends how crowded the train is, in my experience. Important caveat --- I've only taken Amtak on the East Coast. But in general, what they seems to do is check to make sure you have a ticket as you board at the terminal, and then the conductors work their way up the train taking stubs as the train goes. This can take more than one stop, but definitely before the next major stop. For example, I've taken it from Boston to NYC and they'll have completed their first pass before Providence but not necessarily before the first suburban stop outside Boston. I've gotten on in the suburbs with a Boston ticket and vice versa and been fine. Conversely, once they've taken the ticket the don't seem to check to hard to make sure you get off at the right place --- if you're getting off the stop before or after you current ticket, I expect you'll be fine. I mean, I wouldn't try getting to North Carolina on an NYC ticket, but I wouldn't worry about getting off in suburban CT or New Jersey. You can always stick you headphones in and fake sleep for a stop.
posted by Diablevert at 8:08 AM on March 17, 2012
posted by Diablevert at 8:08 AM on March 17, 2012
I don't know the answer, but I always have very good luck when I call Amtrak. The number is 1-800-USA-RAIL. You'd expect their customer service to be crappy, but they are surprisingly helpful and friendly. If you have access to a phone, just call and get it taken care of in advance. In my experience it's not worth the on-board hassle (and fee) if something goes wrong.
posted by vincele at 8:21 AM on March 17, 2012
posted by vincele at 8:21 AM on March 17, 2012
Just as a "here's what Amtrak does in certain stations":
NYC: Checks ticket before boarding
Newark: Does not check ticket before boarding
DC: Checks ticket before boarding
They will also check your ticket while on board as well, but as said above, whether it's directly after you board or not is completely up to whether the conductor has enough time to get to you.
Now, since you're doing this on the West coast I can't speak for much, unfortunately... basically, if you're boarding the shortened trip in a location where they don't check before boarding, you'll probably be ok.
posted by jangie at 8:21 AM on March 17, 2012
NYC: Checks ticket before boarding
Newark: Does not check ticket before boarding
DC: Checks ticket before boarding
They will also check your ticket while on board as well, but as said above, whether it's directly after you board or not is completely up to whether the conductor has enough time to get to you.
Now, since you're doing this on the West coast I can't speak for much, unfortunately... basically, if you're boarding the shortened trip in a location where they don't check before boarding, you'll probably be ok.
posted by jangie at 8:21 AM on March 17, 2012
In the Midwest, at every station I've been at, they check your ticket before boarding and then when you are on board. But the perhaps more directly related to you bit is that I've seen someone taken off the train because they tried to do something similar - they got on a stop or two beyond where the ticket started (and intended to round-trip in the same manner), and the conductor was really confused by this and simply put them off the train instead of trying to resolve it.
The thing is that Amtrak sells the tickets in blocks of "origin/destination" so they are charging you more for the fact that you're getting two tickets in their system. It is kind of illogical.
I have heard that Amtrak sometimes oversells their trains and makes them "standing" and well as sitting, but I've only seen this over-selling happen once (Amtrak put some people on a Greyhound for a few stops). That's another risk you might run.
Are they staying they're charging your more for both your inbound and your outbound? Are there no available seats for you to just cancel your current itinerary and re-buy? I personally think it's probably worth it to just pay for the "official" tickets.
posted by sm1tten at 8:54 AM on March 17, 2012
The thing is that Amtrak sells the tickets in blocks of "origin/destination" so they are charging you more for the fact that you're getting two tickets in their system. It is kind of illogical.
I have heard that Amtrak sometimes oversells their trains and makes them "standing" and well as sitting, but I've only seen this over-selling happen once (Amtrak put some people on a Greyhound for a few stops). That's another risk you might run.
Are they staying they're charging your more for both your inbound and your outbound? Are there no available seats for you to just cancel your current itinerary and re-buy? I personally think it's probably worth it to just pay for the "official" tickets.
posted by sm1tten at 8:54 AM on March 17, 2012
I just took a train trip from MS to NM, which took three days because they had to route up through Chicago ...and they checked tickets at every station, and yes, in some legs of the trip every seat was full... If you come with a ticket that's not for that specific leg of the trip, then you'll probably end up purchasing another and waiting for the next available seat.
posted by patheral at 10:55 AM on March 17, 2012
posted by patheral at 10:55 AM on March 17, 2012
FYI:
I just took the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to Portland on February 29, and there were assigned seats the whole way. This could be why you're encountering difficulty.
Further, they did check tickets at LA Union Station, but the boarding time for the northbound train from SF is in the middle of the night sometime, so they may be less fastidious about it there. The level of ticket scrutiny in LA was greater than anything I ever experienced during my fairly extensive Amtrak travels on the East Coast.
If you really don't want to call Amtrak: there's a sightseeing car on the Coast Starlight. From the coach section, it's toward the front of the train, one car behind the fancy parlor car for sleeper car passengers. Once you've left your assigned seat, there's no way for the conductor to tell where you're supposed to be going, plus the views are really spectacular and the fun people usually hang out in the up there. You'd probably be okay to just sit there until the Portland stop instead of getting off at Albany. They were SUPER casual about it during my trip, particularly because there's generally a huge rush to get to Seattle so that passengers on the Coast Starlight who are taking the Empire Builder westbound won't miss their connection. By the time we got to PDX, it was pretty clear that if you weren't going to Seattle, they really just wanted you to GTFO the train. The connection with the Builder in Seattle is very tight, like 40 minutes or something.
Bring your own snacks. The cafe car food is truly shit and on my trip, the credit card machine quit working around Dunsmuir, CA because of poor reception.
Good luck, and enjoy the trip. It was my favorite Amtrak experience by far. Such awesome scenery. If the conductor is the old dude with the mustache, you should get him talking while going through the Cascades in the morning. He was incredibly interesting and obviously knows a lot about the route. He was able to tell us things like, "If you look out the right window in ten seconds, you'll see a really pretty creek."
Oh, and don't bother trying to bribe your way into the sleeper car wine tasting. As one of the Amtrak employees told me when I tried to do so, "IT'S NOT FOR YOU."
posted by easy, lucky, free at 10:59 AM on March 17, 2012
I just took the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to Portland on February 29, and there were assigned seats the whole way. This could be why you're encountering difficulty.
Further, they did check tickets at LA Union Station, but the boarding time for the northbound train from SF is in the middle of the night sometime, so they may be less fastidious about it there. The level of ticket scrutiny in LA was greater than anything I ever experienced during my fairly extensive Amtrak travels on the East Coast.
If you really don't want to call Amtrak: there's a sightseeing car on the Coast Starlight. From the coach section, it's toward the front of the train, one car behind the fancy parlor car for sleeper car passengers. Once you've left your assigned seat, there's no way for the conductor to tell where you're supposed to be going, plus the views are really spectacular and the fun people usually hang out in the up there. You'd probably be okay to just sit there until the Portland stop instead of getting off at Albany. They were SUPER casual about it during my trip, particularly because there's generally a huge rush to get to Seattle so that passengers on the Coast Starlight who are taking the Empire Builder westbound won't miss their connection. By the time we got to PDX, it was pretty clear that if you weren't going to Seattle, they really just wanted you to GTFO the train. The connection with the Builder in Seattle is very tight, like 40 minutes or something.
Bring your own snacks. The cafe car food is truly shit and on my trip, the credit card machine quit working around Dunsmuir, CA because of poor reception.
Good luck, and enjoy the trip. It was my favorite Amtrak experience by far. Such awesome scenery. If the conductor is the old dude with the mustache, you should get him talking while going through the Cascades in the morning. He was incredibly interesting and obviously knows a lot about the route. He was able to tell us things like, "If you look out the right window in ten seconds, you'll see a really pretty creek."
Oh, and don't bother trying to bribe your way into the sleeper car wine tasting. As one of the Amtrak employees told me when I tried to do so, "IT'S NOT FOR YOU."
posted by easy, lucky, free at 10:59 AM on March 17, 2012
Don't pay to shorten the trip. It's not like an airline with policies against hidden city ticketing. The only issue would be if you needed to check luggage onboard, which you might only be able to do at your origin. However, Amtrak's carry-on luggage allowance is far more generous than an airplane. I have done the reverse, boarding at the original station and deboarding earlier than planned, and didn't even get a reaction of surprise from the attendant.
posted by wnissen at 4:19 PM on March 17, 2012
posted by wnissen at 4:19 PM on March 17, 2012
Don't pay to shorten the trip. It's not like an airline with policies against hidden city ticketing.
Can't speak to Amtrak but that is certainly the way things work in Europe - train companies are developing price strategies just as complex and will try to make money from any and all ticket changes. That does include fining people heavily if they do what the OP proposes and are caught with the 'wrong' ticket as a result.
Just check what you are supposed to do and what the worst case fine is if you don't. Find out what happens if they check tickets before you board the train and pick up your wrong ticket - can you pay to change it (how much would that be?) or will you be prevented from boarding the train. At least that way you can make a decision based on their information, not based on the assumptions we all make.
posted by koahiatamadl at 12:59 AM on March 18, 2012
Can't speak to Amtrak but that is certainly the way things work in Europe - train companies are developing price strategies just as complex and will try to make money from any and all ticket changes. That does include fining people heavily if they do what the OP proposes and are caught with the 'wrong' ticket as a result.
Just check what you are supposed to do and what the worst case fine is if you don't. Find out what happens if they check tickets before you board the train and pick up your wrong ticket - can you pay to change it (how much would that be?) or will you be prevented from boarding the train. At least that way you can make a decision based on their information, not based on the assumptions we all make.
posted by koahiatamadl at 12:59 AM on March 18, 2012
I can speak for Amtrak, and for reserved seats especially on certain routes, it's exactly that way (similar to airline pricing) and a ticket to Chicago can be cheaper than a shorter route based on when you buy it. Different seats cost different prices (more) based on when you buy them (closer to your travel dates). This has made tickets on the route I took in high school (twenty years ago) cheaper if you can plan ahead but can be more expensive if not.
From Amtrak's perspective (or at least the person/system you are dealing with), you aren't shortening a ticket, you are buying a new one during a different pricing calendar. It's possible the conducter in your situation won't see it that way and will let you get on in Albany with your Portland ticket (conductors have always been very understanding with me when I've done things like misplacing my ticket after getting on /board and only making me pay the same price as I had originally paid since my partner did not lose his), but if you really want peace of mind, I'd take care of it beforehand.
Amtrak (at least on the Illinois lines) is really understanding about switches (you can use a ticket anytime within 365 days if you, for example, find the ticket you misplaced), so I'd try dealing with a different customer service rep if they haven't been helpful yet. Based on your previous itenerary, it's obvious you aren't trying to scam them, so dealing with a manager or someone who has a little bit more leeway than just what the ticketing system allows might be beneficial.
Good luck.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 5:56 AM on March 18, 2012
From Amtrak's perspective (or at least the person/system you are dealing with), you aren't shortening a ticket, you are buying a new one during a different pricing calendar. It's possible the conducter in your situation won't see it that way and will let you get on in Albany with your Portland ticket (conductors have always been very understanding with me when I've done things like misplacing my ticket after getting on /board and only making me pay the same price as I had originally paid since my partner did not lose his), but if you really want peace of mind, I'd take care of it beforehand.
Amtrak (at least on the Illinois lines) is really understanding about switches (you can use a ticket anytime within 365 days if you, for example, find the ticket you misplaced), so I'd try dealing with a different customer service rep if they haven't been helpful yet. Based on your previous itenerary, it's obvious you aren't trying to scam them, so dealing with a manager or someone who has a little bit more leeway than just what the ticketing system allows might be beneficial.
Good luck.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 5:56 AM on March 18, 2012
« Older it ain't no trick to get rich quick if you dig dig... | Need that crack! Err... 5-hour energy Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 8:05 AM on March 17, 2012