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I find using the Amtrak web site very handy. It's another area that train travel is more user friendly, but where Amtrak excells is when I've had to cancel or adjust a reservation. While traveling with any airline that is a nightmare. If you use Travelosity or Orbitz this can be a costly and frustrating experience. Amtrak charges 10% or gives you credit on a new reservation. It's that easy.(and they speak English) Train travel is getting easier and flying more difficult, for me anyway.
notelvis Member # 3071
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I have never had a problem with making Amtrak reservations on-line. There was a snafu once that was resolved with a single phone call.
Such is not the case with the airlines. I can recall three or four situations, not of my making, which required numerous phones calls and a great deal of time to resolve. Furthermore, Amtrak has never stranded me anywhere overnight (unlike American Airlines.....anyone ever spent a night in Rockford, IL?). Been close a couple of times but I've always (with Amtrak) arrived on the same day I was scheduled to.
What's remarkable here is that I travel by train three times more frequently than I fly.
Geoff M Member # 153
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From a "foreign" perspective, I've never had trouble with Amtrak tickets either. If I'm making more than 2.5 trips then it usually works out cheaper to buy a USA Rail Pass where I have to pay a UK travel agency a booking fee to buy the pass and issue the initial tickets. Even then, once arriving in the US it's no problem to change/add/delete tickets. And when buying tickets individually, again I've had no problem despite having to pick up from the first station I set foot into.
In fact the only bad situation I had was at Denver where, upon picking up my ticket, the agent omitted to tell me that my *bus* was outside, and was not the train at the platform. But, hey, I nearly saw the overland route.
Lateness... yes, the plane has delayed me more than the train.
Geoff M.
CoastStarlight99 Member # 2734
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I wish the online Amtrak booking system had more features like being able to pick sleeping car rooms, etc.
That would be very handy.
smitty195 Member # 5102
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I just took a cross-country flight from SFO to IAD (Dulles) on United. It was a freebie in first class on an internationally configured cabin (3 class cabin). Very nice ride, great food, great selection of TV shows and movies, yadda yadda yadda. However, upon arriving at Dulles I learned that UAL lost my luggage. Yes, they lost it on a nonstop flight for a first class passenger (where the bags have the red "Priority" tag on them).
Me and at least 50 other people stood in line at the baggage office in the claim area of Dulles. After a 2 hour wait, I filled out a short form that took a little less than 2 minutes. They said, "You can track your baggage online with this ID number. We'll deliver it to your hotel by 5AM". Yes, they made me stand in line for TWO HOUR to fill out a 2 minute form. Why didn't they have a sign (or a person) telling people to do this? As I was standing in line, I couldn't help but thinking, "I really like traveling by train a lot better".
Not only this, but arriving at the airport super early was no treat. I had to: remove my shoes and put them in a bucket, remove my laptop from my carry-on and put it in a bucket, take off my cell phone, keys, etc, and put them in a bucket....then pull out my 1 quart ziplock baggie of liquids less than 3 ounces in capacity and put them in a bucket. Compare this to just walking onto a train and finding your seat/room.
Robert L Member # 3144
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Yes, I know what we are talking about here. Been delayed a few times on LD from Calif. to Chicago, but Amtrak put us up overnight (even on the 2 zone AGR freebee trip) and we were back the next day. Been traveling Amtrak since the early 80's and only once had a ("lost") re-routed suitcase. We were traveling Washington to Dearborn, MI, via busing it from Toledo, OH, to Dearborn. The train was a few minutes late and they shaved the dwell time to get out of Toledo on time. We were waiting on the bus when the baggage cart came to the bus. Problem: missing was our one checked suitcase, as the Amtrak pulled out of sight to Chicago. When we arrived at Dearborn, in the early morning, we told the station agent and he said he would find it in Chicago and ship it back on the eastbound Wolverine and give us a call. Sure enough, no problem. Our suitcase enjoyed the trip to Chicago and back to Dearborn on the Wolverine. The station agent gave us a call less than 12 hours after we arrived in Dearborn and said he could cab it to us or he could drive it over (we live less than 6.5 miles up the freeway from the station). We thanked him a lot and decided just to go back and pick it up and have dinner out. Suitcase had no damage and was waiting when returned. I have friends that are still waiting for lost airline luggage or parts of luggage never received from years ago. As far as I am concerned, we had no lost luggage, just luggage that has a few more Amtrak miles on it than we have.
TBlack Member # 181
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Here's my Amtrak website story: I wanted to go from Chicago to Boston, but not the direct route...done that. I wanted to go thru Pittsburgh, Philadelphia then up to beantown. Can't do that routing on the web. But you can do Chicago to Philadelphia and then Phil. to Boston (2 Diff. reservation #'s). OK, so far so good. The adventure begins when I get to Chicago on the Zephyr too late to get the Capital to Pittsburgh. I give up on the PA routing and figure I'll take the late-leaving LSL straight to Boston and get home as planned. The Amtrak ticket agent looks at my first reservation which says Chicago to Philadelphia and gives me a ticket, and bedroom, to NYC and a 2nd ticket from there to Philadelphia. "What do I do with this Acela first class from Philly to Boston I ask?" "Keep it" she says! Well I don't want to go to NYC or Philadelphia; I want to get off in Albany and get 448 to Boston. I can turn in the NYC to Phil. ticket which is worth $84 in return for a ticket from Albany to Boston which is worth, in business class, $34. This is not good economics. At the end of the day I got where I wanted to go, and on time I should add, and I end up with a ticket good for Boston to Phil. and another one NYC to Phil. I love this railroad!
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