# Amtrak gift certificates



## rile42 (Jan 2, 2009)

I travel Amtrak several times each year and always book via the internet or by phone when using AGR points. But, how can I use some gift certificates. Last spring, I tried to use them on a trip that I had booked on the internet. Upon reaching the Cleveland station to pick up my tickets the night of my trip, I tried to use the certificates instead of my card. They told me that since I used the card to make the reservations, they couldn't substutute the certificates for the credit cards. They told me that the next time I make a reservation, don't use a credit card and just use the gift certificates when I arrive and pick up the tickets. Is that possible? Will Amtrak hold my reservation until the day of departure without any credit card holding the reservation? I live near Columbus and can't make the trip easily to the station ahead of time to make the transaction.


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## ALC Rail Writer (Jan 2, 2009)

It should be possible. If not what you'll have to do is just book in person next time you're near a station.

But I am damn sure booking by phone would word.


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## the_traveler (Jan 2, 2009)

I believe that if you book by phone, and say that you want to use a GC to pay, they will either take the number over the phone (I'm not even sure if it has a number because I never used one) or they will give you a date to pay for them (such as "You must pick these tickets up by Jan 27"). If that is the case, depending on when the trip is, they _may_ hold them until departure. If your trip is "next week", then maybe yes. But if your trip is in August, probably not.

Once you pay with cash or a credit card, your only option would be to cancel that ticket and get a new one - but at the current bucket! Thus, you would have to try this with an agent.


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## diesteldorf (Jan 2, 2009)

rile42 said:


> I travel Amtrak several times each year and always book via the internet or by phone when using AGR points. But, how can I use some gift certificates. Last spring, I tried to use them on a trip that I had booked on the internet. Upon reaching the Cleveland station to pick up my tickets the night of my trip, I tried to use the certificates instead of my card. They told me that since I used the card to make the reservations, they couldn't substutute the certificates for the credit cards. They told me that the next time I make a reservation, don't use a credit card and just use the gift certificates when I arrive and pick up the tickets. Is that possible? Will Amtrak hold my reservation until the day of departure without any credit card holding the reservation? I live near Columbus and can't make the trip easily to the station ahead of time to make the transaction.



Here is what you should do and I am speaking from experience:

1. Pay for your reservations with a Credit Card to hold them until pickup

2. When you go to pickup, either 1) call the 800 # or 2) speak to the counter agent and tell them you want to cancel the Advanced Payment only and have it refunded to your CC. I usually call

3. With the payment refunded, you can now use your certificates.


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## the_traveler (Jan 2, 2009)

diesteldorf said:


> Here is what you should do and I am speaking from experience:
> 1. Pay for your reservations with a Credit Card to hold them until pickup
> 
> 2. When you go to pickup, either 1) call the 800 # or 2) speak to the counter agent and *tell them you want to cancel* the Advanced Payment only and have it refunded to your CC. I usually call
> ...


I think that would cancel the reservation, and you would have to make a new reservation at the current bucket! But I hope I'm wrong!


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## AlanB (Jan 2, 2009)

the_traveler said:


> diesteldorf said:
> 
> 
> > Here is what you should do and I am speaking from experience:
> ...


You aren't wrong technically. However, in theory since the room goes back in at the same bucket level it was sold at when cancelled, as long as no one else manages to grab it before your agent does. But I'd make sure before the agent cancels the reservation.

I will also say however that Diesteldorf's experiences may be different because of he's using a disability discount too. That also changes the rules some.


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## Tony (Jan 3, 2009)

I have gone thru this a couple of times.

If the certificate is all or most of the fare, they will hold your reservation until the date of departure even if it is for months.

If the certificate is only a faction of the total fare, they will only hold your reservation for a few days. You are expected to stop by an Amtrak station with your certificate by then, or you will loose the reservation. Not easy to do, if an Amtrak station isn't nearby (for me, it would be a 2 or 3 hour round trip). However, I have found that Customer Service (not the Phone Reservation people) can be of great help with this. I call them up, and ask for their help. What I end up doing, is mailing my certificate to the CS rep I talked with, and they process the payment on my behalf (having my CC info for the balance).


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## WICT106 (Jan 3, 2009)

Huh. I was under the impression that the only way one could use a gift certificate for any part of an Amtrak trip was that it had to be presented, in person, at a staffed train station to the station agent, and that one had to purchase the tickets at once. No over-the-internet or over-the-phone use at all. In fact, I think it says soimething to that effect right on the gift certificate itself.


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## rile42 (Jan 5, 2009)

OK, I just talked to an Amtrak service rep about this problem. He admitted it is a difficult situation to not live near a station as mentioned in my OP. But he did have a "solution". He said to use a credit card to make the reservation. On the day the trip is to begin, he said to call a service rep, ask that the credit card be refunded without canceling the reservation, expaining that I was going to use a gift certificate when I pick up the tickets at the station. I then asked if that would put me at a higher fare if the bucket price had changed. He said it wouldn't since the reservation wasn't really canceled. He acted like this was a common thing that happens when people decide that they want to use a different card or want to pay cash when they get to the station. His way, the ticket agent at Cleveland doesn't have to refund any credit card which has caused the problem before.

With all the learned people on this forum, I was just wondering if all that made sense? I know different agents sometimes see things differently.


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## AlanB (Jan 5, 2009)

Rile42,

Yes, actually it does make sense to me. It's something very similar to the procedure used to deal with the 2-Day AGR upgrades to First Class on Acela. The problem with the 2-day upgrades is that unless one makes the initial reservation within the 48 hour window, you've already paid for the ticket in advance since they won't hold those reservations for very long without payment. However, if they just put the code into the computer, one could visit a Quik-Trak machine and get the FC ticket without ever turning in the coupon.

So the solution is that the telephone agent refunds your credit card for the amount purchased, leaving you with an unpaid reservation and thereby forcing you to visit with an agent. They also of course confirm the FC seat for you so that it can't be sold.

So to some extent, this sounds very similar to what you were told about the gift certificate situation. That of course still doesn't guarantee that you're going to get an agent who does know how to do this. Additionally you need to be careful and confirm with the phone agent what your current bucket price is before he/she starts fiddling with the reservation. Arrow does have a nasty habit of repricing things if one isn't careful or selects the wrong screen. I've had one of two occasions where the agent did reprice my Acela fare to the current bucket as they processed the coupon. Once on the phone, and once in person as I was picking up the tickets. It was only my printout of the original reservation that saved me when the in person agent screwed up, so make sure that you bring along your print out to the station just in case. It gives you a leg to stand on. And again if you try this, confirm with the phone agent what the current price is. Maybe even ask them to write it down and then verify it with them at the end of the transaction.


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## Tony (Jan 5, 2009)

WICT106 said:


> Huh. I was under the impression that the only way one could use a gift certificate for any part of an Amtrak trip was that it had to be presented, in person, at a staffed train station to the station agent, and that one had to purchase the tickets at once. No over-the-internet or over-the-phone use at all. In fact, I think it says soimething to that effect right on the gift certificate itself.


As I mentioned, I got an Amtrak CS Rep to, basically, do the "in person" part for me. I mailed her the certificate, and she mailed me back my tickets.

I would assume that most CS Reps would do the same thing, since they understand the great inconvenience or difficulty of a customer who doesn't live near an Amtrak station would otherwise face.


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## diesteldorf (Jan 5, 2009)

AlanB said:


> the_traveler said:
> 
> 
> > diesteldorf said:
> ...


I do use the disability discount, but it sounds like the OP was basically told to do it the same way via the agent. Hopefully it will all work out. That's why I always stress that I don't want to cancel the reservation but just want the payment refunded. However, this can be a problem if you have a sleeper and it is 7 days or less before you travel.


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## Devil's Advocate (Aug 2, 2010)

Interesting thread. I always wondered how I'm supposed to use printed credits since the website leavs your hands tied.. I wish it worked more like how Southwest does it with a couple codes you enter online and the credit is applied without any hassle. We have a staffed station here, so in that sense I guess I'm lucky, but it doesn't have any marked parking and doesn't open until after nine at night. Not a huge deal but not nearly as nice as just logging in from the desk, the couch, or the bed.


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## ircorva (Aug 2, 2010)

Amtrak gift card - Update July, 2010

I just went through this entire issue this morning, and thought I'd share my experience. This will NOT be of much use to anyone who lives a prohibitive distance from an Amtrak station however.

I wanted to book a trip from (strangely enough) Cleveland to Chicago for a friend and myself - to take place about 2 & 1/2 weeks in the future. He has an Amtrak gift certificate, and we both have AAA memberships for the 10% discount. I wanted to reserve our seats now, because they were already beginning to fill up. My concerns were not having his AAA number, and that the gift certificate apparently needed to be redeemed at an Amtrak ticket counter. I was also led to believe that I would get a better price if I did all this online (not true).

I tried going online... no luck. I HAD to pay with a credit card right then, but I couldn't enter his AAA number, and there was no way to deal with his gift certificate. So I canceled everything and tried "Julie," the automated telephone system.

Julie got me closer to making a (discounted) reservation and would allow me to present our AAA cards at the station. When we got to the point of payment, it/she asked if I wanted to pay for the reservation with a credit card right then. When I replied "no," it instantly patched me over to the line where you wait for a live agent (I waited about 5 minutes).

To make a long story short-- I should have just started by asking for an agent. For one thing, none of the information I gave to Julie was transferred to him, so all of that time spent with the computer was for naught.

Most of all, the live agent was just GREAT... very helpful. He took care of everything I needed easily and in short order. He booked the seats, and created two separate reservations (which did NOT affect the price at all). My reservation was a piece of cake, and my AAA discount was applied (I gave him my number). Also, for anyone who wonders, my rate was exactly what it would have been online.

My buddy's reservation was just as easy. The agent gave him a separate reservation number, and gave him the AAA price. He can show his AAA card when he goes to get his ticket, and can use his Amtrak gift card toward the payment "just like cash." True- he DOES need to present his gift card at the station (which is what I arranged for -- never asked for an alternative). The reservation needs to be paid for within three days. I could have paid for mine with a credit card over the phone, but since we both live approx. 40 minutes from the station, we just decided to drive up there the next day to purchase them at the counter. At least our seats and discount price were set.

So-- if you have a gift card, just call Amtrak and ask for an agent. They'll make all the arrangements and give you any possible options. Don't waste all the time I did trying the online or automated systems. Now, if we have any problem picking up the tickets, I'll leave another post.


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## AlanB (Aug 2, 2010)

daxomni said:


> Interesting thread. I always wondered how I'm supposed to use printed credits since the website leavs your hands tied.. I wish it worked more like how Southwest does it with a couple codes you enter online and the credit is applied without any hassle. We have a staffed station here, so in that sense I guess I'm lucky, but it doesn't have any marked parking and doesn't open until after nine at night. Not a huge deal but not nearly as nice as just logging in from the desk, the couch, or the bed.


It's my understanding that as E-ticketing comes on line, the ability to use vouchers and gift certs on line will be solved.

Unfortunately while progress is being made from what I hear, there is still no definative dates yet for a roll out of E-ticketing. I believe that another test, probably in California is due to start soon (if it hasn't already started), but the best guess last I heard for a total roll out was probably late 2011 if not 2012.


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## amamba (Aug 2, 2010)

To just quickly add my brief experience to this, I recently received a $35 voucher from customer relations for something (I can't even remember what it was for!). I had a $10 seat booked from PVD - BOS last week (lowest bucket) and I wanted to purchase a $26 ticket from Hartford, CT to NYP for about two weeks from today. I did this transaction last Wednesday, so July 28, 2010.

The station agent in PVD had no problem using my customer relations voucher and then gave me a new voucher for $9. I had my reservation for my $10 ticket for travel THAT DAY to BOS and asked if it would be possible to refund my card, use the $9 voucher and a $1 bill to pay for the ticket. The station agent said no problem and was able to process it. It seems to me that he must have just cancelled the advance payment and NOT the reservation because there is no way that the $10 fare is even possible between PVD - BOS less than an hour before departure (its the discount bucket that requires at least 3 days prior purchase). I did get the $10 refunded to my mastercard.

In general I have found the station agents in PVD to be very helpful. I have always had a great experience with them. I would definitely encourage people - if they are able to do so - to visit the station to buy tickets just because its a fun experience - plus you get to watch the trains when you are there! :lol:


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## colobok (Aug 3, 2010)

If the reservation paid by GC is cancelled - what happens with GC?


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