# Issues booking through Amtrak Web Site?



## fredevad (Nov 14, 2013)

Has anyone ever gotten a "DENIED" error when trying to book travel for someone else from Amtrak's web site? I received this error message this morning when trying to make payment. I was finally able to get 1 reservation to work, but not a second and ended up using the mobile app to get it.

Here's how it unfolded:

This morning I needed to book my sister in law SYR-MKE, then CHI-SYR for the Thanksgiving holiday week. She is strapped with student loans, so my wife and I are happy to provide her travel to come see us. I've done this several times in recent years where I log into the web site as myself, book travel for her, and pay using my credit card. This has always gone smoothly... until today.

I needed to book 2 one-ways because my wife wants to drive her to Chicago for her return trip (kind of a tradition so they get a mini-road trip together and get to spend a few more hours with each other).

I put in the travel dates for the SYR-MKE trip, selected the trains, and added to cart. In passenger information, I changed my name to her name and deleted the AGR number, selected no insurance and went on to the payment screen. I put in my credit card info and clicked to buy the tickets - the processing screen came up and took a bit longer than is usually does - OK, the site may be busy. After a while, the payment screen came back up and a red message said simply "DENIED". No reason given, just the word denied. I tried again and reentered my credit card number (thinking I may have finger-boned it), still same thing. So I called my bank - they checked with the CC processor and nothing from Amtrak was trying to hit - obviously this message was generated by Amtrak.

I then went back to the passenger information screen and saw that my AGR number was back even though my her name was listed - once again I removed the AGR number, reselected no travel insurance, went to the payment screen and it worked! I got the confirmation emails and the reservation was showing under my account.

OK, so I tried the same steps with the second CHI-SYR reservation that worked with the first, but now I'm getting a zip code error. What??? It's the same zip code that I've been using for years. I re-entered the zip code, still same error.

Frustrated by the web site, I tried the mobile app. I did get a "Your credit card was declined" message at first. Logging into the bank showed that I didn't have enough available to make the purchase. OK, no problem - I transferred money and then was able to complete the purchase in the mobile app.

Anybody else experiencing these weird issues, or did I just hit in on a "bad" day?


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## AmtrakBlue (Nov 14, 2013)

Did you try doing it w/o logging in has yourself? Just wondering if that would work as it then wouldn't know who you are.


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## fredevad (Nov 14, 2013)

AmtrakBlue said:


> Did you try doing it w/o logging in has yourself? Just wondering if that would work as it then wouldn't know who you are.


Hmm... No, I didn't try that. Since I'm the "train man" of the family, I like to have quick access to the reservation via my Amtrak account. But since I'm not getting points for the booking, I guess I could just do it the "old fashioned" way - using email attachments.


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## the_traveler (Nov 14, 2013)

That's what I do.

If I'm booking my own reservation, I first log into my account. That way all the info, AGR #, addresses, billing address, etc is already there. (My billing address is a PO box # and some sites want a "real street address", even though where I live there is no street delivery and everything goes to the Post Office anyway!) If I'm booking for someone else, I don't log in.

You would have to

1) Change the name anyway,

2) Change the address anyway,

3) Delete or change the AGR number anyway,

4) Etc...

So why not just start off with "a clean slate"? :huh: To me, it's just easier that way!


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