# Unreserved seats



## colobok (Aug 4, 2010)

If I book a trip from SAN to LAX as a part of my trip to SEA - can I use SAN-LAX tickets few days earlier?

I understand that they are for Unreserved Seats, so I can take any train from SAN to LAX, right?

But can I use tickets on another day?


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## jmbgeg (Aug 4, 2010)

colobok said:


> If I book a trip from SAN to LAX as a part of my trip to SEA - can I use SAN-LAX tickets few days earlier?
> 
> I understand that they are for Unreserved Seats, so I can take any train from SAN to LAX, right?
> 
> But can I use tickets on another day?


No. AGR tickets are not useable except on the ticketed train(s) and date(s).


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## the_traveler (Aug 4, 2010)

However, since the Surfliners are unreserved, those tickets can be used for any train. But there are 2 exceptions:


The tickets have a "Not Valid Before Date" printed on them. So if the award leaves on the 15th, you can not use the tickets on the 13th - but you could on the 18!
This also assumes they are coach tickets on the Surfliner. If they are for Business Class on the Surfliner, it is only good for that specific train on that specific date! BC is reserved, coach is not.


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## colobok (Aug 5, 2010)

the_traveler said:


> However, since the Surfliners are unreserved, those tickets can be used for any train. But there are 2 exceptions:
> 
> 
> The tickets have a "Not Valid Before Date" printed on them. So if the award leaves on the 15th, you can not use the tickets on the 13th - but you could on the 18!
> This also assumes they are coach tickets on the Surfliner. If they are for Business Class on the Surfliner, it is only good for that specific train on that specific date! BC is reserved, coach is not.


3 years ago I had reserved coach seats for Downeaster and I took a train 1 day before the date on the ticket.

It was no issue at all.


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## colobok (Aug 6, 2010)

So I booked SAN-LAX-SEA trip using AGR.

Since I have a sleeper on LAX-SEA segment - I got Business Class for SAN-LAX.

Now I would like to ride SAN-LAX 3 days earlier.

Can I come to the train and explain that I need to ride the train now,

but I don't have time to exchange tickets.

Will they let me ride it?

As I said I had no issues with that on Downeastern, but that was 1 day earlier

and Coach Class, not Business.


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## the_traveler (Aug 6, 2010)

No, because Business Class is reserved, coach is unreserved. They only sell enough seats in BC for that specific train as there are seats in BC. However, they can (and sometimes do) oversell coach so much that it is SRO!






The Conductor may be nice enough to let you go BC, (s)he may tell you that you have to ride coach - or say *NO* altogether!


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## hmy1 (Jul 23, 2012)

It's been a couple years since the last post on this topic, so I'd like to check again...

Is it okay to use an AGR coach award for the Pacific Surfliner on a train other than the one that was originally booked? Regular unreserved coach tickets have a one-year validity period with holiday blackouts and I wanted to make sure that AGR awards are the same way.

I booked some coach awards on the Surfliner for random dates/trains before the points increase this past April and some of those dates are coming up. I would prefer to keep those awards for use on a future undetermined date rather than refunding them.


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## the_traveler (Jul 23, 2012)

They should have a "not valid before" and "not valid after" date on them. As long as they are for coach, and your trip is between those daes, I don't see a problem. I could be wrong, and welcome any correction.


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## AlanB (Jul 23, 2012)

As noted by Dave, as long as your ticket is still within the valid date range, it's for coach, and you're not hitting a blackout date it doesn't matter.

Not sure what happens once eTickets start up. So the above applies to actual paper ticket.


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## hmy1 (Jul 26, 2012)

So I printed out my coach award tickets for the Surfliner. FYI they're like regular paid coach tickets in that they have a one year validity period. However, there are no blackout dates.


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