# Thank You- "YARROW"



## jim55 (Apr 23, 2009)

Big thank you to Yarrow, you posted a technique for checking reservations made through the AGR Redemtion agent. That reservation would not show up on the website and I would not have known that she put my wife and I in a Bedroom, PDX-SPK, took us off#28 at SPK and put us on#8, in 2 coach seats to CHI and charged me 30000 pts. By calling 1-800-USA- Rail, the real agent sent me the itinerary and Res # where I discovered the mess up. The AGR agent said she was going to E mail me the Itinerary Yesterday but it has not arrived and I doubt it ever will. Jim


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## yarrow (Apr 23, 2009)

jim55 said:


> Big thank you to Yarrow, you posted a technique for checking reservations made through the AGR Redemtion agent. That reservation would not show up on the website and I would not have known that she put my wife and I in a Bedroom, PDX-SPK, took us off#28 at SPK and put us on#8, in 2 coach seats to CHI and charged me 30000 pts. By calling 1-800-USA- Rail, the real agent sent me the itinerary and Res # where I discovered the mess up. The AGR agent said she was going to E mail me the Itinerary Yesterday but it has not arrived and I doubt it ever will. Jim


what a foul up. glad you got it straightened out. i don't trust the agr people to get it right and always get a confirming itinerary from amtrak


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## sky12065 (Apr 23, 2009)

jim55 said:


> The AGR agent said she was going to E mail me the Itinerary Yesterday but it has not arrived and I doubt it ever will. Jim


I had the same problem 4 times in as many weeks, and that was even with my providing 3 different email addresses.

BTW, on my last call I asked to be transfered to cust relations and learned that wheneven you ask for your itinerary to be sent to a different email address than what's on record, your records will be updated every time you do this with the new email address even if you request that they don't change the address of the address that's already on record.


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## saxman (Apr 23, 2009)

Wow thats was a big mess up. I wish I had checked my reservation when the AGR agent messed mine up. I was going from Toledo to Martinez all in a roomette for 20,000 on the Lake Shore and the CZ. When I picked up my tickets, they had put me in coach on the Toledo to Chicago part! I called them and said they need to fix it, and she replied its only a 4 hour trip. You can sit in coach. And train 449 doesn't have a sleeper. Well I told her to put me in 49 and there will be a sleeper.

Unfortunately, I had already printed the tickets and had to send those in and took a month to get my refunded points back. So lesson to be learned....always check the reservation with Amtrak before you go!


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## Long Train Runnin' (Apr 24, 2009)

Wow! Is this the new company or were things always this bad???


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## RRrich (Apr 24, 2009)

AGR does NOT send itineraries!!!!

Doesn't matter what e-mail address you supply, they do NOT send itineraries - and they do mess up - but SOMETIMES in your favor


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## tjy (Apr 24, 2009)

jim55 said:


> Big thank you to Yarrow, you posted a technique for checking reservations made through the AGR Redemtion agent. That reservation would not show up on the website and I would not have known that she put my wife and I in a Bedroom, PDX-SPK, took us off#28 at SPK and put us on#8, in 2 coach seats to CHI and charged me 30000 pts. By calling 1-800-USA- Rail, the real agent sent me the itinerary and Res # where I discovered the mess up. The AGR agent said she was going to E mail me the Itinerary Yesterday but it has not arrived and I doubt it ever will. Jim



I'd like to check my reservations but am not able to find the posting with Yarrow's technique.

Thanks

TY


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## MisterToad (Apr 24, 2009)

tjy said:


> I'd like to check my reservations but am not able to find the posting with Yarrow's technique. Thanks
> 
> TY


The OP is probably referring to the third post in this thread: http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?showtopic=26998


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## jim55 (Apr 24, 2009)

tjy said:


> jim55 said:
> 
> 
> > Big thank you to Yarrow, you posted a technique for checking reservations made through the AGR Redemtion agent. That reservation would not show up on the website and I would not have known that she put my wife and I in a Bedroom, PDX-SPK, took us off#28 at SPK and put us on#8, in 2 coach seats to CHI and charged me 30000 pts. By calling 1-800-USA- Rail, the real agent sent me the itinerary and Res # where I discovered the mess up. The AGR agent said she was going to E mail me the Itinerary Yesterday but it has not arrived and I doubt it ever will. Jim
> ...


you have to ask an Amtrak ticket agent to email you the itinerary but you must have the reservation #


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## AlanB (Apr 24, 2009)

Long Train Runnin said:


> Wow! Is this the new company or were things always this bad???


Seems to be the new company. It's possible that very early on the old company was this bad too, but back then there were far less people in the program and far less redemptions, since it was brand new and there was no credit card or minimum points.

The real questions in my mind are: Is it because they're new? Is it a lack of training? Is it the quality of people that they're hiring at the pay level they're paying? Or some combination of the above?

When I just made a reservation, I was actually worried that they would hassle me about the enforced layover between the Crescent and the Sunset in NOL. My rep didn't bat an eyelash at that, repeated everything back to me, and he got it right. For another leg of our trip, my Mom used her points. She too encountered no problems and again the rep got everything right. So there are some agents that do seem to know what they are doing.

I don't know if they're hold overs from the old company, or if they just paid attention in training.

Yet reports like Jim55's are still way to frequent. I've seen far too many reports of people getting the wrong dates for their trip, reports of people being routed the wrong way or told that they can't go that way when I know that it is a valid routing, and now Jim's interesting problem.

We can only hope that the new company cleans up it's act and very soon, as Amtrak is going to pay the price big time as people show up at stations only to find out that they're not booked on that train on that date.


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## AlanB (Apr 24, 2009)

RRrich said:


> AGR does NOT send itineraries!!!!
> Doesn't matter what e-mail address you supply, they do NOT send itineraries - and they do mess up - but SOMETIMES in your favor


Actually both the reservation that I just made, as well as the one my mom made, saw the agents complying with our request to mail a confirmation.

That said, the confirmation that they send would not have helped in Jim55's case. It only shows the dates of travel, origin and destination, reservation number, and points paid. It does not show train numbers, accomodations, car, and room numbers. Here's a sample:



> Your Amtrak Guest Rewards redemption item listed below has been processed and your tickets are available for pickup. Please reference reservation # 0xxxx0 when ticketing through Quik Trak or through an Amtrak ticket agent.
> Bedroom
> 
> Item # 1013
> ...


Therefore I urge all AGR members to follow the advice given in this topic and else where on this board, once you have your reservation number, call the regular Amtrak toll free number and ask the agent to email you the full itinerary to confirm that AGR got things right.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Apr 24, 2009)

AlanB said:


> Long Train Runnin said:
> 
> 
> > Wow! Is this the new company or were things always this bad???
> ...


Well one thing is you most likely used your select plus number to book. So maybe you are getting the better folks. Well I hope things improve!


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## AlanB (Apr 24, 2009)

Long Train Runnin said:


> Well one thing is you most likely used your select plus number to book. So maybe you are getting the better folks. Well I hope things improve!


I did, yes, but my mom didn't. She's not Select + by a long shot.

And even then, the special number really just gets you to the head of the line. AFAIK, they don't actually have different agents working those phones. Perhaps you're routed to more senior agents, I'm not sure.


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## Ispolkom (Apr 24, 2009)

AlanB said:


> RRrich said:
> 
> 
> > AGR does NOT send itineraries!!!!
> ...


Thanks for the advice. I was a tiny bit concerned about my AGR reservations because a) they give you such a vague itinerary, and b) if you reserve an AGR reward more than 6 months out, the itinerary has the wrong date on it.

Fortunately, all of my AGR travel for the year, even the three-bedroom odyssey from Atlanta to Minot, is correct. I see that I get a transdorm roomette on #30 next month, which is something new for me.


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## JayPea (Apr 24, 2009)

I wish I'd thought of that technique. I'm taking an AGR trip in August and have heard so many horror stories about mess-ups that I committed the cardinal sin of picking up the tickets well in advance. So now if something changes I will have to go through the hassle of mailing them back the tickets. Ah well, live and learn.


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