# Booking online/Amtrak website



## v v (Oct 2, 2021)

I have attempted 6 times to book reservations online this evening but the 'pay/complete' button isn't live. Is there a problem with the website at the moment?


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## me_little_me (Oct 3, 2021)

There is ALWAYS a hassle with the Amtrak web site IMHO. Reflects management. That's why Amtrak's phone lines are always so backed up.

Their home page reflects their stupidity. Finding the place to make reservations is a pain, buried as it is on their main page.

If it doesn't work, just call. They offer a callback. It isn't as fast as they promise but you don't have to hold the phone to your ear until he battery runs down or put it down and set to speaker. Note, however, they will call back or answer the hold just as soon as you have to go to the bathroom. They plan it that way.


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## greatwestern (Oct 3, 2021)

I had the same problem a week or so ago (see my post of 21 Sept #11256 [and subsequent follow up posts] in "AU Lounge - What are you doing right now" thread).

I made multiple attempts to book using my desktop computer using the Amtrak website and like the OP found the "Pay" button inactive. I eventually tried on my ipad using the Amtrak App and was able to book with no problems using exactly the same inputs as I had entered on my desktop !!


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## zephyr17 (Oct 3, 2021)

I had that very problem a few weeks ago. I was making a reservation pretty late at night, and I got all the way to the pay button which was either greyed out or unresponsive (I don't recall which).

I tried several times and then just bagged it. I thought it was possible I got hung up in some system maintenance because of the hour.

I made the reservation on the website the next day without a problem.

VV, I understand you are overseas. You might be running into the same issue I did, in your case due to time difference, not just staying up late.


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## AmtrakBlue (Oct 3, 2021)

I wonder if there might be leading or trailing space somewhere???


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## v v (Oct 3, 2021)

First thank you everybody. All our experiences may along with greatwestern,s posts help others.

OK, managed to book 2 Amtrak journeys today around lunch time France time, by phone. A little earlier I did try to to use the desktop again and a laptop to make the booking online, but same problem in the middle of the day as I had late at night (Europe).

I may have found one of the reasons some of us who are overseas can no longer book online via the regular reservations webpage.
Having to input a cell/mobile phone number is a mandatory part of the booking process. Today the reservation agent asked if we had a US number as it wouldn't accept a number outside of the US and Canada, and that the booking couldn't be completed without a genuine number.
Is it possible the website page is using old IT forms, and although there is a box which allows you to input which country your phone number comes from that by putting a number outside the US/Canada it makes the booking form void?

Don't have an iPad to test that theory or have much interest in finding and using an app so can't comment on that. I am surprised that Amtrak are not on top of having a web reservation page that works for all, in retail the aim is ususlly making life easy for the customer. For whatever reason that side of their operation doesn't work.

To counter my moan above, I have to say today's reservation agent is a star. She did everything she could to make the bookings easy and pleasant, and from my experience most Amtrak staff I've come actross do their utmost to make the experience as pleasant as possible. 10 out of 10 for today's booking experience.

So Amtrak managment and/or IT section, please try harder just like most of your employees.

We are going to get to experience the EB in mid winter, and get a day or so in Seattle too. Now we have every chance of riding the Bremerton ferry which could be one of the highlights of this trip.

Thanks again


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## v v (Oct 3, 2021)

AmtrakBlue said:


> I wonder if there might be leading or trailing space somewhere???



I'm sorry, what does that mean?


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## AmtrakBlue (Oct 3, 2021)

v v said:


> I'm sorry, what does that mean?


Sometimes I'll copy/paste something and will get an "invalid information" warning and discover there was a space before or after what I pasted (probably was in what I copied). I try to put my cursor past the end of the entry to see if there is one or more spaces between the last character and my cursor. I will also put my cursor right in front of the 1st character and then try to backspace.


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## v v (Oct 3, 2021)

AmtrakBlue said:


> Sometimes I'll copy/paste something and will get an "invalid information" warning and discover there was a space before or after what I pasted (probably was in what I copied). I try to put my cursor past the end of the entry to see if there is one or more spaces between the last character and my cursor. I will also put my cursor right in front of the 1st character and then try to backspace.



Yes, got that now, thanks. I don't think that happened from the 2nd attempt onwards but can't say 100%.


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## AmtrakBlue (Oct 3, 2021)

v v said:


> Yes, got that now, thanks. I don't think that happened from the 2nd attempt onwards but can't say 100%.


Probably not, since you should have gotten an "invalid <field>" message - if the program was set up correctly.


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## TinCan782 (Oct 3, 2021)

Hmmm. Just this past Monday (27) I booked 4 trains for the two of us via the website without any problems. 
Their website seems to have glitches that come and go.
The part that is constant is that it is a pain to navigate and find things on the site!


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## Cal (Oct 3, 2021)

me_little_me said:


> Their home page reflects their stupidity. Finding the place to make reservations is a pain, buried as it is on their main page.


Booking is right in the middle of the home page. Or am I missing something?


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## AmtrakBlue (Oct 3, 2021)

Cal said:


> Booking is right in the middle of the home page. Or am I missing something? View attachment 24704


Depends on the size of your screen.  I have an 11 inch Macbook Air and I have to scroll down to the booking area.


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## me_little_me (Oct 4, 2021)

Cal said:


> Booking is right in the middle of the home page. Or am I missing something? View attachment 24704


Instead of at the top! When one has a smaller screen, one has to scroll down. 

The PURPOSE of Amtrak is to sell tickets so selling tickets needs to be the first and most prominent thing. Not after Trip Flexibility, Pre-Covid Check, (which is where my screen ends), Air Quality, Cleaning and Face Coverings and State Quarantine Status. Only one of these is very important (Pre-Covid Check) as the others are needed only if one is making a reservation or is just advertising. None of them require the space they take up above the Reservation request. The rest of the page below the easy-to-miss reservation area (which is the only section without LARGE TYPE and BIG PICTURES) is just advertising. The reservation section is the only one that does not stand out. And it is therefore BURIED in the middle of the page.


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## joelkfla (Oct 5, 2021)

me_little_me said:


> Instead of at the top! When one has a smaller screen, one has to scroll down.
> 
> The PURPOSE of Amtrak is to sell tickets so selling tickets needs to be the first and most prominent thing. Not after Trip Flexibility, Pre-Covid Check, (which is where my screen ends), Air Quality, Cleaning and Face Coverings and State Quarantine Status. Only one of these is very important (Pre-Covid Check) as the others are needed only if one is making a reservation or is just advertising. None of them require the space they take up above the Reservation request. The rest of the page below the easy-to-miss reservation area (which is the only section without LARGE TYPE and BIG PICTURES) is just advertising. The reservation section is the only one that does not stand out. And it is therefore BURIED in the middle of the page.


To make matters worse, an ad for the credit card deal is pinned to the bottom of the screen, so between the fixed header and fixed footer, the scrollable area is barely enough to hold the booking form.


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## v v (Oct 5, 2021)

Tried again to use our desktop and laptop to make our final booking for next February's round trip, but had to resort to the phone again. We would prefer to book online but will in future use the phone option first.

Yet again the reservation agent was superb, a different person this time but she gave the same level of help and consideration with the most obscure of the 9 route options that Amtrak listed. Well done Amtrak people, we'd recommend you any time.


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## greatwestern (Oct 6, 2021)

v v said:


> Tried again to use our desktop and laptop to make our final booking for next February's round trip, but had to resort to the phone again. We would prefer to book online but will in future use the phone option first.
> 
> Yet again the reservation agent was superb, a different person this time but she gave the same level of help and consideration with the most obscure of the 9 route options that Amtrak listed. Well done Amtrak people, we'd recommend you any time.


I emailed Amtrak Customer Support on 21st September asking for a solution following my inability to book using the website (that was prior to my succeeding when I ended up using the Amtrak App on my ipad).

So far, 2 weeks on, all I have received is the customary acknowledgement of my enquiry !!!

Should I keep holding my breath ?


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## dwebarts (Oct 6, 2021)

joelkfla said:


> To make matters worse, an ad for the credit card deal is pinned to the bottom of the screen, so between the fixed header and fixed footer, the scrollable area is barely enough to hold the booking form.


This is one of the reasons I don't miss the web dev job I was laid off from (off-shored, not Covid). I've hated what the web has become with pinned crap everywhere and tracking that seems almost at the HIPAA waiver level. It's all about what the site owner wants to push and ignores what site visitors actually want to find.


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## v v (Oct 6, 2021)

greatwestern said:


> I emailed Amtrak Customer Support on 21st September asking for a solution following my inability to book using the website (that was prior to my succeeding when I ended up using the Amtrak App on my ipad).
> 
> So far, 2 weeks on, all I have received is the customary acknowledgement of my enquiry !!!
> 
> Should I keep holding my breath ?



Good question. But to be fair it appears email enquiries for many types of businesses are now at the back of the queue, their interest is elsewhere.


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## willem (Oct 6, 2021)

dwebarts said:


> [...] I've hated what the web has become with pinned crap everywhere and tracking that seems almost at the HIPAA waiver level. It's all about what the site owner wants to push and ignores what site visitors actually want to find.


Thank you for saying that. I thought it was just me. I would add that it's about pretty pictures and (too often) motion, rather than useful information.


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## jannie (Oct 7, 2021)

You are so right - the pictures are nothing - no real information anymore. And, as far as e-mail = I also found that phone works best - takes more time - and in some instances it depends on who you get on the phone. I've gotten so if the phone person says "I'm e-mailing this/that" and I don't see it it a short time - I call again - last time - I found there wasn't even a record of her doing anything. I feel like we're going backwards - the web on-line was a fast easy way to do things - now I spend half the time trying to figure out where they hid the information I wanted.


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## Barb Stout (Oct 7, 2021)

willem said:


> Thank you for saying that. I thought it was just me. I would add that it's about pretty pictures and (too often) motion, rather than useful information.


Yes, and also large blank spaces. With each passing year, more and more clicks are required to get to the area you want to see. I like the old "amateurish" websites that have a lot of the information right on the home page.


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## Devil's Advocate (Oct 7, 2021)

We used to poke fun at the old school look of Amtrak.com during the Boardman era but at least that site was functional and focused on booking travel. Today's Pinterest style garbage is clumsier, less functional, and seems to be focused on selling status and/or credit cards over booking actual travel. As Amtrak's website continues to deteriorate through the Anderflynngard era the tools that once gave us useful workarounds are no longer able to communicate, leaving us stuck with emails that seem to go nowhere and phone calls that throw useless Julie at us until we convince her to put us on hold waiting for a live human.


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## greatwestern (Oct 17, 2021)

greatwestern said:


> I emailed Amtrak Customer Support on 21st September asking for a solution following my inability to book using the website (that was prior to my succeeding when I ended up using the Amtrak App on my ipad).
> 
> So far, 2 weeks on, all I have received is the customary acknowledgement of my enquiry !!!
> 
> Should I keep holding my breath ?


I have now had an email response which effectively suggests the problem that I experienced in not being able to book via Amtrak.com was an input error/omission by myself.

I know this was not the case as I know for sure that my successful booking on the Amtrak App used exactly the same entries as I had been trying on Amtrak.com (and v v's similar booking experience to mine would also seem to indicate that it was not input errors).

I have responded to Amtrak Customer Support updating them that I had succeeded using the same inputs but on the Amtrak App and also that I was aware that another European "booker" had experienced exactly the same problem (and hypothesised that perhaps the website is only failing non North America bookers).

I will update if I get any further response.


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## neroden (Oct 17, 2021)

Amtrak's IT department continues to be a shambles. Are we going to have to escalate this to top management, again?


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## v v (Oct 17, 2021)

greatwestern said:


> I have now had an email response which effectively suggests the problem that I experienced in not being able to book via Amtrak.com was an input error/omission by myself.
> 
> I know this was not the case as I know for sure that my successful booking on the Amtrak App used exactly the same entries as I had been trying on Amtrak.com (and v v's similar booking experience to mine would also seem to indicate that it was not input errors).
> 
> ...



I was trying to book 3 separate journeys that were not directly connected, tried a number of times to make the bookings online over several days with several computers but the same problems persisted. Please feel free to use my examples if you wish. But as you when you used a different booking method to their online pages, it was easy once we phoned reservations.

Unless customers explain to them what is going wrong they wont know, good luck.


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## me_little_me (Oct 17, 2021)

neroden said:


> Amtrak's IT department continues to be a shambles. Are we going to have to escalate this to top management, again?


You mean to the ultimate source of the "Center of excellence"? Or is it that Amtrak IT and the executives have shown that " this is something else "That will transform rail travel in North America"?


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## greatwestern (Oct 20, 2021)

greatwestern said:


> I have now had an email response which effectively suggests the problem that I experienced in not being able to book via Amtrak.com was an input error/omission by myself.
> 
> I know this was not the case as I know for sure that my successful booking on the Amtrak App used exactly the same entries as I had been trying on Amtrak.com (and v v's similar booking experience to mine would also seem to indicate that it was not input errors).
> 
> ...


Update,

Have had a response expressing that they are glad that I was successful booking on the App and indicating that they would forward the information about my problem for further investigation.

I am reasonably impressed - at least this proves that my comments have been properly read and understood, and that I am not being subjected simply to a "standard response".

Whether there is a resolution remains to be seen.

Again I will update if there is anything to report.


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## me_little_me (Oct 20, 2021)

I just noticed that Amtrak has moved the reservations area to be before the junk stuff. It's nice to see that someone there has the sense to put the important things first.


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## PaulM (Oct 20, 2021)

me_little_me said:


> I just noticed that Amtrak has moved the reservations area to be before the junk stuff. It's nice to see that someone there has the sense to put the important things first.


Not entirely. This is what I get.


Now if I zoom out, the important stuff shows up; but barely readable.


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## greatwestern (Feb 4, 2022)

greatwestern said:


> Update,
> 
> Have had a response expressing that they are glad that I was successful booking on the App and indicating that they would forward the information about my problem for further investigation.
> 
> ...



UPDATE: No follow up response from Amtrak, however I have just successfully booked another trip on Amtrak using Amtrak.com on my desktop computer with no problems at all - so whatever was causing the problem for me (and v v) last year seems to have been resolved. 

When I say "no problems", I really mean in using Amtrak.com to make the booking - the initial pressing of the purchase button resulted in my credit card being declined !!

A 30 minute hold on the phone trying to contact my card company, being redirected to their fraud number, being summarily disconnected then finally speaking to the fraud department resulted in my payment (and the booking) going through.

Now to see if my booked services actually run in September.


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## bobmcshea (Mar 23, 2022)

For some reason, the reservation website does not list the Lake Shore limited at all. Before today, it indicated tha the Lake Shore Limited was canceled on every date for which I searched. This is not a good way to get business. The telephone reservation person indicated tat the train was available. I don't know how to alert AMTRAK that this problem exists on their web site.


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## AmtrakMaineiac (Mar 23, 2022)

I just tried a test reservation bos to chi for March 24 and it shows up but only BC (sold out) and sleeper no coach seats


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## Barb Stout (Mar 23, 2022)

Today I was attempting to book a trip to Chicago (ultimately Ohio, but had to do it in segments to use points) from ABQ, but I experienced 2 error messages, one of which I fixed (I had put a 1 in front of my fellow traveler's phone number which is apparently unacceptable), but the next error message stymied me. It said " Too few or too many characters", but it didn't specify the offending field. Has anyone come across such a message with knowledge of what it might mean?

I ended up booking my trip by calling the AGR number (because part of it was with points between Chicago and various points in Ohio). Then, as another insult, my Amtrak BOA credit card was declined. The AGR rep told me they hold the reservation for a week before I have to pay. Going to the BOA website, I see that purchasing Amtrak tickets using the Amtrak BOA credit card was deemed to be possible fraud, but I was able to mark the purchases as "safe", then called Amtrak back and was able to pay for the reservation.

Because I wanted to use points, but only had enough to go between Chicago and Ohio, I had to make 2 reservations: one with points and the other with the offending credit card. The first AGR agent who made the reservations didn't know about linking reservations in case the first train is late, but when I called back to pay for the longer trips between ABQ and Chi, I got a different AGR agent who did know and took care of it. I asked him if he knew what the error message might be referring to, and no, he didn't know. He did say that the Amtrak website has been defeating a lot of people.

I suppose it's possible that I had messed something else up in the phone field when I took away the "1" digit, but the format after I made the correction looked the same as the field for my phone number.


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## GAT (Mar 24, 2022)

I have to agree that the Amtrak website is REALLY screwed up. In my online account, the “My Trips” page shows only four segments of the nine ticketed segments on my upcoming circle trip. And one of those segments shows the wrong date. I called AGR and confirmed that all nine of my ticketed segments are intact and correct in the actual reservation system.

If we cannot rely on the information displayed in our own accounts on the Amtrak website to be accurate and complete, what’s the point of displaying it at all? Amtrak IT needs to get its act together. Perhaps it needs a new boss.


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## neroden (Mar 24, 2022)

I have it on good authority that Amtrak IT is understaffed. It may also need a new boss, but it definitely needs *more permanent employees*.


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## jis (Mar 24, 2022)

The odd thing is there is never an apology after phenomenal cockups. As if such is the natural course of things and there is no need to acknowledge mistakes at all.


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## neroden (Mar 25, 2022)

jis said:


> The odd thing is there is never an apology after phenomenal cockups. As if such is the natural course of things and there is no need to acknowledge mistakes at all.


For that, blame must go to Stephen Gardner. The CEO is the one who's supposed to apologize for public-facing disasters.


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## zephyr17 (Mar 26, 2022)

neroden said:


> I have it on good authority that Amtrak IT is understaffed. It may also need a new boss, but it definitely needs *more permanent employees*.


They also probably do not pay enough to attract better people. Not to mention their corporate culture. If their IT culture is anything like a lot of the rest of their blame-driven culture, no amount of money would entice good people to subject themselves to that. Good IT folks have good options.

Plus, nobody good is going to want super legacy Arrow on their resume, and they need to get people trained up on that. It is the heart of their IT, the source of many if not most of their issues, and they've lost most of their institutional knowledge of it through retirements and attrition.


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## Jonathon (Mar 29, 2022)

I'm having the darnedest time trying to find fares on Amtrak's website....wth am I doing wrong?


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## Cal (Mar 29, 2022)

Jonathon said:


> I'm having the darnedest time trying to find fares on Amtrak's website....wth am I doing wrong?


Other users were reporting that booking online was down earlier today... so maybe it's not you.


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## Cliff (Apr 1, 2022)

First, I am new to this board and AMTRAK in general. But, I am so glad to have run across this page, as I've been trying to figure out how to book a ticket or just to find out how much a trip might cost. I just haven't been able to find where to look. I posted a comment elsewhere that the last time I was on a train was in 1968!


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## Mystic River Dragon (Apr 1, 2022)

Cliff said:


> First, I am new to this board and AMTRAK in general. But, I am so glad to have run across this page, as I've been trying to figure out how to book a ticket or just to find out how much a trip might cost. I just haven't been able to find where to look. I posted a comment elsewhere that the last time I was on a train was in 1968!



Welcome!

If you are in the Alexandria area, you have a terrific train station right there! Many trains going in different directions.

Also, that is a staffed station, so you have the wonderful option of being able to ask advice from a real person at the agent window. 

It’s also a great place to watch trains on a day when you aren’t taking one.


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## Cliff (Apr 2, 2022)

Yes, I know the train station in Alexandria. I went to a military school in Virginia my last two years of high school and often took the train to Richmond, the school chartered buses to the school on Sundays or last day of school breaks. It was quite a site to see a bunch of teenage boys in uniform! People unfamiliar with us would wonder what the hell was going on. 

Nonetheless, I appreciate the suggestion, I'll go directly to the station to get information, I drive by there regularly.

Thanks


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## Brian Battuello (Jun 14, 2022)

I'm a very experienced Amtrak rider (and ticket purchaser) but the website is driving me crazy tonight. I'm trying to book a ticket from Boston to Chicago. The website insists that I change my password, but the change password option requires you to enter the previous password, and it isn't accepting the password I am sure is correct. There seems to be no "I forgot my password" any more. I tried asking "Julie" how to change my password, and it keeps taking me to the page that wants me to enter the existing password first. 

Dang, I may just fly on American. How does anybody book a train these days?


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## Cal (Jun 14, 2022)

Brian Battuello said:


> I'm a very experienced Amtrak rider (and ticket purchaser) but the website is driving me crazy tonight. I'm trying to book a ticket from Boston to Chicago. The website insists that I change my password, but the change password option requires you to enter the previous password, and it isn't accepting the password I am sure is correct. There seems to be no "I forgot my password" any more. I tried asking "Julie" how to change my password, and it keeps taking me to the page that wants me to enter the existing password first.
> 
> Dang, I may just fly on American. How does anybody book a train these days?


Did you try the app?


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## zephyr17 (Jun 14, 2022)

Brian Battuello said:


> I'm a very experienced Amtrak rider (and ticket purchaser) but the website is driving me crazy tonight. I'm trying to book a ticket from Boston to Chicago. The website insists that I change my password, but the change password option requires you to enter the previous password, and it isn't accepting the password I am sure is correct. There seems to be no "I forgot my password" any more. I tried asking "Julie" how to change my password, and it keeps taking me to the page that wants me to enter the existing password first.
> 
> Dang, I may just fly on American. How does anybody book a train these days?


Honestly, I would leave it the heck alone, clear cache, and wait for tomorrow. My own opinion now is when things such as logins are obviously screwed up, wait for them to unscrew it. Heroic measures might land you in a place where your credentials are permanently damaged. That happened to me on another site, not an Amtrak. I am loathe to leave a recalcitrant computer alone and I wouldn't let go. And it ended with my login being permanently inaccessible and having to cancel the messed up account and creating a new one using a secondary email account.

It was an organization whose IT is nearly messed up as Amtrak. They messed something up, tried to force things, and wound up worse than I had been.

If there is an obvious problem, as it looks like there it might be, best to leave it be and let them have room to fix it rather have the system paint you into a permanent corner.


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## Brian Battuello (Jun 15, 2022)

Thanks, I did exactly that, cleared the cache, cookies and rebooted and the "forgot password" reappeared. Then I found out that 449 was bustituting, so never mind 

And thanks for the detailed advice about not screwing things up further. 

FWIW, I've been using my JetBlue card as my primary, as I can't seem to use my Amtrak points for anything sensible. Woke up this morning to find that I had a fraud alert on JetBlue, so back to Amtrak until they get it straightened out. Not easy being a traveller these days!


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## Steve4031 (Jun 17, 2022)

Creating an ideal reservation system from the ground up would be an ideal use of infrastructure funds. The justification would be thus would allow Amtrak to increase revenue and reduce incidents of lost revenue due to non-functioning technology.


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## bratkinson (Jun 17, 2022)

I got so fed up with their system 3 weeks ago trying to change seats for myself & friend on the same reservation, I gave up. I tried Firefox, Edge, and from my Android phone. It would allow me to change one seat, but not both. Called their AGR select exec number and still had to wait 20 minutes.

Spin forward to this past Sunday. Time to use an upgrade on Acela for myself. Again, I tried and tried. Both afternoon and evening. No luck. Called and finally hung up after waiting 1hr 20 minutes! I called the regular 1-800-USA-RAIL number thinking maybe things were just jammed up. Hung up after 5 minutes. Called the Select Exec number again and it said I'm #1 in the queue! I've never heard that message before! 5 minutes later, I had a real person. She commented that the website is sometimes problematic.

So I fired off a 'flaming email' to Amtrak about their **** poor reservation system. I especially noted that the reservation system is the first 'face' of Amtrak passengers see! I got a pretty much 'form' letter reply ...blah blah blah..."we are unable to provide time frames..." The best part was the signature...Maureen in 'Amtrak Center of Excellence' It took me 10 minutes to stop LAUGHING!


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## trimetbusfan (Jun 17, 2022)

I’ve noticed when you have your password saved (by the browser - so you don’t have to type it in each time), Amtrak won’t let you sign in. (And will take you to the ‘forgot password’ page).

When I manually type in my credentials it’ll log me in. This may or may not be the case for you.


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## jis (Jun 17, 2022)

trimetbusfan said:


> I’ve noticed when you have your password saved (by the browser - so you don’t have to type it in each time), Amtrak won’t let you sign in. (And will take you to the ‘forgot password’ page).
> 
> When I manually type in my credentials it’ll log me in. This may or may not be the case for you.


That problem is apparently specific to some platform/browser combination. I have not faced that probloem with Firefox or Chrome on Windoz


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## joelkfla (Jun 17, 2022)

jis said:


> That problem is apparently specific to some platform/browser combination. I have not faced that probloem with Firefox or Chrome on Windoz


Works OK for me on MS Edge also. But I've seen it on other websites; usually deleting and manually typing the last character of the password fixes it. It can also vary depending on what screen you try to login from.


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## AmtrakMaineiac (Jun 18, 2022)

trimetbusfan said:


> I’ve noticed when you have your password saved (by the browser - so you don’t have to type it in each time), Amtrak won’t let you sign in. (And will take you to the ‘forgot password’ page).
> 
> When I manually type in my credentials it’ll log me in. This may or may not be the case for you.


I use Brave and the saved password works for me both on my computer and my phone.


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## Cal (Jun 20, 2022)

San Joaquin train 710 has now been extended all the way to Chicago. 


What it actually showing is a routing with multiple trains.


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## TheVig (Jun 20, 2022)

Cal said:


> San Joaquin train 710 has now been extended all the way to Chicago. View attachment 28654
> 
> 
> What it actually showing is a routing with multiple trains.



Now I wish I would have taken a screenshot showing I could have taken the CONO from CLT to NYP. Lol.


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## Gary Behling (Jun 20, 2022)

v v said:


> I was trying to book 3 separate journeys that were not directly connected, tried a number of times to make the bookings online over several days with several computers but the same problems persisted. Please feel free to use my examples if you wish. But as you when you used a different booking method to their online pages, it was easy once we phoned reservations.
> 
> Unless customers explain to them what is going wrong they wont know, good luck.


I also have been having trouble. My issue is this. When I try to check how many points it will cost me for any bedroom on the particular route I want to take, the site will display only the points needed for the cheapest bedroom. If I click the deluxe bedroom or the Family bedroom, it displays 0 points. I even tried the months of January through May of 2023 and it is the same. 

I do not want to call Amtrak because I am just in the early stages of planning a partial round the country trip that will include 7 different train routes. Is there any other way of pulling up the information I need or booking Amtrak bedrooms aside from the official Amtrak site which isn't properly working or calling Amtrak? By the way, I did try 2 different browsers and both act the same.


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## UserNameRequired (Jun 21, 2022)

Since the reports of cancelations of tickets and waiting until last minute to notify the customers the last few weeks, I went to logon to Amtrak to check my trips this past weekend. The password didn’t seem to work, so I did the procedure to reset it. First trying to send the verification code with email with no immediate effect, then using the text message (worked), reset password, verified the roomettes and bedrooms still seem to be in place.

Now, several days later I get the Code in the email


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## Bob Dylan (Jun 21, 2022)

UserNameRequired said:


> Since the reports of cancelations of tickets and waiting until last minute to notify the customers the last few weeks, I went to logon to Amtrak to check my trips this past weekend. The password didn’t seem to work, so I did the procedure to reset it. First trying to send the verification code with email with no immediate effect, then using the text message (worked), reset password, verified the roomettes and bedrooms still seem to be in place.
> 
> Now, several days later I get the Code in the email


It's Summer in Washington, so possibly Amtrak IT employees have gone into Hibernation???


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## zephyr17 (Jun 21, 2022)

Bob Dylan said:


> It's Summer in Washington, so possibly Amtrak IT employees have gone into Hibernation???


Amtrak IT employees going into hibernation would probably a good thing, they wouldn't be there to further mess things up. That delay looks more the system having bad task prioritization (due to that crack Amtrak IT team).


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## zetharion (Jun 21, 2022)

I am unable to login into either the app or the website. It just redirects itself and doesn't actually log me in on either one. Tried on both FireFox and Edge. Is it that hard for them to get a simple login working?


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## zephyr17 (Jun 21, 2022)

zetharion said:


> I am unable to login into either the app or the website. It just redirects itself and doesn't actually log me in on either one. Tried on both FireFox and Edge. Is it that hard for them to get a simple login working?


I am fine on Chrome, just now logged in. Also good on the app. Try clearing cache on Firefox.


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## zetharion (Jun 21, 2022)

Even a fresh install of Chrome didn't work.

EDIT: 100th try was the trick.


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## Herb (Jun 22, 2022)

v v said:


> I have attempted 6 times to book reservations online this evening but the 'pay/complete' button isn't live. Is there a problem with the website at the moment?


I wish DBAHN could take over the AMTRAK booking site. Amtrak has a much less complicated system ( trains and destinations ) than DBAHN, so they could fix all our problems in less than six months!!


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## neroden (Jun 22, 2022)

FWIW, the back end (ARROW) despite being ancient is actually pretty reliable. The problem is the new front end website created by an incompetent who was all about style over substance. Apparently the incompetent resigned suddenly late last year, but I'm sure the replacements are barely figuring out what to do by now.


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## Trollopian (Jun 22, 2022)

Bob Dylan said:


> It's Summer in Washington, so possibly Amtrak IT employees have gone into Hibernation???



Fun fact: The summer counterpart of hibernation is "estivation." That's when animals go into a period of dormancy during hot weather. Just think of how many new words we've learned since we took our SATs, um...I won't say how many decades ago.


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## Cal (Jun 30, 2022)

Trying to book a round trip on the Wolverine with points, but it's saying that I can't book business with points for train 353.


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## zephyr17 (Jun 30, 2022)

That doesn't look like a website issue, that looks like business is either sold out or they've capped the number of seats available for points redemption. What does switching back to cash say?


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## Cal (Jun 30, 2022)

zephyr17 said:


> That doesn't look like a website issue, that looks like business is either sold out or they've capped the number of seats available for points redemption. What does switching back to cash say?


You're right, business is sold out. Darn.


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## Willbridge (Jun 30, 2022)

Cal said:


> San Joaquin train 710 has now been extended all the way to Chicago. View attachment 28654
> 
> 
> What it actually showing is a routing with multiple trains.


I've run into this feature a number of times from the Pacific Northwest. In this case, however, it looks like the _San Francisco Chief! _I know that's an error that I can ignore, but it just adds to the burden for newcomers.


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## amydeg (Jul 1, 2022)

I'm booked on a second level roomette on the SWC, and called to ask for first level instead because of mobility issues. Twice I've been told that it's completely sold out. I checked online today and it says it's not. So I called again and explained the situation. The man I spoke with was very nice and spent a good deal of time trying to figure out what's wrong, but ultimately the answer was "there must be a website glitch," because on his end, the manifest shows all rooms booked. 

I asked about speaking with someone higher up but was denied because "they wouldn't be able to do anything different." And when I asked about reporting this glitch to someone who could fix it, I was told that they do have a help desk, but it's closed for the day. So frustrating! Again, the guy was very polite, but I find the whole thing utterly maddening. Not just because I can't switch, but because someone is probably going to book a roomette that doesn't exist and Amtrak doesn't seem to be to bothered about that.


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## zephyr17 (Jul 1, 2022)

amydeg said:


> I'm booked on a second level roomette on the SWC, and called to ask for first level instead because of mobility issues. Twice I've been told that it's completely sold out. I checked online today and it says it's not. So I called again and explained the situation. The man I spoke with was very nice and spent a good deal of time trying to figure out what's wrong, but ultimately the answer was "there must be a website glitch," because on his end, the manifest shows all rooms booked.
> 
> I asked about speaking with someone higher up but was denied because "they wouldn't be able to do anything different." And when I asked about reporting this glitch to someone who could fix it, I was told that they do have a help desk, but it's closed for the day. So frustrating! Again, the guy was very polite, but I find the whole thing utterly maddening. Not just because I can't switch, but because someone is probably going to book a roomette that doesn't exist and Amtrak doesn't seem to be to bothered about that.


As far as I can tell, Amtrak.com doesn't make a distinction between upper level roomettes and lower level roomettes either in the "simplified" one-way and round-trip options or in Multi-City, and it does not display available roomette numbers (11-14 downstairs). The site shows upper versus lower level coach seating but not upper level versus lower level roomettes. How did you find out roomettes 11-14 were available on the website? I think a lot of us here would like to know how to do that.


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## amydeg (Jul 1, 2022)

zephyr17 said:


> As far as I can tell, Amtrak.com doesn't make a distinction between upper level roomettes and lower level roomettes either in the "simplified" one-way and round-trip options or in Multi-City, and it does not display available roomette numbers (11-14 downstairs). The site shows upper versus lower level coach seating but not upper level versus lower level roomettes. How did you find out roomettes 11-14 were available on the website? I think a lot of us here would like to know how to do that.


It didn't show which level, just that a roomette was indeed available. However the guy on the phone said all rooms were sold out, even bedroom, family, and accessible.


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## zephyr17 (Jul 1, 2022)

amydeg said:


> It didn't show which level, just that a roomette was indeed available. However the guy on the phone said all rooms were sold out, even bedroom, family, and accessible.


Ah, that clears it up. For future reference, you can choose your roomettes if you reserve with an agent, as long as they are a competent agent, which you can't do on the website (one of its many shortcomings). If they can't, try another agent. I've never encountered an AGR agent that couldn't do it, btw.

I am a bit picky about roomette location myself (I dislike downstairs and the transdorm), and only use the website for pricing. When it comes time to book, I always call and have them tell me the roomette the system has chosen and work with them to try to get one I prefer before booking (I also confirm the same price I got on the website). In your case, I'd recommend always calling, and asking for roomettes 11-14 in Superliners.


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## 5280 Guy (Jul 2, 2022)

I thought I'd try booking a sleeper from Denver to Chicago. Easier said than done. The cost was $1312, which was okay. On the payment page I entered everything, checked the boxes, etc., but the payment button was grayed out. So I called and after 30 minutes of repetitive and annoying 
on-hold sales nonsense, I reached someone. Being on hold with Amtrak is never a good experience. I don't know which is worse - the irritating lady with the shrill voice or the statement that "your call is VERY important to us." (Yeah - just not enough to bother to answer in a timely manner). 

Reservations wanted to book the ticket, but I explained that I wanted to do it online. She transferred me to customer service, where I sat on hold for another 30 minutes. Then I heard an announcement that customer service was closed for the day, and it hung up on me. How classy!

I said the hell with it and booked on United.

I then did some checking, and apparently you have press "add" on the payment screen. You can't just pay. It hardly intuitive. I didn't want to add my card. People said this was a problem since at least 2019. Of course the geniuses at Amtrak won't fix it.


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## Barb Stout (Jul 2, 2022)

amydeg said:


> I'm booked on a second level roomette on the SWC, and called to ask for first level instead because of mobility issues. Twice I've been told that it's completely sold out. I checked online today and it says it's not. So I called again and explained the situation. The man I spoke with was very nice and spent a good deal of time trying to figure out what's wrong, but ultimately the answer was "there must be a website glitch," because on his end, the manifest shows all rooms booked.
> 
> I asked about speaking with someone higher up but was denied because "they wouldn't be able to do anything different." And when I asked about reporting this glitch to someone who could fix it, I was told that they do have a help desk, but it's closed for the day. So frustrating! Again, the guy was very polite, but I find the whole thing utterly maddening. Not just because I can't switch, but because someone is probably going to book a roomette that doesn't exist and Amtrak doesn't seem to be to bothered about that.


I'm curious about what day you are traveling. Not that it's pertinent to your case, but we were assigned to a lower-level roomette when booking online, but a month or so later we called to have it changed to an upper-level roomette (better view). However, our travel dates are in the 2nd week of January and so it would be unlikely to be sold out. I wonder if there are some folks who were booked on the lower level on your trip who want to, but can't change to the upper level because the train is sold out. Too bad there isn't a way to find that out.


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## joelkfla (Jul 4, 2022)

It appears that someone is working on the website booking engine.

Up thru yesterday, the 33rd attempt to quote a fare returned something like "Unknown error".

Today, it returns a different message: 
"Cannot read properties of null (reading 'data')".


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## jis (Jul 4, 2022)

joelkfla said:


> It appears that someone is working on the website booking engine.
> 
> Up thru yesterday, the 33rd attempt to quote a fare returned something like "Unknown error".
> 
> ...


The common underlying theme appears to be incompetence. Don;t they ever carry out a simple set of tests before dumping the product of the latest sprint on the customers? Apparently not.


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## bratkinson (Jul 4, 2022)

jis said:


> The common underlying theme appears to be incompetence. Don;t they ever carry out a simple set of tests before dumping the product of the latest sprint on the customers? Apparently not.


Unfortunately, the IT techies these days are likely under unreasonable "get 'er done" schedules. So once they get the desired result, they never have time to perform adequate testing to ensure they didn't accidentally "break something" somewhere else in the system. Or, they don't have adequate tools/samples to adequately perform regression testing.


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## joelkfla (Jul 4, 2022)

Found another bug on the website booking engine.

I was checking fares on an Accessible Bedroom from CHI to Orlando in October. On numerous dates, the Search Results show a fare and "3 left at this price" on the CL-SM routing. But drilling down, the details show only "1 left at this price" on the CL, and 3 on the SM. So actually there is only 1 room available at the price for the trip, not 3. Looks like the booking engine may be picking up the number of rooms available on the last train, not the number available for the full route.

I sent the details in a "web site feedback" message on the Contact page. I'm curious to see the response.


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## zephyr17 (Jul 4, 2022)

Also, can't get "schedule" to work for the revised EB schedule now. Any request for the schedule now returns "unknown error" or "null".


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## johnscreekjimmy (Jul 17, 2022)

So it's my first time using Amtrak, unfortunately its only MIL to CHI and not that Cross Country Sojourn I have been longing for. Maybe this is in fact a good thing, cause so far the pre trip experience is beyond lacking. I'm referring to the App and Amtrak Website, at every stage it either doesn't work or there is no detail. When you log in you get ZERO indication of an upcoming trip- can this be right? I am trying to get the PreCovid Check done before the trip. Well that certainly DIDN'T work and told me that is unavailable and to call the 800 usa rail. Waiting on a return call now....but overall really bad compared to any other travel related site or app. Isn't Amtrak run by the Govt? maybe that's the reason.


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## Cal (Jul 17, 2022)

I’ve never had an issue like yours, when I log in it’s always showed by upcoming trips in the home page (mobile app) and I get alerts 24 hours before my train departs to do the pre COVID check ( in fact I have one right now).


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## AmtrakBlue (Jul 17, 2022)

regarding the covid check list, is your trip more than 24 hour away? if so, the check list won't be available till the 24 hour mark. the questions are time sensitive.


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## joelkfla (Jul 17, 2022)

johnscreekjimmy said:


> So it's my first time using Amtrak, unfortunately its only MIL to CHI and not that Cross Country Sojourn I have been longing for. Maybe this is in fact a good thing, cause so far the pre trip experience is beyond lacking. I'm referring to the App and Amtrak Website, at every stage it either doesn't work or there is no detail. When you log in you get ZERO indication of an upcoming trip- can this be right? I am trying to get the PreCovid Check done before the trip. Well that certainly DIDN'T work and told me that is unavailable and to call the 800 usa rail. Waiting on a return call now....but overall really bad compared to any other travel related site or app. Isn't Amtrak run by the Govt? maybe that's the reason.


On the website, I think you need to sign up for Amtrak Guest Rewards. Then when you sign in, the SIgn In button will be replaced by your name. Click on that, and there will be a place to click on Your Trips to display upcoming and past trips. Otherwise, you need to search for a trip by Reservation Number to see it. 

The app normally displays the next upcoming trip automatically when you log in to your AGR account.

AGR is free, and there's really no reason not to sign up for it. Even with zero points, it gets you access to a priority phone line.

As you can see by reviewing the thread to which your post was moved, Amtrak's website and app unfortunately do have plenty of bugs & limitations.


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## Mystic River Dragon (Jul 17, 2022)

I’m having trouble now booking a trip for the first time ever. I started with the regular website, then went into my AGR account. Same problem both ways. I put in a date and starting and ending stations, and it says something like “showing trips by segments”—but it’s not showing any trains!

Well, that’s odd. I just tried it with a different starting point, and it was fine.

I tried NYP to ALX for early December, and nothing came up.

Then I tried TRE to ALX for the same date, and all the regular choices came up as usual.

Is there something wrong perhaps with the NYP code?


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## Devil's Advocate (Jul 17, 2022)

bratkinson said:


> Unfortunately, the IT techies these days are likely under unreasonable "get 'er done" schedules. So once they get the desired result, they never have time to perform adequate testing to ensure they didn't accidentally "break something" somewhere else in the system. Or, they don't have adequate tools/samples to adequately perform regression testing.


Agreed. The implication that the rank-and-file can decide to push bad code into production at no risk to future employment is nonsense. What is far more likely is that the rank-and-file were unable to prevent bad code being migrated because it had to fit into the schedule of someone above them.


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## zephyr17 (Jul 17, 2022)

Devil's Advocate said:


> Agreed. The implication that the rank-and-file can decide to push bad code into production at no risk to future employment is nonsense. What is far more likely is that the rank-and-file were unable to prevent bad code being migrated because it had to fit into the schedule of someone above them.


And true regression testing is the typically part of the responsibility of the QA testing team, not the devs. But they are under the same pressure as everyone, plus, a lot depends on how much Amtrak has invested in tools to support QA.


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## Mystic River Dragon (Jul 18, 2022)

It has been a long time since I’ve done it, so I don’t know if this is still possible.

Can you still go up to a counter in a staffed station and get tickets for an upcoming trip, even if not starting or ending at that station, from a real person, printed on real paper?

If this is still allowed, that is what I will do in the future. There are a couple of stations I’ve been through that seem to have very helpful and competent agents, and I would book upcoming trips when at those stations.

If 21st century high tech won’t work, the face-to-face interaction of 50 years ago still should.

Unless of course they’ve made it impossible for even the station agents to get into the computer and book tickets.


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## tricia (Jul 18, 2022)

Mystic River Dragon said:


> It has been a long time since I’ve done it, so I don’t know if this is still possible.
> 
> Can you still go up to a counter in a staffed station and get tickets for an upcoming trip, even if not starting or ending at that station, from a real person, printed on real paper?
> 
> ...


That's a good plan if it's still allowed and going to a staffed station is reasonably convenient for you.

For the increasing number of us who live a half-day drive or more from the nearest staffed station, not so good.


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## joelkfla (Jul 18, 2022)

Mystic River Dragon said:


> It has been a long time since I’ve done it, so I don’t know if this is still possible.
> 
> Can you still go up to a counter in a staffed station and get tickets for an upcoming trip, even if not starting or ending at that station, from a real person, printed on real paper?
> 
> ...


If it's a station with 2-4 trains a day, IMHO it would be considerate to avoid times from an hour before departure thru 30 minutes after, when they will be dealing with departing passengers and arriving luggage (if checked luggage is available). Many stations have just 1 or 2 agents to do everything.


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## Mystic River Dragon (Jul 18, 2022)

tricia said:


> That's a good plan if it's still allowed and going to a staffed station is reasonably convenient for you.
> 
> For the increasing number of us who live a half-day drive or more from the nearest staffed station, not so good.



I did not mean to be inconsiderate — I agree, it’s awful for those of you at such a distance from a station. Actually, though, the veteran agents at my local station have all retired, and I was thinking more of getting tickets from a station like PVD or ALB, where they seem very efficient and helpful, for an upcoming trip while going through those stations on another trip.
.


joelkfla said:


> If it's a station with 2-4 trains a day, IMHO it would be considerate to avoid times from an hour before departure thru 30 minutes after, when they will be dealing with departing passengers and arriving luggage (if checked luggage is available). Many stations have just 1 or 2 agents to do everything.



That’s a good point. When I used to routinely get paper tickets from my local station, which I believe was the eighth-busiest in the nation at that point, I would make sure most trains had departed and there was a slow period before I went to the window. And if someone behind me was obviously trying to buy a last-minute ticket and rushing for a train, I would offer for them to go ahead of me, just like I would in the NJT/SEPTA line. (Some of us who live in NJ are actually polite and try to be considerate—although I’ll admit I sometimes did get surprised looks when I offered for someone to go in front of me. )


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## v v (Jul 18, 2022)

A couple of general questions.

Do Amtrak acknowledge they have major problems with their website, online bookings and communications? Is there a plan to rectify these problems?


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## Bob Dylan (Jul 18, 2022)

Mystic River Dragon said:


> It has been a long time since I’ve done it, so I don’t know if this is still possible.
> 
> Can you still go up to a counter in a staffed station and get tickets for an upcoming trip, even if not starting or ending at that station, from a real person, printed on real paper?
> 
> ...


Shouldn't be a problem @ all Patty.

Even though I have my Ticket and Itinerary on my Phone when Traveling on Amtrak, I still go to the Station here in Austin and the friendly Agents print me a paper e-ticket for back up. .

When I traveled to Dallas from Austin on a Day Trip this Spring with our friends from Europe, they kindly allowed me to share their Bedroom on an Open Sleeper Ticket which is a RevenueTicket printed on Paper Stock by an Agent.( and allowed me to have Breakfast and Lunch with them in the CCC)


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## Mystic River Dragon (Jul 18, 2022)

They must know, with the amount of people pointing it out to them, but whether they’ll admit it is a good question.

There are two scenarios obvious to me, Jamie.

First, the leaders at Amtrak really and truly want to kill it off for good and are doing everything possible to do so. That’s like something out of a spy novel, but stranger things have happened.

The second scenario is that the pool of IT workers is large, work for them is plentiful, and the best ones have gone to better jobs or started their own businesses, leaving less experienced ones for Amtrak to hire and train from scratch.

I firmly believe that, although there are highly competent people in all generations, the Greatest Generation was the last one that was extremely competent as a group. And they are all either no longer with us or retired (except for the Queen and David Attenborough, and the Queen is slowing down).

I’m seeing a level of lesser competence everywhere lately. So I think the second scenario is quite likely.


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## Mystic River Dragon (Jul 18, 2022)

v v said:


> A couple of general questions.
> 
> Do Amtrak acknowledge they have major problems with their website, online bookings and communications? Is there a plan to rectify these problems?



Darn, talking of incompetence, that last message was a reply to your post, Jamie, but I forgot to insert your quote—and then Jim posted between your post and mine!


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## v v (Jul 18, 2022)

Mystic River Dragon said:


> Darn, talking of incompetence, that last message was a reply to your post, Jamie, but I forgot to insert your quote—and then Jim posted between your post and mine!



But what a nice man to get between us!


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## v v (Jul 18, 2022)

Mystic River Dragon said:


> They must know, with the amount of people pointing it out to them, but whether they’ll admit it is a good question.
> 
> There are two scenarios obvious to me, Jamie.
> 
> ...



Some good points there but maybe they are searching for a new operations model and haven't found it yet. From my amateur rail fan point of view Amtrak falls between 2 stools, neither a fully fledged commuter train service or a stand alone leisure operation.
I do understand that their remit makes them almost unique in the rail world and that has enormous appeal too, but to operate both systems efficiently must be very difficult. It would be helpful if Amtrak were to announce something like _"we're working on it"_ to encourage patience from their clientel.

That a new generation is less efficient or experienced may be down to the mass disruption of business all around the world due to Covid, with not enough old timers staying on to train the younger new recruits in the real way a railway should be run. Manuals and textbooks are fine up to a point, but nothing matches passed on experience.

All this doesn't answer the question of why the major portal to Amtrak's entire income, their website, is allowed to fall into such disarray over such a long period of time. No ticket sales = no Amtrak.


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## zephyr17 (Jul 18, 2022)

v v said:


> All this doesn't answer the question of why the major portal to Amtrak's entire income, their website, is allowed to fall into such disarray over such a long period of time. No ticket sales = no Amtrak.


Most of the time it works for most things, with a bunch of weird glitches. Some examples I've noticed recently:
- Unable to mix accommodation types on different trains on the "simplified" booking engine. No error message thrown, the "add" button just doesn't respond.
- Train status doesn't work for endpoint cities when using train number and city.
- Strange navigation choices, companion coupon added in "advanced search" not "discount"
- unable to enter companion coupon under Multi-city
There are doubtless other weirdnesses.

All of these have workarounds, but you have to poke around to find them (different accommodation types work fine in the Multi-City interface, train status for endpoints can be obtained by entering both stations, etc).

But all of it points to a combination of sloppy programming, insufficient QA, and poor UX design. Combined they indicate an IT shop in turmoil.

1. They lost what was probably drastically under-documented "tribal knowledge" of their antique core system, Arrow, due to early retirements, some probably forced or strongly encouraged. No modern dev worth their salt would want to touch it with a 10 foot pole. They could train up some non-devs internally on it, probably a years long process, but they lost that opportunity when they let/forced most of that knowledge out the door.
2. They decided to "simplify" the UX and make it more airline like, breaking edge functionality in the process (like mixed accommodations).
3. Some of the UX design decisions are mind boggling, like the coupon codes. It is clear that whoever was doing the design/Agile iterations did not understand actual use by a large subset of Amtrak customers.

They are in a world of hurt and would not even be able to effectively outsource to more competent entities because they pretty much appear to be incoherent. The only real solution would be hiring a competent and somewhat ruthless management team that is:
1. Laser-focused on customer experience for Amtrak's actual customers. This requires them understanding what that actually is.
2. Uninterested in current IT buzzwords and fads. This is virtually impossible as most upper IT management got where they are by riding buzzwords and fads.


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## Devil's Advocate (Jul 18, 2022)

v v said:


> From my amateur rail fan point of view Amtrak falls between 2 stools, neither a fully fledged commuter train service or a stand alone leisure operation.


Amtrak is a merger of luxurious leisure pricing with commuter service standards. I love traveling by train but Amtrak does more to impede my travels than to enhance or entice them. I work around Amtrak's limitations because there are no other options available and it's either that or nothing.



zephyr17 said:


> 2. They decided to "simplify" the UX and make it *more airline like*, breaking edge functionality in the process (like mixed accommodations).


When it comes to the US3 outside of some special situations (such as transfer of segmented add-ons) I can take almost any conceivable action using the app or website. During the 2021 & 2022 summer meltdowns I was alerted anytime something changed and my ticket was automatically rebooked within a few minutes of a connection being broken. If I did not like the suggested rerouting I could hold the original, modify the rebook, or cancel without talking to anyone. Airline apps are not perfect but Amtrak is decades behind the airlines and falling even further behind over time.


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## zephyr17 (Jul 18, 2022)

I was not trying to impugn airline apps. My experience is they work pretty well, as you point out. My real point is Amtrak is trying to emulate an airline look and feel, without taking into account there are in many cases there are different problems, especially in edge cases, such as multiple accommodation types and in some cases more routings. More importantly, they do not have the back end infrastructure that the airlines do.

Airlines understand their passengers, their apps reflect it. Amtrak IT doesn't understand its passengers and to a certain extent substitutes an airline passenger model to make up for that. Moreover, they do not have the back end spine to well support it.


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## joelkfla (Jul 19, 2022)

zephyr17 said:


> - Unable to mix accommodation types on different trains on the "simplified" booking engine. No error message thrown, the "add" button just doesn't respond.


I ran into this, but I assumed it was because I was booking an accessible room on one segment. Guess it's universal.

Problem is Multi-City doesn't support handicapped at all since you enter the discount type after selecting coach or room type, so the only workaround is a phone call.


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## zephyr17 (Jul 19, 2022)

joelkfla said:


> I ran into this, but I assumed it was because I was booking an accessible room on one segment. Guess it's universal.
> 
> Problem is Multi-City doesn't support handicapped at all since you enter the discount type after selecting coach or room type, so the only workaround is a phone call.


Yeah, there are a lot of things Multi-City doesn't support and other things the "simplified" interface doesn't (although the way the design feels indicates the intent was to).

The whole thing is a poorly designed, poorly implemented POS, and I don't mean "point of sale".


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## dlagrua (Jul 19, 2022)

We tried to book a 2023 trip online for May of next year using points an cash. Tried it several times over a few days at different times and there was no way that the website would show what is available and at what price. I assumed that rooms were just not available. Finally we called in and a very nice helpful agent got it done. We purchased the first room on the CL and only the second room on the SWC. The old system was far better but they may have disliked customers checking prices using Amsnag.


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## KarmicPopcorn (Jul 19, 2022)

dlagrua said:


> We tried to book a 2023 trip online for May of next year using points an cash. Tried it several times over a few days at different times and there was no way that the website would show what is available and at what price. I assumed that rooms were just not available. Finally we called in and a very nice helpful agent got it done. We purchased the first room on the CL and only the second room on the SWC. The old system was far better but they may have disliked customers checking prices using Amsnag.


I successfully booked our round trip online only to have Amtrak cancel it 7 days before departure. It definitely required an agent by phone to re-book because the website kept glitching. Turns out that was a good thing as the agent who called to cancel in the first place didn't tell me I had the option of booking a different route in a sleeper vs getting the getting bumped to coach only option, and at the price of my original tickets. I would avoid online booking like the plague. It takes longer and you have to wait on a call back, but it's worth waiting.


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## zephyr17 (Jul 19, 2022)

KarmicPopcorn said:


> I successfully booked our round trip online only to have Amtrak cancel it 7 days before departure. It definitely required an agent by phone to re-book because the website kept glitching. Turns out that was a good thing as the agent who called to cancel in the first place didn't tell me I had the option of booking a different route in a sleeper vs getting the getting bumped to coach only option, and at the price of my original tickets. I would avoid online booking like the plague. It takes longer and you have to wait on a call back, but it's worth waiting.


I always book sleeper trips with an agent as a matter of course, for the simple reason I am picky about roomette locations. I did that even on the earlier ugly but less glitchy iterations of the website.

Whenever I encounter a problem on an existing reservation, i always call.


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## printman2000 (Jul 21, 2022)

Just tried to book a simple Cascades day trip in September. Will not go through.
"We've experienced an unknown error"

Tried web and app. Neither worked.


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## joelkfla (Jul 21, 2022)

The website booking engine is in complete disarray.

They've changed the way disability is specified. Instead of being in the Discounts drop-down, it's now a check-box. The problem is that sometimes it works, and sometimes regular seats and rooms are displayed despite it being checked. Sometimes an incomplete disability dialog is displayed. Sometimes the disability dialog is displayed with no way to continue. In other words, they've completely screwed up the disability path.

Also, on both the website and the app, when a wheelchair seat is displayed on a Superliner, "Upper level" is pre-selected, and "Lower level" is not selectable. Obviously, wheelchair seats cannot be on the upper level.

At this point, I would not trust any disability booking made either on the website or in the app.


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## printman2000 (Jul 21, 2022)

I ended up booking through chat.


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## zephyr17 (Jul 21, 2022)

joelkfla said:


> The website booking engine is in complete disarray.
> 
> They've changed the way disability is specified. Instead of being in the Discounts drop-down, it's now a check-box. The problem is that sometimes it works, and sometimes regular seats and rooms are displayed despite it being checked. Sometimes an incomplete disability dialog is displayed. Sometimes the disability dialog is displayed with no way to continue. In other words, they've completely screwed up the disability path.
> 
> ...


Amtrak IT strikes again. Every time they touch something, they break it.


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## AmtrakBlue (Jul 22, 2022)

joelkfla said:


> The website booking engine is in complete disarray.
> 
> They've changed the way disability is specified. Instead of being in the Discounts drop-down, it's now a check-box. The problem is that sometimes it works, and sometimes regular seats and rooms are displayed despite it being checked. Sometimes an incomplete disability dialog is displayed. Sometimes the disability dialog is displayed with no way to continue. In other words, they've completely screwed up the disability path.
> 
> ...


Yesterday I sent them an email (via the contact us) with this comment for web feedback

It's great that you added the Passenger with Disability or Assistance Needed? checkbox on the main booking page. Now, if you'll just make the pop-up window for answering the questions scrollable it will actually be useable.


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## Bonser (Jul 22, 2022)

As has been noted, one cannot book a fall trip to Burlington, VT from NYP. Every day in the entire season on the website says trip is not available. On the app it simply says sold out. What a way to grow your business!!


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## haroldo (Jul 22, 2022)

Tom Booth said:


> As has been noted, one cannot book a fall trip to Burlington, VT from NYP. Every day in the entire season on the website says trip is not available. On the app it simply says sold out. What a way to grow your business!!


When in the fall are you going? I just looked at a trip from NYP -> BTN on Sept 29. Ethan Allen Express, 10 % full, both Coach and Business Classes available.


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## Bonser (Jul 22, 2022)

haroldo said:


> When in the fall are you going? I just looked at a trip from NYP -> BTN on Sept 29. Ethan Allen Express, 10 % full, both Coach and Business Classes available.


Many mea culpas!!! I was booking to BLT not BLN. What an idiot I am!! Many thanks.


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## 5280 Guy (Sep 9, 2022)

I have been trying to book a roomette on a Denver to Chicago train and almost everything is sold out. I checked 10/10 and one is available for $661, so I tried to book it. Nope! "The accommodation on the train you selected is no longer available. Go back to the Select Trip page and choose another option." That's annoying. I went back and tried again and the message is the same. That's misleading.

Also, they still haven't fixed the payment page in which you have to bizarrely click "add" in order to buy a ticket.

Good old Amtrak and their incompetence.


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## zephyr17 (Sep 9, 2022)

The "add" thing is a feature, not a bug.

The value of the feature is more than debatable, but it is clearly part of the design, such as it is


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## Marge (Oct 17, 2022)

How much is a sleeper from Tampa Florida to New Haven CT.? And I know that pets can’t be in there, but what about service dogs? I’ve a seizure alert dog.


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## pennyk (Oct 17, 2022)

Marge said:


> How much is a sleeper from Tampa Florida to New Haven CT.? And I know that pets can’t be in there, but what about service dogs? I’ve a seizure alert dog.


The price of a room will depend on the date on which you wish to travel and whether you travel in a roomette or bedroom. I tried one date in a roomette and it was about $900.

Use the Amtrak.com website and put in your city pairs and the date on which you wish to travel. Since the Silver Star arrives fairly late in NYP, you may have to take the Silver Meteor (with a bus connection from Tampa) in order to connect with a train to NHV at a reasonable time.


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## Devil's Advocate (Oct 17, 2022)

Marge said:


> How much is a sleeper from Tampa Florida to New Haven CT.? And I know that pets can’t be in there, but what about service dogs? I’ve a seizure alert dog.


Cost will depend on a specific date and room type. Pets are technically allowed in bedrooms and sleeper compartments with weight and time/distance restrictions. Service dogs cannot be restricted for weight or time or from places passengers would normally be allowed unless they are behaving in a dangerous or disruptive manner. To the best of my knowledge genuine service animals have not experienced much of an issue on Amtrak (knocks wood).


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## joelkfla (Oct 18, 2022)

@Marge :



Devil's Advocate said:


> Cost will depend on a specific date and room type. Pets are technically allowed in bedrooms and sleeper compartments with weight and time/distance restrictions. Service dogs cannot be restricted for weight or time or from places passengers would normally be allowed unless they are behaving in a dangerous or disruptive manner. To the best of my knowledge genuine service animals have not experienced much of an issue on Amtrak (knocks wood).


Pets are *not *allowed in sleepers:

Pets are welcome in Coach class and Acela Business Class, but remember they may not travel in Acela First Class seating, non-Acela Business class, First Class private rooms or food service cars.
Of course, service animals are allowed in any accommodations:









Service Animals on Amtrak


Service animals are permitted in all areas where passengers are allowed within certain guidelines.




www.amtrak.com





That page states that service animals are not allowed on beds. In a Roomette, when the bed is in place, there is very little floor space remaining. I think it's less than a foot wide. Unless your dog will fit in that, or will be happy sleeping partially under the bed, you might want to get a bedroom, although they are much more expensive than a Roomette.

There are no sleepers between NY & Boston, so you'll be in coach north of NY. Also, you'll be in a bus from Tampa to Orlando, because the train that stops in Tampa arrives in NY too late to make a connection. The bus is contracted by Amtrak, is included in your train ticket, and drops you right at the Orlando station.

As previously said, the fare varies greatly depending on how full the train is. I priced out Tampa to New Haven on 11/9 as a test: bedroom is $1,609, Roomette is $853. Some dates through the end of the year are sold out.

You might be able to lower the cost by transferring to coach in Washington around 7:30 a.m. instead of in NY. Doing that online requires a multi-segment booking. As a novice, you'd probably want to do the booking by phone. Make sure you ask for an agent when Amtrak's phone-bot offers to handle the booking.

I don't know whether the service dog makes you eligible to reserve an Accessible Bedroom. If it does, you would get a larger room (even larger than a regular bedroom) at the cost of a Roomette. You would need to call Amtrak to ask about that.


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## The Quaking Widow (Oct 18, 2022)

The former website was indeed easier to use, but as a newcomer, also obscure. it was harder, I think, to find out where the train actually stopped. Even now, when ”nothing is available” comes back I don’t know why it’s not available, Since I’ve not learned what days certain routes are active, I’m shooting in the dark trying to find a date when travel might be possible.

Airbnb and even my massage therapist use reservation systems with drop down calendars showing available dates and times. This would certainly be helpful to novice train passengers. I also note that the app and the website have different sorts of information, such as Where each train stops, or a route map.

I remember years ago searching for a train to Houston from Toledo. All that was shown was the Texas Eagle, which doesn’t go to Houston, but busses passengers from the DFW area to Houston! As I didnt want to ride a bus for a significant part of the trip, I chose to fly instead. However, this year I finally learned I could go from Chicago to NewOrleans, then change to another line to go to Houston! (which probably costs an arm and a leg.). in other words, the reservation system needs to be smarter, a way in which Amtrak could emulate the airlines.

Also, I note that marketing is not always aware of what’s going on. When LD trains were canceled the week before the possible strike, marketing was still sending me emails advertising those same trips.It didn’t seem very sensitive to reality.


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## Devil's Advocate (Oct 18, 2022)

joelkfla said:


> Pets are *not *allowed in sleepers:
> 
> Pets are welcome in Coach class and Acela Business Class, but remember they may not travel in Acela First Class seating, non-Acela Business class, First Class private rooms or food service cars.
> Of course, service animals are allowed in any accommodations:
> ...


Wow, I completely misremembered that. My confidence was so high I did not even bother to reconfirm my assumptions.


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## Bob Dylan (Oct 18, 2022)

The Quaking Widow said:


> The former website was indeed easier to use, but as a newcomer, also obscure. it was harder, I think, to find out where the train actually stopped. Even now, when ”nothing is available” comes back I don’t know why it’s not available, Since I’ve not learned what days certain routes are active, I’m shooting in the dark trying to find a date when travel might be possible.
> 
> Airbnb and even my massage therapist use reservation systems with drop down calendars showing available dates and times. This would certainly be helpful to novice train passengers. I also note that the app and the website have different sorts of information, such as Where each train stops, or a route map.
> 
> ...


In order to reach Houston from the Texas Eagle, a Charter Bus runs from Longview,TX to Houston and Galveston( Reservations required with Amtrak Ticket).

It's an easy 4 Hour ride through East Texas with a Rest Stop and is quicker and Less Expensive than riding the City of New Orleans from Chicago, which requires an Overnight in the Big Easy before catching the Sunset Ltd to Houston.( a 3 times a Week Train)

( The other Alternative is to ride the Eaglette to San Antonio and arrive @ 1030pm, do a 7 Hour Layover @ the Less than Pleasant Amtrak Station, then ride the Sunset Ltd ( a 3Times a Week Train)to Houston.


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## thully (Oct 18, 2022)

I just cancelled one separately-booked leg of a trip I had booked since I wanted to change to a different (less expensive) train and this ticket was booked with a voucher, whereas the other leg was voucher and cash. As such, I wanted to rebook both legs so that I could use as much of the voucher as possible. After I cancelled the one leg, I now get an error whenever I click on Modify Trip on the other, and it doesn’t show up on my Amtrak app anymore.

Guessing I have to call Amtrak about this - ugh. With that said, if I rebook and decide to just book it as a roundtrip this time (to try to avoid the issue with voucher funds if I change again), can I change the first leg without calling Amtrak using either the app or the website? I may want to change the departure to a later one and don’t want to deal with calling them if so…


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## zephyr17 (Oct 18, 2022)

I kind of do not trust the website for modifications, or much else with the slightest degree of complication. I pretty much will always call for something like you are dealing with.


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## thully (Oct 18, 2022)

I know I have to call to get the current mess straightened out, but what I’m wondering is if it’s possible to change to a later train on the same routing on a round-trip reservation without calling (this would be if I can’t make that train). Does anyone have any idea about this?


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## zephyr17 (Oct 18, 2022)

thully said:


> I know I have to call to get the current mess straightened out, but what I’m wondering is if it’s possible to change to a later train on the same routing on a round-trip reservation without calling (this would be if I can’t make that train). Does anyone have any idea about this?


Yeah, you could. It is a very simple change, about the simplest possible, assuming it is not an AGR ticket. Coach, multple daily service Corridor, no sleeper accommodations to worry about. You'd almost certainly have to pay any difference between your original fare and the current bucket on your chosen train, though.

Even I might do that one online.


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## thully (Oct 18, 2022)

zephyr17 said:


> Yeah, you could. It is a very simple change, about the simplest possible, assuming it is not an AGR ticket. Coach, multple daily service Corridor, no sleeper accommodations to worry about. You'd almost certainly have to pay any difference between your original fare and the current bucket on your chosen train, though.
> 
> Even I might do that one online.


OK - for some reason I thought this was possible for one-way but not roundtrip.


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## thully (Oct 18, 2022)

I called Amtrak, and the reason I couldn't do anything with the remaining leg of the trip was because there was a 17 minute schedule change. That is silly - why should that block any changes or even seeing the reservation on the mobile app? In any case, they accepted the change on their end, and when they went to cancel it offered an eVoucher significantly bigger than the voucher amount used to pay for it ($83 instead of $47), and significantly lower cash refund than the original cash amount paid ($13 instead of $49). While I can now see/modify the reservation online, it shows the same cash/voucher breakdown when cancelling on the website. As the regular Amtrak agent couldn't override this, I was transferred to Customer Relations, though they closed before I could get through. Guess I'll have to call back tomorrow - may see if they can just refund the vouchers, as those funds were from repricing my since-cancelled trip that fell under the medical cancellation policy.


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## Marge (Oct 18, 2022)

Devil's Advocate said:


> Wow, I completely misremembered that. My confidence was so high I did not even bother to reconfirm my assumptions.


My service dog weighs only 11 lbs. so he wouldn’t have a problem in a roomette. I would be needing a round trip ticket,this would be my first time ever on a train.I was only thinking about the sleeper because I have back problems. But it sounds like a pain in the butt to get one & too expensive. How are the coach seats for comfort, are they straight up right? Or can they lean back some? My back can’t stay in a straight up right position for a trip that long.


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## pennyk (Oct 18, 2022)

Marge said:


> How are the coach seats for comfort, are they straight up right? Or can they lean back some? My back can’t stay in a straight up right position for a trip that long.


There are a few threads regarding coach seats (linked below). I have not traveled overnight in a coach seat in years so I cannot personally provide any information, but they are certainly more comfortable than airline seats. However, there is no arm rest between the seats.






Seats in Roomette verses Coach for comfort?


With a hurt back we have traveled coach on a couple long distance trips. Have enough points to try a roomette but I remember years ago we sat in a roomette for a couple of seconds literally and the seats were more hard - like a hitchhiker couch in an RV that pulls out to make a bed... Was this...




www.amtraktrains.com










Leg rests on long distance coaches


Does anyone find the leg rests in the long-distance coaches (and 2x1 business class club cars) comfortable or useful? Maybe it's just the length of my torso and legs, but when I try to use it, my feet stick out over the end, the rest supports my calves, and after not too long, it's really not...




www.amtraktrains.com










First time overnight in coach


I've ridden Amtrak many times as child and teen in sleeper class but have never ridden overnight in coach before. I'm planning to ride from Champaign, IL, to Memphis and meet with family there. I will be packing very light (backpack + my onewheel to get around) so I have less to carry with me...




www.amtraktrains.com


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## BCL (Oct 18, 2022)

I'm thinking of making a trip but I've been having way too many issues trying to use the V712 code for trips to/from Anaheim. I can't seem to get it working on the website.

But it has been working on the iPad version of the app. Not ready to book yet, but it's been weird.


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## pshapley314 (Oct 19, 2022)

I have found that customer service can do things that I can't online. They've always been very nice, patient and helpful.


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## Everydaymatters (Oct 19, 2022)

Marge said:


> My service dog weighs only 11 lbs. so he wouldn’t have a problem in a roomette. I would be needing a round trip ticket,this would be my first time ever on a train.I was only thinking about the sleeper because I have back problems. But it sounds like a pain in the butt to get one & too expensive. How are the coach seats for comfort, are they straight up right? Or can they lean back some? My back can’t stay in a straight up right position for a trip that long.


I'm trying to visualize how a "service dog" that weighs 11 pounds could help a person with back problems.???


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## AmtrakBlue (Oct 19, 2022)

Everydaymatters said:


> I'm trying to visualize how a "service dog" that weighs 11 pounds could help a person with back problems.???


She didn’t say the service dog was for her back. Read her original post.


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## MccfamschoolMom (Oct 19, 2022)

Everydaymatters said:


> I'm trying to visualize how a "service dog" that weighs 11 pounds could help a person with back problems.???


From the "training a service dog" segments I've seen on the animal-themed channels on Pluto TV, even a small dog could be trained to pick up things like dropped keys for someone who has trouble bending over. (And they can then jump up to where their human is sitting and deliver the keys.)


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## AcrossTheOcean (Oct 19, 2022)

Everydaymatters said:


> I'm trying to visualize how a "service dog" that weighs 11 pounds could help a person with back problems.???


I don't think it does. . .



Marge said:


> . . . And I know that pets can’t be in there, but what about service dogs? I’ve a seizure alert dog.


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## joelkfla (Oct 19, 2022)

Everydaymatters said:


> I'm trying to visualize how a "service dog" that weighs 11 pounds could help a person with back problems.???


I believe seizure alert dogs are trained to detect physiological changes that precede a seizure, so the patient can place themselves into a safe environment before the onset.


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## thully (Oct 20, 2022)

I called Customer Relations, and they ended up just issuing a refund for the entire ticket that was purchased part-voucher, part-cash (which was a pleasant surprise). I then rebooked the same segment (Friday’s Wolverine 353) with the remaining voucher, and was intending to book the other train I wanted (the early Monday morning 350 return on the Wolverine) with AGR points. However, before I got around to doing that, Amtrak cancelled Monday morning’s 350, and the Sunday trains became sold out. Given that, I figured I’d either change or cancel the departure - however, it would not let me do anything with my 353 trip online at all. Ugh - I booked that online specifically to make sure I could change or cancel online (there was a slim chance I’d miss Friday’s 353, so I wanted the option to switch to Saturday last minute in that case). So I figured I’d just call and cancel, and evidently there’s a glitch in the system that wouldn’t let them cancel, so they had to send it to Customer Relations to send me a new voucher.

Ugh - I know I was trying to do some complex things, but the system shouldn’t decide not to allow changes online arbitrarily. It would have been simpler had I not had a voucher I wanted to make sure I’d use if I did the trip (not sure how much I’ll take Amtrak in the meantime, given the current woes). At least this was just a fun little trip and not something I had to do - if I had a ticket for a train I was not going to make, tried to cancel, and had the system refuse to do it online I wouldn’t be happy… Figure I’ll just wait until I know there are Ventures running to do this, as riding on those is one of the things I wanted to do on this trip.


thully said:


> I called Amtrak, and the reason I couldn't do anything with the remaining leg of the trip was because there was a 17 minute schedule change. That is silly - why should that block any changes or even seeing the reservation on the mobile app? In any case, they accepted the change on their end, and when they went to cancel it offered an eVoucher significantly bigger than the voucher amount used to pay for it ($83 instead of $47), and significantly lower cash refund than the original cash amount paid ($13 instead of $49). While I can now see/modify the reservation online, it shows the same cash/voucher breakdown when cancelling on the website. As the regular Amtrak agent couldn't override this, I was transferred to Customer Relations, though they closed before I could get through. Guess I'll have to call back tomorrow - may see if they can just refund the vouchers, as those funds were from repricing my since-cancelled trip that fell under the medical cancellation policy.


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## zephyr17 (Oct 20, 2022)

thully said:


> Ugh - I know I was trying to do some complex things, but the system shouldn’t decide not to allow changes online arbitrarily


The "system" you are interacting with on the website is the tippy top layer of an accretion of overlays around an antique 1970s era core. It is probably pretty much a large and stinky pile of technical debt in a "hairball". Plus, the folks that really knew the core system I understand are largely gone, either retired or pushed out. And I am pretty sure Amtrak has a difficult time attracting quality corporate IT talent, their pay scale is likely not particularly competitive and their corporate culture likely sucks. Good IT people have options.

Whatever you ran into was likely an inadvertent artifact of a very brittle and over complicated system and not a design choice. The only way around it was Amtrak's Customer Relations staff doing the task directly on ARROW's own, native old "green screen" interface and avoiding all the encapsulating layers.

I do not try to do anything other than very straightforward and simple things on the website in actual transactions. Just researching fares now I have run into several weird dead ends on the current UI.

I understand your frustration. I personally prefer to do most of my business online generally, and not over the phone. But not with Amtrak. For Amtrak, I call and deal with an agent that can cut through the layers of accretion and interact with ARROW directly.


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## jis (Oct 20, 2022)

Right. Never mistake the Amtrak website to be anything remotely close to the Delta or United web sites in functionality or robustness.


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## thully (Oct 20, 2022)

I would at least hope you could change or cancel a trip without calling, though. The problem with having to call then is if you miss a train and can’t get through before it departs, you end up with a no-show and losing the money/voucher you spent on the trip. In my case, there was a slim chance an appointment would run long in the morning, causing me not to make the train (in which case I’d have wanted to change or cancel). I’d imagine the same applies to other people, particularly on the NEC.

As for airline websites and robustness, I actually had similar problems with Delta earlier this year. Wanted to change a ticket, and the website refused to do it. Used chat because the phone line hold times were insane, and while they changed it they also inadvertently changed my refundable ticket to a non-refundable ticket despite them telling me it was still refundable. When I ended up having to cancel that ticket, I had to go through Delta’s version of Customer Relations to get a refund and had to call back after waiting several weeks and not getting one,


jis said:


> Right. Never mistake the Amtrak website to be anything remotely close to the Delta or United web sites in functionality or robustness.


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## zephyr17 (Oct 20, 2022)

thully said:


> I would at least hope you could change or cancel a trip without calling, though. The problem with having to call then is if you miss a train and can’t get through before it departs, you end up with a no-show and losing the money/voucher you spent on the trip. In my case, there was a slim chance an appointment would run long in the morning, causing me not to make the train (in which case I’d have wanted to change or cancel). I’d imagine the same applies to other people, particularly on the NEC.


You can if it is a simple change, a different train between the same points on a one segment cash ticket. That is straightforward enough and the most common use case, especially for the NEC. That one I imagine they've tested sufficiently.

Anything much more complex, I'd avoid the website. I think you might have gotten caught up in your ticket's complex payment history in this case. Ticketing systems are deliberately persnickety about payment and it likely got itself wrapped around the axle.


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## jis (Oct 20, 2022)

There will always be corner cases that a website cannot handle specially when vouchers are used with a mix of original fare rules that apply to them. I don't think that will ever get fully automated. Also anything involving interline stuff barring a few JV exceptions will tend to require human intervention.


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## AmtrakMaineiac (Oct 20, 2022)

jis said:


> Right. Never mistake the Amtrak website to be anything remotely close to the Delta or United web sites in functionality or robustness.


Not that airline sites are always pristine. I recently had an "interesting" time with the JetBlue site trying to add a new passenger to an existing reservation and it went into an infinite redirect loop, something I had never seen before. Ended up having to make a new reservation.


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## thully (Oct 20, 2022)

As an update to my case, Customer Relations issued a new voucher, but it was a Transportation Voucher instead of the original eVoucher - meaning it can only be used once. I called to see if they could give me an eVoucher (or failing that a refund), and they said it is not possible. They said I could cancel/change trips booked with such a voucher and get another voucher, but warned not to do it too much because the voucher would get corrupted (as the eVoucher did in my case). So I guess the moral of the story is not to cancel/change trips involving vouchers too many times because it messes up Amtrak’s system. At least it’s a relatively small amount…


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## Michigan Mom (Oct 20, 2022)

thully said:


> As an update to my case, Customer Relations issued a new voucher, but it was a Transportation Voucher instead of the original eVoucher - meaning it can only be used once. I called to see if they could give me an eVoucher (or failing that a refund), and they said it is not possible. They said I could cancel/change trips booked with such a voucher and get another voucher, but warned not to do it too much because the voucher would get corrupted (as the eVoucher did in my case). So I guess the moral of the story is not to cancel/change trips involving vouchers too many times because it messes up Amtrak’s system. At least it’s a relatively small amount…


Well, it's good information to have, to not get too creative because of the headaches that might ensue. I was actually just looking at roundtrips to Chicago for the weekend and there are definitely fewer options than there used to be.. and still only 2 trains a day in either direction. The spur of the moment trip isn't happening.


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## thully (Oct 20, 2022)

They’re supposed to resume the third Wolverine on October 25th. That date was previously October 24th, but pushed back a day - which is actually what messed up my plans. I was going to take the Wolverine to CHI tomorrow and wanted to change my return from Sunday afternoon to Monday morning. 

Since Monday morning was less than Sunday afternoon and I paid entirely with a voucher, I wanted to cancel and rebook both legs to maximize voucher use (as the trip there was part-cash/part-voucher). Doing that is where I first ran into technical difficulties, and then after doing all that Monday morning’s 350 was cancelled (and Sunday’s return trains quickly sold out). 

If I was going to do it over, I’d have just booked it as a round-trip, which would have removed the need to rebook to maximize voucher use (as it would all be applied to one reservation), and as such would have had less risk of having the voucher corrupt. Though there are valid reasons to book as two one-ways - primarily if there’s a chance I want to cancel one leg but not the other, or if you’re concerned about the return leg being cancelled by a no-show of the first leg.


Michigan Mom said:


> Well, it's good information to have, to not get too creative because of the headaches that might ensue. I was actually just looking at roundtrips to Chicago for the weekend and there are definitely fewer options than there used to be.. and still only 2 trains a day in either direction. The spur of the moment trip isn't happening.


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## jis (Oct 21, 2022)

AmtrakMaineiac said:


> Not that airline sites are always pristine. I recently had an "interesting" time with the JetBlue site trying to add a new passenger to an existing reservation and it went into an infinite redirect loop, something I had never seen before. Ended up having to make a new reservation.


All I said is Amtrak’s generally is worse. Did not say anything about pristine, so that bit is on you


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## BCL (Oct 22, 2022)

The website seems all wonky. I can't enter certain discount codes, because they seem to break the ability to bring up choices. And the multi-city (add trip option) also seems to create a situation where "Find Train" goes light colored where I can't really click on it.


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## 33Nicolas (Oct 22, 2022)

jis said:


> All I said is Amtrak’s generally is worse. Did not say anything about pristine, so that bit is on you


I still can't log into Amtrak's site on Firefox and Chromium. Am I the only one with that problem? The app works well, but I can't log in there also.


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## Lonnie (Oct 24, 2022)

zephyr17 said:


> The "system" you are interacting with on the website is the tippy top layer of an accretion of overlays around an antique 1970s era core. It is probably pretty much a large and stinky pile of technical debt in a "hairball". Plus, the folks that really knew the core system I understand are largely gone, either retired or pushed out. And I am pretty sure Amtrak has a difficult time attracting quality corporate IT talent, their pay scale is likely not particularly competitive and their corporate culture likely sucks. Good IT people have options.
> 
> Whatever you ran into was likely an inadvertent artifact of a very brittle and over complicated system and not a design choice. The only way around it was Amtrak's Customer Relations staff doing the task directly on ARROW's own, native old "green screen" interface and avoiding all the encapsulating layers.
> 
> ...


I just love the way you've explained this. Makes me wonder how many key parts of our infrastructure built so long ago in terms of advances in programming are running on foundations as creaky as all the bridges that need replacing.


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## BCL (Oct 25, 2022)

I've been trying to book a trip from Anaheim to Emeryville using the Pacific Surfliner V712 discount code. They also have a 5% discount on Disneyland admission, but that's neither here nor there.









Save 5% on Disneyland | Pacific Surfliner


For a limited time, Pacific Surfliner customers can save 5 percent on DISNEYLAND Resort Theme Park admission. There's a free shuttle from the Anaheim Station.




www.pacificsurfliner.com





I've tried entering it into the website and it always flashes "This coupon code is not valid." before closing the advanced search menu and then turning the FIND TRAINS box into a washed out green. Then I'm stuck there unless I reload the page and start over again. Seems really weird though, since I can get it to work through the Amtrak app on an iPad.

I'm also finding it rather weird that Value is more expensive than Flexible, although it might have something to do with the discount code.


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## Arctifox (Oct 25, 2022)

The code needs to be added as a discount to the passenger, not as a coupon.
When you click on the passenger numbers you can choose the number of passengers and the category, and at the bottom you can enter the 4 digit discount code - see the attached screenshot.


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## zephyr17 (Oct 25, 2022)

Yeah, I ran into that weird corner myself a couple months ago.

More intuitive UX design from those aces at Amtrak IT.


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## BCL (Oct 25, 2022)

Arctifox said:


> The code needs to be added as a discount to the passenger, not as a coupon.
> When you click on the passenger numbers you can choose the number of passengers and the category, and at the bottom you can enter the 4 digit discount code - see the attached screenshot.



OK. Got a little bit confused especially since the app only has a single place to enter a coupon or discount code, but then it has this weird "add" button if one needs to enter several of them together. But then it's frustrating because the website doesn't just reject the discount code, but then prevents the user from doing anything further without reloading the page.



zephyr17 said:


> Yeah, I ran into that weird corner myself a couple months ago.
> 
> More intuitive UX design from those aces at Amtrak IT.



I got confused because with the app one can enter either a discount or coupon code and it just parses it.

But I just booked it with whatever I could get to work at the time.


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## PaulM (Oct 25, 2022)

Lonnie said:


> Makes me wonder how many key parts of our infrastructure built so long ago in terms of advances in programming are running on foundations as creaky as all the bridges that need replacing.


I think that the "creaky" part, namely Arrow, gets a bad rap. I think the culprit is the "advanced programming" of the website.

When I try to retrieve fares using Firefox, it either spins its wheels and dies, or displays that lazy programmer style error message so popular these days:


> We've experienced an unknown error. Try again later or call us at 1-800-USA-RAIL.


I don't think Arrow caused that. Also, the main amtrak.com pages has just under 250,000 characters in 4,322 lines. No wonder it hard to get it right. What ever happened to modular programming?


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## zephyr17 (Oct 25, 2022)

PaulM said:


> No wonder it hard to get it right. What ever happened to modular programming?


They renamed it OO and then forgot about it?

Seriously, I agree with you. The "wrap" is most likely the issue, not Arrow. And there are probably several layers now between the UI and Arrow. BTW, the API call for the data from the page is one of the worst I have ever seen. It looks like everything plus the kitchen sink is bundled into that single API method.


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## JermyZP (Nov 7, 2022)

Has anyone noticed on the Amtrak website the phrase "First Class" being used a lot when looking at privet room details? I do remember the last couple of years Amtrak would use the term only a few times under details. Also, why would they call it "First Class Room" if they don't print it on a ticket or even show it on your ETicket.


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## TheVig (Nov 10, 2022)

Currently running at negative capacity.


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## joelkfla (Nov 10, 2022)

TheVig said:


> Currently running at negative capacity.


I want to see a negative run time, so I can go back in time


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## Willbridge (Nov 10, 2022)

This reminds me of riding the _Pioneer _as a standee. They prevented negative capacities by discontinuing the train.


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## MARC Rider (Nov 11, 2022)

So my wife, daughter, and I are going down to Washington tomorrow. Turns out the first MARC train isn't early enough for us, so we will be taking Northeast Regional 151, which happens to have a nice, discounted bucket price, too. So I go into the app, and the first thing was, I had to update it. OK, no problem, then I select the number of passengers for the reservation, two Seniors and an Adult. Then after clicking through the unneeded (for us) upsell for a bike or pets, I get to listing the travelers. OK, I'm first, not problem. Then I enter my wife. No problem. Then I enter my daughter, and, DING! "Enter a birth date that qualifies for the Senior discount" (or something like that.) Turns out, Traveler 1 (that's me) is coded as Adult, and travelers 2 and 3 are Seniors. And there's no way to change the order. Traveler 1 is always an Adult if you're booking more than one ticket. And when it comes time to listing the travelers, the person who owns the account is always listed as traveler 1 unless they're just booking one ticket for themselves.

I ended up ditching the app and going to the website, but I had the same problem. In the end, what I had to do was to buy two senor tickets for my wife and me, and then buy a single adult ticket for my daughter on a separate reservation. Even that gave me problems when I tried to buy a ticket for someone else when I was logged in to my account, so I had and then everything worked, thank goodness. In addition, at one point FNBO got suspicious because I was making two purchases to the same place within a short period, so they dinged me and sent me a verification code, which took forever to hit my email. But, finally, in the end, I was able to book the three tickets. What's going on? I've never had this problem before. Who can I complain to, I mean, let Amtrak know that their app and Website need a little tweaking?


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## AmtrakBlue (Nov 11, 2022)

This has been discussed before, though I can't remember where. I think the solution given was to select your daughter first and then yourself and then your wife. Then remove your daughter and you should end up first, as a senior and your wife second, then add your daughter. I'm not sure if I got that right, but you might want to try it.


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## Lonnie (Nov 13, 2022)

MARC Rider said:


> So my wife, daughter, and I are going down to Washington tomorrow. Turns out the first MARC train isn't early enough for us, so we will be taking Northeast Regional 151, which happens to have a nice, discounted bucket price, too. So I go into the app, and the first thing was, I had to update it. OK, no problem, then I select the number of passengers for the reservation, two Seniors and an Adult. Then after clicking through the unneeded (for us) upsell for a bike or pets, I get to listing the travelers. OK, I'm first, not problem. Then I enter my wife. No problem. Then I enter my daughter, and, DING! "Enter a birth date that qualifies for the Senior discount" (or something like that.) Turns out, Traveler 1 (that's me) is coded as Adult, and travelers 2 and 3 are Seniors. And there's no way to change the order. Traveler 1 is always an Adult if you're booking more than one ticket. And when it comes time to listing the travelers, the person who owns the account is always listed as traveler 1 unless they're just booking one ticket for themselves.
> 
> I ended up ditching the app and going to the website, but I had the same problem. In the end, what I had to do was to buy two senor tickets for my wife and me, and then buy a single adult ticket for my daughter on a separate reservation. Even that gave me problems when I tried to buy a ticket for someone else when I was logged in to my account, so I had and then everything worked, thank goodness. In addition, at one point FNBO got suspicious because I was making two purchases to the same place within a short period, so they dinged me and sent me a verification code, which took forever to hit my email. But, finally, in the end, I was able to book the three tickets. What's going on? I've never had this problem before. Who can I complain to, I mean, let Amtrak know that their app and Website need a little tweaking?


Yes, I brought this up a few weeks ago. It was a great discussion but only this actually worked:
"I first added a senior traveler in addition to the standard adult, then removed the adult and added one again. At that point, the app put the senior as "Traveler 1" and the adult as "Traveler 2". When I chose a random train and had to enter the passenger names, it still says "Traveler 1 of 2 | Senior (Primary Contact)" on top of the screen. I tried the same on the web site and it doesn't work there, the "adult" is automatically put as the primary traveler, but on the iOS app (and potentially also the Android app)."


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## Lonnie (Nov 13, 2022)

AmtrakBlue said:


> This has been discussed before, though I can't remember where. I think the solution given was to select your daughter first and then yourself and then your wife. Then remove your daughter and you should end up first, as a senior and your wife second, then add your daughter. I'm not sure if I got that right, but you might want to try it.


Yep, it was Artifox who came up with the brilliant solution.





Can't a senior purchase for self and adult?


I tried in the app and the website to purchase tickets SEA-SPG for myself and hubby. At the moment and for another year, I'll be a "senior" while he is still an "adult". When you indicate that one is an adult and one is a senior, there is no option to say who is what. When it came time to put in...




www.amtraktrains.com


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## TheVig (Dec 4, 2022)

I just booked a couple of trips. Got the emails, containing the PDF train tickets. However the trips don't show up on the app, and nor do they show up online when looking at my trips.


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## jis (Dec 4, 2022)

TheVig said:


> I just booked a couple of trips. Got the emails, containing the PDF train tickets. However the trips don't show up on the app, and nor do they show up online when looking at my trips.


They may show up in a day or two, when the synch the various databases.


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## TheVig (Dec 4, 2022)

jis said:


> They may show up in a day or two, when the synch the various databases.



You're probably right. I forgot they still use tape drives on the backend.


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## AmtrakBlue (Dec 4, 2022)

I think I've found another glitch, surprise, surprise. I can't modify my tickets online or on the app (trying to use expiring upgrade coupons) because I bought the tickets with the disability discount. The upgrades can be used with the discounted tickets. I had to call AGR earlier for my first train and after she upgraded my ticket, the disability notation disappeared. Now on hold to upgrade the 2nd train. By the time I talk to an agent any remaining BC seats might be gone....to others with upgrade coupons. It's not a big deal to me to sit in BC vs Coach, but figured I should take advantage of the coupons that are expiring in a few days.


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## Katymo (Dec 16, 2022)

Where should I go to find fares? I've always had to call and get a quote. Is there an easier way?


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## trimetbusfan (Dec 16, 2022)

Katymo said:


> Where should I go to find fares? I've always had to call and get a quote. Is there an easier way?


You can find fares with the website or app. I have found that the app (arguably) to be the fastest way to check fares for multiple dates


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## MccfamschoolMom (Dec 16, 2022)

trimetbusfan said:


> You can find fares with the website or app. I have found that the app (arguably) to be the fastest way to check fares for multiple dates


That sounds like the best alternative now, since Amsnag is no longer available. (I miss being able to look up fares for a given route for up to a month's worth of dates!)


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## zephyr17 (Dec 16, 2022)

Katymo said:


> Where should I go to find fares? I've always had to call and get a quote. Is there an easier way?


Check fares on Amtrak.com or the app. They'll be the same as quoted by an agent. If you are checking multiple days looking for a good fare, the site will stop responding after around very roughly 10 queries done close together.


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## 33Nicolas (Dec 17, 2022)

I find the app to work better than the site although it wouldn't let me register in the beginning. I'm still waiting to hear from Amtrak asking them to include my last trip under my perks. Sadly, I feel most if not all UX is underwhelming these days.


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## Keith1951 (Dec 24, 2022)

I want to book the Texas Eagle from Chicago to San Antonio. When I went to Amtrak's site I see 2 trips for my date Oct 6, 2023, one #21 is sold out for the rooms and the other is #421. They have the same price, the same times, and the same route as far as I can tell. Am I missing something or are they the same, or can I just book the #421 with no worries? Why are there two? They both can't depart at the same time, can they?


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## AmtrakBlue (Dec 24, 2022)

Keith1951 said:


> I want to book the Texas Eagle from Chicago to San Antonio. When I went to Amtrak's site I see 2 trips for my date Oct 6, 2023, one #21 is sold out for the rooms and the other is #421. They have the same price, the same times, and the same route as far as I can tell. Am I missing something or are they the same, or can I just book the #421 with no worries? Why are there two? They both can't depart at the same time, can they?


They are part of the same train till it reaches San Antonio, so go ahead and book #421. 
At San Antonio, they'll take off the #421 sleeper and a coach to be put onto the westbound Sunset Limited.


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## zephyr17 (Dec 24, 2022)

Keith1951 said:


> I want to book the Texas Eagle from Chicago to San Antonio. When I went to Amtrak's site I see 2 trips for my date Oct 6, 2023, one #21 is sold out for the rooms and the other is #421. They have the same price, the same times, and the same route as far as I can tell. Am I missing something or are they the same, or can I just book the #421 with no worries? Why are there two? They both can't depart at the same time, can they?


421 is the train number for the through cars to LA that are transferred to the Sunset. Same physical train.

I think there's only one sleeper on it and on the days it connects to LA, it is 421's since the sleeper goes to LA.

It is an artifact of reservation system, which cannot support cars going to different destinations under the same train number. It is a similar situation to the Portland section of the Empire Builder, 27/28, which splits from the Seattle section, 7/8, at Spokane or the Boston section of the Lake Shore, 448/449, which splits from the New York section, 48/49, at Albany. In the past, the Eagle sometimes ran a cut-off coach to St. Louis as 821/822, and the Empire Builder ran a cut-off coach to Minneapolis/St Paul as 807/808.


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