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In the past, booking with saver fare required a few dollars to upcharge to the 'value' fare (ie, full fare). The agents I talked to were well versed in the requirements and I simply told them to use the existing CC number. But lately, they haven't asked for the extra money. Apparently the...

In my opinion, taking a regional train would be superior to paying any premium fare or points for a room and so-so food. Given the new cafe car menus and that you're departing from Chicago, everything should be available and reasonably tasty, if reviews thus far are accurate.

I wouldn't be surprised if Norfolk Southern somewhat pushed Amtrak to have fewer trains stop there. As only the northernmost track has a platform, all Amtrak trains have to move to that track to stop there adding complexities to an already difficult to dispatch area of railroad. Throw in the...

I've largely given up on phoning Amtrak. Given my hearing loss and despite upgraded hearing aids and trying several telephone devices for the hard of hearing, I still have significant trouble understanding people on the phone. Throw in a foreign accent, and I simply can't communicate. So...

With the exception of NYP, I've found Acela passengers are always lined up ready to leave the train before it comes to a stop at a station and in most cases (BAL excluded), boarding passengers are on the platform and ready to board as soon as the last passenger gets off. PHL...3-5 minutes and...

Sometimes it seems that it's an honest mistake. About a year ago, I was riding Acela 2153 to WAS in first class to rack up QTPs during double QTP promotion. I prefer sitting at a table for four as I can spread out with my laptop, have a soda, and even a meal on the table simultaneously. I...

I've witnessed both passengers not getting off when intended as well as those not getting back on in time at a 'longer' stop. In coach on LD trains, the conductor & assistants will place a seat check indicating the destination station with a standard 3 letter code for each occupied seat. On...

As it turns out, this native Milwaukeean, living in Springfield MA for the past 27 years, just returned on 48/448 from Milwaukee a mere 20 days ago. Leaving Milwaukee, as well as the trip to Milwaukee, the train was all Horizon coaches. As it turned out, arriving in Chicago that morning on a...

If it fits in an airline overhead bin, it'll fit on the Acela as well as all regional and LD coaches. As for additional and/or oversized pieces on single level eastern trains, there's an area near the door in each Acela car that excess and oversized luggage can be safely stored. On regional...

Once you've decided on a destination, as a weekday, Friday will offer significantly more train frequencies to choose from than Saturday. Then go to: MNR WebTicket (or simply Google: Long Island schedules) and look at what schedules meet your requirements to get you out and back within the...

As one that is hard of hearing with cellphone app 'tuneable' bluetooth hearing aids, I've largely given up listening for announcements, unless I'm in the metropolitan lounge at the larger stations. But even then - including the new Moynihan Station lounge - I have to get confirmation at the...

Apparently, Amtraks' web site fails to show any alerts for 448/449 after the trackwork supposed to be completed this past Thursday. Aparently, the left hand doesn't know WHEN it will be completed as last Thursdays' end date was actually an extension from the previous week, if I recall...

Losing points is a reality when you cancel, in my opinion. Looking at my AGR account, credit card points for spending are only posted on the same day (or next day) as the closing date on the statement. By cancelling your account, if you've made purchases since the prior closing date, those...

I'm thinking it's either a computer screwup or the person that did the postings, mostly manually, left the company and the new hire is 'lost' trying to keep up with it. But wait! sometime in the not too distant future, expect Amtrak to contract out the IT work to save money. Then watch out for...

Amtrak's computer still believes the one sleeper on the Cardinal is a VI with 12 roomettes. Somehow, 'they' 'it' never figured out it was replaced with an 11 roomette V2 AND a 10 roomette V2 bag-dorm-sleeper! I did luck out and finished my ride in the bag-dorm-sleeper today in CHI. So, the...

Rather than trying to get the lowest bucket for a trip 'out there' 6-10 months from now, my trick has been to start looking every day, even multiple times per day, to get a feel for what the going price is. Unfortunately, with the loss of the automated 30 days at a time search tool about a year...

To clarify AmtrakBlue's comment...the VL2 bag dorm -is- a revenue car. I'm in roomette #5 on #51 aboard the bag-dorm-sleeper as I write this. We were 1hr late at Rensallaer but had a freight broken down ahead. We took a 2 hr hit before we got underway.

I think my brain is turning to mush these days. This getting old combined with noticeable memory loss from covid 7 months ago gets more problematic every day! Many thanks for correcting the record!

I recently started traveling with a friend on the NEC and other regionals and discovered a couple of things in the process: 1. It is impossible to choose seats online for more than 1 person. I tried and tried using Firefox, Edge, and my Android phone, all without success. I gave up and...

Generally speaking, the 2 digit train numbers to/from WAS are either overnight long distance trains or 'longer distance' regional trains to/from points in GA, VA, NY and MA, to name a few. All (I think) 3 digit train numbers to/from WAS start or end there and head north/east to NYP and about...