amtrak.com Changes

[roadman3313]

I'm hoping that is just a glitch. Only thing I found is it may be using passengers, rather than physical rooms when adjusting buckets on rooms.

For example, when I was attempting to make a booking I noticed it said 1 Room left at this price. When I had 1 passenger it stayed at the lower bucket. When I made it for 2 passengers, but still just 1 room, the room price went up. Hopefully that's it and it is just a glitch.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

That's a lot to worry about when you're just trying to find a good price on a room. Oy.

 

[SarahZ]

I'm just going to bang my head against the wall, dust some sage on my keyboard, light some candles, and hope I get the correct price until they work out some of the flaws.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Though I much prefer to do things online, I guess if you think the price is wrong (until they fix the glitch), you could always call to book it.

 

[AlanB]

A detective-mystery! I love it.

You should have been in chat last night, you'd know the story!

There's also exactly 1 post on the site in a random thread that has the answer. h34r:

Oh, man! :help:

The critical post can be found here: http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/56730-new-la-waiting-room/page-3

 

[MiRider]

Anthony is ...

Anthony Rizos
Program Manager, Loyalty Marketing
Amtrak
Washington, D.C.

AKA - AGR Insider

 

[Ryan]

Thank you, CAPT Obvious.

 

[AlanB]

Anthony is ...

Anthony Rizos[/size]

Program Manager, Loyalty Marketing[/size]

Amtrak[/size]

Washington, D.C.[/size]

AKA - AGR Insider

Yup, you got it!

AGR Insider is our very own Anthony; has been for a while now.

 

[John Bobinyec]

Though I much prefer to do things online, I guess if you think the price is wrong (until they fix the glitch), you could always call to book it.

Isn't there an extra charge added to the price of the ticket if you call an agent rather than "doing it yourself"?

jb

 

[SarahZ]

Though I much prefer to do things online, I guess if you think the price is wrong (until they fix the glitch), you could always call to book it.

Isn't there an extra charge added to the price of the ticket if you call an agent rather than "doing it yourself"?

jb

Nope.

 

[AlanB]

Though I much prefer to do things online, I guess if you think the price is wrong (until they fix the glitch), you could always call to book it.

Isn't there an extra charge added to the price of the ticket if you call an agent rather than "doing it yourself"?
jb

Nope.

At least not yet. There has been talk that it may be coming however. I've heard nothing official yet; so I stress that for right now it is just talk.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Hopefully this wont apply to AGR where you have to talk with an Agent to Book a Sleeper??? :help: (or will we be able to Book Sleepers On-Line with AGR Awards?) Is this a Question for AGR Insider on Flyer Talk? (who we all know and like! )

 

[AlanB]

Hopefully this wont apply to AGR where you have to talk with an Agent to Book a Sleeper??? :help: (or will we be able to Book Sleepers On-Line with AGR Awards?) Is this a Question for AGR Insider on Flyer Talk? (who we all know and like! )

No, AGR is totally separate from Amtrak in this regard. Especially since right now you can't book most reservations without speaking to an agent.

 

[mjaynes288]

When I try to book a seat using the passengers with disabilities link the saver fares disappear. I hate calling because half the time the reservation ends up wrong. Usually my fault. I would be very put out if I had to pay for the "privilege" of booking by phone. A whole bunch of disability accomodations require talking to an agent either on the phone or in person.

 

[Nathanael]

It is still true that more complex disability accomodations ("yes, she is deaf AND in a wheelchair") require calling. It is not acceptable (or, in fact, legal) to charge a fee for such bookings.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

I can see, and am resigned to, the day when Amtrak charges for booking through an agent. That would be okay... ...as long as the reservation system actually WORKS like to should.

On a completely different note: :hi: Congratulations Anthony! :hi: You certainly deserve it!

 

[Alice]

When I try to book a seat using the passengers with disabilities link the saver fares disappear. I hate calling because half the time the reservation ends up wrong. Usually my fault. I would be very put out if I had to pay for the "privilege" of booking by phone. A whole bunch of disability accomodations require talking to an agent either on the phone or in person.

That is because the disability fare includes a discount, and you can't combine discounts. If you need wheelchair space, Amtrak requires you to take the disabled rate, so you can't get the other special deals.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I can see, and am resigned to, the day when Amtrak charges for booking through an agent. That would be okay... ...as long as the reservation system actually WORKS like to should.

Same here. I have no problem with charging for live support so long as it's a CHOICE to use the web site or the reservations desk. If calling is the only way to get something done then I believe those specific tasks which require calls should not incur a fee. However, if you look at the airline side of the market many airlines levy service fees you have little or no chance of avoiding regardless of how you approach them.

 

[FreeskierInVT]

Has there been any change to the multi-city fares? I was looking at NYP-BAL with a couple hour stopover in PHL but the multi-city page was going to charge me for two separate fares ($49 from NYP-PHL and $39 for PHL-BAL), and I was looking at fares in mid November which shouldn't already have high buckets.

 

[Beaches]

According to the new version if I want to go to New Orleans from Kansas City via a Chicago connection and I want a sleeper for the NOLA segment, now I have to have (and pay for) a sleeper on the Chicago segment as well. Am I looking at this wrong? The old version allowed you to choose for each segment whether you wanted the sleeper or not and only pay for that segment.

 

[Ryan]

You're looking at it wrong, you can select coach for an individual leg:

 

[roadman3313]

There is a topic at Flyertalk which suggests there is a bug in the new interface that sometimes bumps up the cost of the sleeper rooms if more than one person is on the reservations. For example:

16OCT - PHL-ORL #91

One person

Rail fare $132

Roomette $396

Two people

Rail fare $264 (correct)

Roomette $567 (wrong)

Beware with on-line bookings for more than one person until this glitch is corrected

I finalized my travel plans and decided to call Amtrak to make the sleeper booking as I decided to have 3 people in a bedroom for day use. The price for the bedroom they sold me was lower than the price available online for 1 person. Apparently the online price was at the next higher bucket for some reason while the agent still had the low bucket price available. I thought maybe someone else booked a room but the agent checked the price after I booked my room and the going rate was still at the low bucket on her screen (if I wanted another room) while online the price was now two buckets higher.

Something doesn't seem to be matching up as far as I can tell unless I'm missing something?

 

[SubwayNut]

According to the new version if I want to go to New Orleans from Kansas City via a Chicago connection and I want a sleeper for the NOLA segment, now I have to have (and pay for) a sleeper on the Chicago segment as well. Am I looking at this wrong? The old version allowed you to choose for each segment whether you wanted the sleeper or not and only pay for that segment.

Hit the little triangles by Change to School through the options, by default it assumes you want premium travel for your entire trip when making a connection.

 

[youtrack]

i am planing to take saver amtrak ticket but i was wondering if it was possible to change my departure date or time with a saver ticket

 

[SubwayNut]

Yes! Yes!

The only thing about the Saver ticket is that the funds you have for it are completely non-refundable although they can all be applied for any future travel. You do though have to pay the prevailing fare when you rebook, your not guaranteed the Saver fare. The Saver fares (I believe) require a two-week advanced purchase and any rebookings will have to be in this timeframe to other trains that have Saver fares available.