Another Newbie needs advice.

[Buildy]

Hello All,

My wife and I will be taking our first long distance overnight train trip on Amtrak in late July early Aug.

Perhaps in haste I reserved tickets for the trip. Now I am a bit concerned about making connections.

On July 21 I booked the Capital Limited to Chicago-Arrive Chi 8:40 AM. Leaving Chicago on the Empire Builder at 2:15 PM.

The other possible trouble spot is: Coming back to Chicago on the California Zephyr Aug 2 4:25 PM-Leave Chicago for home on the Capital Limited at 7:05 PM.

What does Amtrak do if you miss the connection due to late running trains? Do they just send you the next day?

I am more worried about the CAL Zephyr being late,but I suppose both connections could be trouble. I don`t have reservations in Chicago for hotels if the train is too late.

Thanks for any advice you may have,

Best Regards,

Buildy

 

[MrFSS]

Hello All,
My wife and I will be taking our first long distance overnight train trip on Amtrak in late July early Aug.

Perhaps in haste I reserved tickets for the trip. Now I am a bit concerned about making connections.

On July 21 I booked the Capital Limited to Chicago-Arrive Chi 8:40 AM. Leaving Chicago on the Empire Builder at 2:15 PM.

The other possible trouble spot is: Coming back to Chicago on the California Zephyr Aug 2 4:25 PM-Leave Chicago for home on the Capital Limited at 7:05 PM.

What does Amtrak do if you miss the connection due to late running trains? Do they just send you the next day?

I am more worried about the CAL Zephyr being late,but I suppose both connections could be trouble. I don`t have reservations in Chicago for hotels if the train is too late.

Thanks for any advice you may have,

Best Regards,

Buildy

If you made all those reservations as ONE round trip trip, then it is Amtrak's responsibility to get you to your destination and back. If a connection is broken because of a late train, Amtrak will, at their expense do one of several things:
Put you on a bus to "catch up" to the missed train

Put you up over night and pay for the room, meals, and cab fare to the room and put you on the next day's train.

As a last resort they have even put folks on a plane and flown them to the destination, but that is rare.

I'm sure others here will have words of advice for you, too.

 

[Buildy]

Hello All,

My wife and I will be taking our first long distance overnight train trip on Amtrak in late July early Aug.

Perhaps in haste I reserved tickets for the trip. Now I am a bit concerned about making connections.

On July 21 I booked the Capital Limited to Chicago-Arrive Chi 8:40 AM. Leaving Chicago on the Empire Builder at 2:15 PM.

The other possible trouble spot is: Coming back to Chicago on the California Zephyr Aug 2 4:25 PM-Leave Chicago for home on the Capital Limited at 7:05 PM.

What does Amtrak do if you miss the connection due to late running trains? Do they just send you the next day?

I am more worried about the CAL Zephyr being late,but I suppose both connections could be trouble. I don`t have reservations in Chicago for hotels if the train is too late.

Thanks for any advice you may have,

Best Regards,

Buildy

If you made all those reservations as ONE round trip trip, then it is Amtrak's responsibility to get you to your destination and back. If a connection is broken because of a late train, Amtrak will, at their expense do one of several things:
Put you on a bus to "catch up" to the missed train

Put you up over night and pay for the room, meals, and cab fare to the room and put you on the next day's train.

As a last resort they have even put folks on a plane and flown them to the destination, but that is rare.

I'm sure others here will have words of advice for you, too.

I booked each segment individually: Capital-Empire Builder-Coast Starlight-Cal Zephyr-Capital......

Best,

Buildy

 

[MrFSS]

I booked each segment individually: Capital-Empire Builder-Coast Starlight-Cal Zephyr-Capital......

Yes - but is it under one reservation number? That is, did you book it all at one time?

 

[Buildy]

Yes - but is it under one reservation number? That is, did you book it all at one time?

I have different reservation numbers for each segment.. I guess I messed up bigtime?

The Resevation numbers all start with OD3 as the first three digits, but each leg has different numbers after that....

Best,

Buildy

 

[PRR 60]

Did you book on-line and have you gotten your tickets? If you booked on-line and do not have your tickets, I would do this:

1. Check the current pricing of the two trips: Capitol Limited to Empire Builder: California Zephyr to Capitol Limited. Do a dummy on-line booking as through trips each way, not as two separate trips each way (four trips total).

2. If the pricing is more or less the same as you have now, then book the trip again as two trips: one westbound and one eastbound. Each will have a unique reservation number (PNR).

3. Then, cancel your original four bookings for a full refund.

If you booked by phone or have your tickets, you will have to call Amtrak to make these same changes. While I would not be too concerned about the westbound connection through Chicago, the eastbound one may be a problem. Unless you have a through reservation with a single PNR, Amtrak has no obligation to make good on a misconnect.

 

[Buildy]

PRR 60:

I booked online,and followed your advice. However I ran into a bit of a snag,as the roomettes are now shown as sold out,so I gave Amtrak a call. They were super nice and put everything together on one reservation for the whole trip out and back. Now I am protected for all the connections.

I ended up saving $200.00,too, and they are mailing all the tickets here to me,which was another worry I had.

Thanks so much for your help!

Thank you,too MRFSS for your input,which helped me also. Glad I asked the question,and got things ironed out,as I say the two people on the phone were outstanding.

Best Regards,

Tony D.(Buildy)

 

[MrFSS]

PRR 60:
I booked online,and followed your advice. However I ran into a bit of a snag,as the roomettes are now shown as sold out,so I gave Amtrak a call. They were super nice and put everything together on one reservation for the whole trip out and back. Now I am protected for all the connections.

I ended up saving $200.00,too, and they are mailing all the tickets here to me,which was another worry I had.

Thanks so much for your help!

Thank you,too MRFSS for your input,which helped me also. Glad I asked the question,and got things ironed out,as I say the two people on the phone were outstanding.

Best Regards,

Tony D.(Buildy)

This forum is the place for answers. If you have more questions, just let us know.
After the trip - let us know how it went, good and bad (hopefully not). See the trip reports area for what others say about their trips.

 

[Buildy]

After the trip - let us know how it went, good and bad (hopefully not). See the trip reports area for what others say about their trips.

MrFSS:

Will do! Really looking forward to this trip. We have tried many,many tourist railroads,and I am a railfan, esp. steam, also modern trains,but have never tried Amtrak like this before! First trip to Seattle and SF,and the wife has never been to California before.

Best Regards,

Tony D.

 

[AlanB]

Really looking forward to this trip. We have tried many,many tourist railroads,and I am a railfan, esp. steam, also modern trains,but have never tried Amtrak like this before!

Tony,

If you haven't already done so, I would highly recommend checking out On Track On Line's Hints and Tips. It's full of useful info for the first timer.

 

[Buildy]

If you haven't already done so, I would highly recommend checking out On Track On Line's Hints and Tips. It's full of useful info for the first timer.

Thanks for the info Alan,I will check it out.

Best,

Tony D.

Tony,