AFS1970
Service Attendant
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2016
- Messages
- 176
After starting my last post, I decided to split these two trips as different posts to keep the length better and easier to read.
So, this was an even shorter trip but one purely for pleasure, not for work. Again, it was a pleasant trip and has kind of increased my wife's opinion of train travel. After one big trip on Amtrak a few years ago, she was pretty much considering trains more utilitarian,
Due to her work schedule around the holidays, she only has one day off at a time. Due to this she wanted to go on a day trip to Boston to see some of the Christmas decorations and do some shopping. Due to travel time, I convinced her to go up the night before after work to give us more time. When looking at train schedules it was more convenient to get the Acella going there. Since I have a lot of points thanks to my Amtrak credit card I booked this trip with points. This had an interesting hiccup.
I had done this by phone with Guest Rewards, they only booked my ticket and not hers. The agent told me she could not book two tickets together using points. I have done this before, so I know this is not true. The agent then booked my wife's ticket using points. Then the agent had to modify the ticket because the system assigned us different cars. So, we got everything set so we were sitting together. I then went and booked our return trip, this time on a NE Regional because the timing was better, and I got a really cheap ticket ($20 each). Both of these showed on my app.
After I hung up, I checked the app and only my ticket was showing up. I called back and found out that because my name was not on the ticket it would not post to my account. The best the second agent was able to tell me was that I would have to print out my wife's ticket, which they emailed to me. Seems odd to me that I can have it sent one way but not the other. Oddly enough since I have my wife's information saved as a traveler on my profile, her ticket showed up in her version of the Amtrak app, so I ended up not needing the paper tickets. This was only my third and my wife's second Acella ride, but all went smoothly. Since it was an evening train, we both fell asleep for part of the ride, and my wife enjoyed the better seats and the better menu.
Before leaving the hotel, I checked if an upgrade was available to Business Class, and it was. So, using two of the coupons from the credit card, we now had better seating for the trip back and essentially for$20. For our lightning day in the city, we left our bags at the Metropolitan Lounge for part of the day. My wife really enjoyed the ability to sit down in the lounge and get a drink before continuing our adventure. We finished shopping earlier than expected and went back to South Station and the lounge. My wife is a convert to the Business Class & the Metropolitan Lounge. Especially since we could keep an eye on the train status. As it got close to departure time the train still hadn't posted a track assignment. We decided to grab our luggage and head downstairs to see about boarding. The lounge attendant had the train dispatch board at his desk and even though the public board did not show the track, the dispatch board did. He told us where to go and we headed down. We got there just as the conductor was opening up the barrier.
Again, a nice smooth and pretty fast ride, not as fast as the Acella, but we did hit 122 Mph at one point. Then we hit our only minor snags. When we upgraded, the only pair of seats in business class were the first row next to the restroom. People kept leaving the door open which bothered my wife and she kept asking me to close it. There was also a very cold breeze in the front of the car because the door to the vestibule would not close. She asked the conductor if he could close it, and he went to check it. He worked on it for at least 15 minutes and finally got it closed. It worked fine for the rest of the trip and we were able to stay mostly warm. My wife has suggested we bring a blanket or two if we do any more winter trips.
Like the last one this was a good trip, all onboard staff were friendly and attentive. My wife started off calling this a bougie trip, but when we got home, she admitted to being a convert. I am not sure it is time to bring up another long-distance trip but this was a good baby step.
So, this was an even shorter trip but one purely for pleasure, not for work. Again, it was a pleasant trip and has kind of increased my wife's opinion of train travel. After one big trip on Amtrak a few years ago, she was pretty much considering trains more utilitarian,
Due to her work schedule around the holidays, she only has one day off at a time. Due to this she wanted to go on a day trip to Boston to see some of the Christmas decorations and do some shopping. Due to travel time, I convinced her to go up the night before after work to give us more time. When looking at train schedules it was more convenient to get the Acella going there. Since I have a lot of points thanks to my Amtrak credit card I booked this trip with points. This had an interesting hiccup.
I had done this by phone with Guest Rewards, they only booked my ticket and not hers. The agent told me she could not book two tickets together using points. I have done this before, so I know this is not true. The agent then booked my wife's ticket using points. Then the agent had to modify the ticket because the system assigned us different cars. So, we got everything set so we were sitting together. I then went and booked our return trip, this time on a NE Regional because the timing was better, and I got a really cheap ticket ($20 each). Both of these showed on my app.
After I hung up, I checked the app and only my ticket was showing up. I called back and found out that because my name was not on the ticket it would not post to my account. The best the second agent was able to tell me was that I would have to print out my wife's ticket, which they emailed to me. Seems odd to me that I can have it sent one way but not the other. Oddly enough since I have my wife's information saved as a traveler on my profile, her ticket showed up in her version of the Amtrak app, so I ended up not needing the paper tickets. This was only my third and my wife's second Acella ride, but all went smoothly. Since it was an evening train, we both fell asleep for part of the ride, and my wife enjoyed the better seats and the better menu.
Before leaving the hotel, I checked if an upgrade was available to Business Class, and it was. So, using two of the coupons from the credit card, we now had better seating for the trip back and essentially for$20. For our lightning day in the city, we left our bags at the Metropolitan Lounge for part of the day. My wife really enjoyed the ability to sit down in the lounge and get a drink before continuing our adventure. We finished shopping earlier than expected and went back to South Station and the lounge. My wife is a convert to the Business Class & the Metropolitan Lounge. Especially since we could keep an eye on the train status. As it got close to departure time the train still hadn't posted a track assignment. We decided to grab our luggage and head downstairs to see about boarding. The lounge attendant had the train dispatch board at his desk and even though the public board did not show the track, the dispatch board did. He told us where to go and we headed down. We got there just as the conductor was opening up the barrier.
Again, a nice smooth and pretty fast ride, not as fast as the Acella, but we did hit 122 Mph at one point. Then we hit our only minor snags. When we upgraded, the only pair of seats in business class were the first row next to the restroom. People kept leaving the door open which bothered my wife and she kept asking me to close it. There was also a very cold breeze in the front of the car because the door to the vestibule would not close. She asked the conductor if he could close it, and he went to check it. He worked on it for at least 15 minutes and finally got it closed. It worked fine for the rest of the trip and we were able to stay mostly warm. My wife has suggested we bring a blanket or two if we do any more winter trips.
Like the last one this was a good trip, all onboard staff were friendly and attentive. My wife started off calling this a bougie trip, but when we got home, she admitted to being a convert. I am not sure it is time to bring up another long-distance trip but this was a good baby step.
