Booking online on Amtrak website

[Barb Stout]

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.

 

[joelkfla]

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')".

 

[jis]

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')".

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.

 

[bratkinson]

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.

 

[joelkfla]

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.

 

[zephyr17]

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

 

[johnscreekjimmy]

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.

 

[Cal]

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).

 

[AmtrakBlue]

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.

 

[joelkfla]

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.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

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?

 

[Devil's Advocate]

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.

 

[zephyr17]

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.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

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.

 

[tricia]

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.

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.

 

[joelkfla]

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.

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.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

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.
.

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. )

 

[user 6862]

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?

 

[Bob Dylan]

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.

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)

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

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.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

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!

 

[user 6862]

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!

 

[user 6862]

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.

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.

 

[zephyr17]

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.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

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.

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.