Coach Passengers Can't Visit Roomette Passengers?

[AutoTrDvr]

Playing devil's advocate here: say the crew allows the g/f to sleep and spend time in the roomette and they walk into the diner together. How exactly would the diner crew know she only has a coach ticket? Granted I've only traveled LD sleeper twice, but in both instances all I've had to do was write down my car and room numbers on the receipt. Nobody would really be cheating the system here because the sleeper charge covers meals for up to 2 people.

Mods: If this thought is out of line please delete.

Would hate to represent myself as a sleeper passenger and be caught eating a free meal, whether during or after the fact, if I could not produce a (e-)ticket stub displaying a qualifying class of service. If the powers that be receive two meal checks with the same room number, and match up the fact that only one person was ticketed in the room, it would be evident something's amiss.

Also, the printed manifest of sleeper passenger names is available to any crew member, so if they see two people (over the course of a two-night trip like EMY-CHI) eating meals for a one-person room, they just might put two and two together.

The meal issue is resolved on the AT because (at least) sleeper pax. are given a "meal ticket' (red = 5pm, white=7p & blue=9p - I think - I always take red at 5p) with their boarding pass. So the extra person in the sleeper would not be able to just come in and sit down. No ticket no seating... I guess that's necessary since there are no receipts or paper work involved (for the pax.) for meals on the AT diner.

 

[NW cannonball]

When my wife and infant child had the roomette and I was in coach - the SCA rightly questioned me when I entered the sleeping car.

When I explained - no problem.

 

[Texan Eagle]

How come people don't need to ask if a coach passenger on a plane, can go up and sit in first class after takeoff, enjoy the first class perks, and visit with the people in first class? That, they seem to understand.

Because First Class fare on a fare does not include amenities for two people by default. The way Amtrak prices its classes, the additional "sleeper cost" over and above the coach cost is the same whether one person travels or two people travel, so if the second person has paid his/her coach fare, it is not unfair if he/she uses the sleeper amenities with the other person. The day Amtrak stops short changing single travelers and prices sleeper fares differently if one person is using the roomette vs two people using the same roomette, then we'll compare the two.

 

[jis]

How come people don't need to ask if a coach passenger on a plane, can go up and sit in first class after takeoff, enjoy the first class perks, and visit with the people in first class? That, they seem to understand.

Because First Class fare on a fare does not include amenities for two people by default. The way Amtrak prices its classes, the additional "sleeper cost" over and above the coach cost is the same whether one person travels or two people travel, so if the second person has paid his/her coach fare, it is not unfair if he/she uses the sleeper amenities with the other person. The day Amtrak stops short changing single travelers and prices sleeper fares differently if one person is using the roomette vs two people using the same roomette, then we'll compare the two.

Yes. But the right way to do that is to add the second person to the sleeper accommodation. It takes five minutes to do so and it does not cost anything more if the second person already has a coach ticket. If the second person does not have a coach ticket it just costs the lowest bucket coach fare to do so.

Amtrak sells rooms as accommodation, not berths. There is no reason for them to change that. They could of course consider doing single rooms, but that is a different discussion. I would hate a situation like in India where because it is berths that are sold you have to share a room with a bunch of strangers.

 

[jis]

To the OP- book your girlfriend in coach, tell the sleeping car attendant that you have a friend in coach who could not get sleeper accommodation (or something like that) and most probably they will let her in to your roomette and stay with you. For the meals, again just casually tell the dining car attendant that you have a friend in coach and she would like to be seated with you for meals, and if you are lucky you may get her meals free, if not, you may have to pay for it. I was in this exact same situation last year on SWC. I was in coach and my friend was in sleeper and he told the dining car attendant about this and the lady was probably in a good mood and she said "That's cool. Call him in and we'll add his meals to your sleeper so he need not pay!" Yes I know this is not exactly legal, but if she did not mind it, why would I?

We did "compensate" her with a good tip though.

Why go through all this silliness when all it takes is five minutes at an Amtrak ticket window or on the phone to add the GF to the OP's reservation? Of course if the OP and the GF have a problem sharing a room then there are other bigger problems that they need to deal with I suppose

 

[Texan Eagle]

To the OP- book your girlfriend in coach, tell the sleeping car attendant that you have a friend in coach who could not get sleeper accommodation (or something like that) and most probably they will let her in to your roomette and stay with you. For the meals, again just casually tell the dining car attendant that you have a friend in coach and she would like to be seated with you for meals, and if you are lucky you may get her meals free, if not, you may have to pay for it. I was in this exact same situation last year on SWC. I was in coach and my friend was in sleeper and he told the dining car attendant about this and the lady was probably in a good mood and she said "That's cool. Call him in and we'll add his meals to your sleeper so he need not pay!" Yes I know this is not exactly legal, but if she did not mind it, why would I?

We did "compensate" her with a good tip though.

Why go through all this silliness when all it takes is five minutes at an Amtrak ticket window or on the phone to add the GF to the OP's reservation? Of course if the OP and the GF have a problem sharing a room then there are other bigger problems that they need to deal with I suppose

I think you missed the explanation given by OP. Coach ticket by cash costs some $150-odd which is unaffordable for the college student OP. He has purchased coach ticket for his GF using his AGR points and Amtrak is not allowing combining his cash-paid sleeper accommodation (paid by his employer) with GF's AGR-paid coach ticket. Hence the need to try out other options. If Amtrak would allow adding AGR-paid coach reservation to the OP's cash-paid sleeper reservation, that would be the end of discussion.

 

[jis]

To the OP- book your girlfriend in coach, tell the sleeping car attendant that you have a friend in coach who could not get sleeper accommodation (or something like that) and most probably they will let her in to your roomette and stay with you. For the meals, again just casually tell the dining car attendant that you have a friend in coach and she would like to be seated with you for meals, and if you are lucky you may get her meals free, if not, you may have to pay for it. I was in this exact same situation last year on SWC. I was in coach and my friend was in sleeper and he told the dining car attendant about this and the lady was probably in a good mood and she said "That's cool. Call him in and we'll add his meals to your sleeper so he need not pay!" Yes I know this is not exactly legal, but if she did not mind it, why would I?

We did "compensate" her with a good tip though.

Why go through all this silliness when all it takes is five minutes at an Amtrak ticket window or on the phone to add the GF to the OP's reservation? Of course if the OP and the GF have a problem sharing a room then there are other bigger problems that they need to deal with I suppose

I think you missed the explanation given by OP. Coach ticket by cash costs some $150-odd which is unaffordable for the college student OP. He has purchased coach ticket for his GF using his AGR points and Amtrak is not allowing combining his cash-paid sleeper accommodation (paid by his employer) with GF's AGR-paid coach ticket. Hence the need to try out other options. If Amtrak would allow adding AGR-paid coach reservation to the OP's cash-paid sleeper reservation, that would be the end of discussion.

Oh well.... Long live Amtrak inconsistency I guess! I have done exactly this several times with both possible combos, i.e. last minute adding a paid coach passenger to an AGR reservation in Sleeper, and a AGR coach passenger to paid Sleeper accommodation, without any problem

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Seems like there may have been a way to simply purchase more AGR points and get the roomette for two without any fuss from Amtrak. Would depend on exactly how many points the OP has and/or how long before departure he has to purchase and/or how exactly the charge is being paid by his employer, but that's probably what I'd be looking into if I were in his shoes.

 

[the_traveler]

1344788614[/url]' post='386759']

1344786719[/url]' post='386756']

1344751761[/url]' post='386692']To the OP- book your girlfriend in coach, tell the sleeping car attendant that you have a friend in coach who could not get sleeper accommodation (or something like that) and most probably they will let her in to your roomette and stay with you. For the meals, again just casually tell the dining car attendant that you have a friend in coach and she would like to be seated with you for meals, and if you are lucky you may get her meals free, if not, you may have to pay for it. I was in this exact same situation last year on SWC. I was in coach and my friend was in sleeper and he told the dining car attendant about this and the lady was probably in a good mood and she said "That's cool. Call him in and we'll add his meals to your sleeper so he need not pay!" Yes I know this is not exactly legal, but if she did not mind it, why would I?

We did "compensate" her with a good tip though.

Why go through all this silliness when all it takes is five minutes at an Amtrak ticket window or on the phone to add the GF to the OP's reservation? Of course if the OP and the GF have a problem sharing a room then there are other bigger problems that they need to deal with I suppose

I think you missed the explanation given by OP. Coach ticket by cash costs some $150-odd which is unaffordable for the college student OP. He has purchased coach ticket for his GF using his AGR points and Amtrak is not allowing combining his cash-paid sleeper accommodation (paid by his employer) with GF's AGR-paid coach ticket. Hence the need to try out other options. If Amtrak would allow adding AGR-paid coach reservation to the OP's cash-paid sleeper reservation, that would be the end of discussion.

Yes, I understand, but also consider $150 for her to be able to eat meals with him "free" in the Dining Car or possibly over $100 for her to have to choose between paying for those meals with him in the Dining Car or having to sit alone in the room or SSL. (They will not let a passenger who is not eating a full meal to sit in the Dining Car during meals. I have seen many asked to leave and go to the cafe when they said that they did not want a full meal!)
I realize $50 is much to a "starving" (no disrespect meant), but I personally think the small added cost is worth it! I have spent as much or more on a bouquet of flowers, and this will be more memorable!

Save those 8,000 points you would have spent on a coach ticket award until you have enough for a room for both of you! (A 1 zone Roomette for 2 is only 15,000 AGR points!)

 

[sitzplatz17]

Hang on, I may be misunderstanding the OP but I'm pretty sure I did this about 3 weeks ago...

I booked my own roomette on the Crescent NOL - WAS with my credit card, then used my AGR points to buy the a coach ticket (8,000 points) for my girlfriend.

I called amtrak and asked that she be added to my reservation. There was no issue, she was simply given a ticket with "roomette seating" or something of the like printed on the ticket.

As an extra interesting tid-bit we actually had to change trains at the last minute - from a Sunday departure to the next day (Monday). That train was actually completely sold out except for the H room.

I snagged the H room for myself and then asked the agent to change my girlfriends ticket to the next day, at first it was a no-can-do as all the coach seats were sold out on the crescent.

But in the end she was able to still issue her a roomette seat ticket with me - even though it was a separate AGR ticket.

Let me know if I missed something!

Thanks,

-Sitzplatz17

 

[Anthony]

Sounds like an open ticket is what you guys got in the past in this situation. OP could call AGR and ask if they will allow redemption for an open roomette ticket at the coach redemption rate. If the agent doesn't know, ask for a supervisor.

 

[jis]

Sounds like an open ticket is what you guys got in the past in this situation. OP could call AGR and ask if they will allow redemption for an open roomette ticket at the coach redemption rate. If the agent doesn't know, ask for a supervisor.

Yes Anthony, that is the phrase "open ticket" that was used, and it worked fine. Just had to get the open ticket printed by an Amtrak Agent at the station as I recall.

 

[gswager]

To make you clearly understand regardless of your situation, the roomette is the price of one room (up to 2 person capacity), not per person. Rail fare is for each person. So the first person buys the roomette fare and rail fare. 2nd person buys the rail fare.