Demanding the Room You Booked

[printman2000]

Another post got me thinking...

We have two roomettes booked on the SWC from Lamy to Chicago. I go to the trouble of making sure these rooms are across the hall from each other. If I board in Lamy and find the attendant has someone else in one of the rooms and tries to put us in another room down the hall, do you think I should "demand" the room I booked? Since we have two younger kids, being across the hall from each other is pretty important to us.

Just wondering what y'all think.

 

[Guest]

Another post got me thinking...
We have two roomettes booked on the SWC from Lamy to Chicago. I go to the trouble of making sure these rooms are across the hall from each other. If I board in Lamy and find the attendant has someone else in one of the rooms and tries to put us in another room down the hall, do you think I should "demand" the room I booked? Since we have two younger kids, being across the hall from each other is pretty important to us.

Just wondering what y'all think.

Why would they put someone else in your room? In all of my travels over the years, that has never happened to me

 

[warren]

Another post got me thinking...
We have two roomettes booked on the SWC from Lamy to Chicago. I go to the trouble of making sure these rooms are across the hall from each other. If I board in Lamy and find the attendant has someone else in one of the rooms and tries to put us in another room down the hall, do you think I should "demand" the room I booked? Since we have two younger kids, being across the hall from each other is pretty important to us.

Just wondering what y'all think.

Why would they put someone else in your room? In all of my travels over the years, that has never happened to me

I read, in another forum, about it happening. I have seen it happen myself, although I am not sure the person who was moved took another room that had be reserved for someone else. Given the general state of repair on Amtrak cars, there is always the possibility that a room is uninhabitable. Obviously, they are hoping that somewhere along the line, there will be a "no show" so the offending room will won't be needed. I have been on Superliner cars where the downstairs smelled really bad because the toilets were not working properly. It does happen.

Like you, I have reserved rooms across the hallway. Rather than a bedroom, my wife and I prefer to each have a roomette. We use the top bunks for luggage and other storage, keeping the bunks in the down position for the entire trip. Plus, especially on Superliners, two roomettes are often less expensive than one bedroom.

 

[daveyb99]

Another post got me thinking...
We have two roomettes booked on the SWC from Lamy to Chicago. I go to the trouble of making sure these rooms are across the hall from each other. If I board in Lamy and find the attendant has someone else in one of the rooms and tries to put us in another room down the hall, do you think I should "demand" the room I booked? Since we have two younger kids, being across the hall from each other is pretty important to us.

Just wondering what y'all think.

Absolutely. And I would not put DEMAND in "quotes" either. Be sure you link the reservations if you have two as an added notation. Be polite, but very firm.

Why would they put someone else in your room? In all of my travels over the years, that has never happened to me

I could think of situations which might transpire to cause this. But no matter, if AMTRAK can not honor YOUR reservation, AMTRAK should make reasonable accommodations (room reassignment to fit your travel needs or maybe an upgrade to bedroom suite [hah, but worth a try].

 

[RRrich]

This brings to mind another thread - where someone (who WAS right) was told that he was wrong. You can stand and fight, "demand" or try other means. I feel that you can catch more flies with sugar than with vinegar.

If you reserve to rooms that are across from each other, that is what you should get - and the SCA will honor your reservation unless he has darn good reason not to. If he doesn't give you the correct rooms, speak with him - he is probably a good man just trying to do his job as best he can, which can be difficult given the state of Amtrak's equipment!

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

I would think if you did run into problems with this, a reasonable approach might be:

1) Speak with the sleeping car attendant, and explain what it is you want and why.

2) If that fails, repeat the discussion with the conductor.

3) If that fails, live with it and complain to Amtrak's Customer Relations after the trip.

There are certainly cases where mechanical problems can cause far worse situations than being in roomettes that aren't across the hall from each other. If you're not willing to accept that possibility, you'll probably have to resort to not traveling.

 

[printman2000]

Thanks for all your input. My demeanor is certainly not combative so that will not be a problem. That is why I put demand in quotes.

Joel, your three steps are what I was thinking as well. This would certainly not keep me off a train!

As it is this trip, one ticket is purchased and one is an AGR. Not sure if they can be "linked" as Davey proposed, but I would think that would not matter.

 

[PRR 60]

Room assignments are like airline seating assignments. They are not guaranteed. Amtrak owes you a room, but not a particular room. 95% of the time you will get the room assigned when you booked, but circumstances can require room assignments to be changed. A family situation should get you some consideration.

Last summer I had a room booked on the Silver Star with a group. When booked, the Star was scheduled to run with three Viewliners. Before the trip, Amtrak pulled one Viewliner leaving the Star with just two. There were wholesale changes in the original room assignments, including mine. It happens.

Of course, if the change was simply because the car attendant was "influenced" by a previous party to give your room away to someone else, then I would scream bloody murder. Ultimately, the conductor is in charge of the train. Tell him or her your story, show your ticket with the room assignment. Unless there was a double booking (rare, but it happens), the other party should shortly be shuffling down the corridor and you should get your room.

 

[AlanB]

Unless there was a double booking (rare, but it happens), the other party should shortly be shuffling down the corridor and you should get your room.

Something that you've also had happen to you Bill, one of the last times you were with the group. :lol:

 

[Walt]

Room assignments are like airline seating assignments. They are not guaranteed. Amtrak owes you a room, but not a particular room. 95% of the time you will get the room assigned when you booked, but circumstances can require room assignments to be changed. A family situation should get you some consideration.

IMHO, I think 95% is even a bit too pessimistic. I would bet it is closer to 99.9%. Let's not get fellow passengers here freaking out over a problem that will not likely happen. I don't think Amtrak sells roomettes like airlines sells seats. If a double booking happens by Amtrak, it is because of an error, and not intentional policy.

Plus, when a passenger is moved to a different roomette, I am sure it is done due to equipment failure or unavailability of the room you were originally assigned. Not because someone slips the attendant a $5 to get moved into "your" roomette.

Also, I would think that if an attendant had to move someone to a different roomette, they would wait until there was an actual open roomette like from a "no show", and not play musical-roomette moving passenger after passenger hoping that they can eventually stop the game when a "no show" actually occurs.

 

[PRR 60]

Unless there was a double booking (rare, but it happens), the other party should shortly be shuffling down the corridor and you should get your room.

Something that you've also had happen to you Bill, one of the last times you were with the group. :lol:

That why I mentioned it!

Lets see: Two group trips. One trip - double booked. Next trip - room shuffled. Gee, I'm two for two with the group.

How festive!

 

[jis]

That why I mentioned it!
Lets see: Two group trips. One trip - double booked. Next trip - room shuffled. Gee, I'm two for two with the group.

How festive!

Wasn't the other person who thought he was assigned to your room actually traveling on the wrong day? That is he did have that room but on a different day? This is the one out of Denver, right?

 

[amtrakwolverine]

That why I mentioned it!
Lets see: Two group trips. One trip - double booked. Next trip - room shuffled. Gee, I'm two for two with the group.

How festive!

Wasn't the other person who thought he was assigned to your room actually traveling on the wrong day? That is he did have that room but on a different day? This is the one out of Denver, right?

if hes on the wrong day shouldn't the conductor have caught it when he/she lifted the ticket.

 

[PRR 60]

That why I mentioned it!
Lets see: Two group trips. One trip - double booked. Next trip - room shuffled. Gee, I'm two for two with the group.

How festive!

Wasn't the other person who thought he was assigned to your room actually traveling on the wrong day? That is he did have that room but on a different day? This is the one out of Denver, right?

Yes and no (the long version). It was the 2007 trip on the Zephyr from Denver west (me to Reno).

The other party (a couple) had been booked on our train on our day in coach. They still had the reservation confirmation to prove it. Four days prior to departure from Denver they decided to splurge and called Amtrak to check availability and cost to upgrade to a roomette. The agent checked, found availability, charged the upgrade, and revised the reservation. The problem was that the agent somehow checked availability for that day, not the couple's actual travel day. The reservation was changed to four days earlier without the travellers knowing a thing. I'm not sure when they got their tickets, but when they got the tickets they did not notice that the tickets were for a trip four days earlier than they wanted. Neither did the Zephyr conductor who checked them in at the DEN station desk, lifted their ticket (four days out of date), and issued them a boarding pass for MY ROOM.

The very next passenger in the check-in line was.... me. The conductor lifted my ticket, and BING! He did a double take. Looked at my ticket: looked at the couple's lifted ticket, and saw the same car, same room. He called over the ticket agent. They pondered for a moment, and then saw the date error on the other ticket. They knew they had an extra roomette in the Transition car, so they figured one of us would end up there. They said they would sort things out at the train. I kind of figured I did not want it to be me going to the transition car (which in summer is at the front of the train with the actual sleepers at the rear). So I wiggled my way to the front of the queue waiting for boarding to start, reverted to my high school track mentality, and when the gun went off, I all but ran out to the train, to my car, up the stairs, to my room, threw my suitcase in, and messed things up a bit to make it look used.

With the room now occupied (BY ME), the other couple met trainside with the conductor who realized it was a mistake by Amtrak reservations. He got them situated in the Transition car. To Amtrak's credit they worked things out to everyone's satisfaction. Of course when the AC went south in my car and I was sweating while sitting doing nothing I wondered if maybe I had outsmarted myself, but things got sorted out there as well, and we all had a nice ride.

 

[jackal]

Perhaps it was switched for the reason I mentioned in this post?

I've always wondered how they would deal with this. There are two solutions: play musical sleepers for the duration of the trip or move people already assigned to free a single room up for the length of the trip.

 

[jis]

Yes PRR, I remember that we walked out to the platform together and then you were gone in a flash to occupy your accommodation

 

[had8ley]

I can remember one instance where I was GLAD my room was occupied! I boarded the Crescent in Atlanta and opened the door to my room and the most horrible stench filled the room. There were three huge boxes filling the entire room. Turns out a New York fur salesman had conned the attendant into not having to check his valuables. Perhaps it was my last minute booking that didn't show on the manifest out of NYP but the attendant took me to the #11 car (the second Viewliner) and put me in Room A and opened the door to Room B. We had a great trip in a bedroom suite!