acelafan
Conductor
I wasn't sure if it was new, never had it done. Ryan confirmed the practice. Thanks
You have to have internet connection at some point to get the thing on your mobile device. Once you get it there you can always save either the document away or a screenshot of it, depending on the capabilities of your mobile device, and then no further internet connectivity is necessary.By the way, you have to have an Internet connection to pull up the QR code in the iPhone app. Seems that could be problematic at rural stations with no data service.
All true. I am just curious if there will be people expecting to pull up their Amtrak app only to find no data connection available. Probably will not happen too often, but there is the potential. And the backup would always be the conductor just pulling up their names on his iPhone.You have to have internet connection at some point to get the thing on your mobile device. Once you get it there you can always save either the document away or a screenshot of it, depending on the capabilities of your mobile device, and then no further internet connectivity is necessary.By the way, you have to have an Internet connection to pull up the QR code in the iPhone app. Seems that could be problematic at rural stations with no data service.
I have done the same with airline e-Boarding passes and it has always worked.
Actually the Amtrak App could mimic what the UA App does, which is to store the e-Boarding passes locally until the itinerary is removed from the itinerary list. So no connection required if you have checked in using the App. The document arrives as soon as you check in and stays in the App until after the flight.All true. I am just curious if there will be people expecting to pull up their Amtrak app only to find no data connection available. Probably will not happen too often, but there is the potential. And the backup would always be the conductor just pulling up their names on his iPhone.You have to have internet connection at some point to get the thing on your mobile device. Once you get it there you can always save either the document away or a screenshot of it, depending on the capabilities of your mobile device, and then no further internet connectivity is necessary.By the way, you have to have an Internet connection to pull up the QR code in the iPhone app. Seems that could be problematic at rural stations with no data service.
I have done the same with airline e-Boarding passes and it has always worked.
If you have the QR code pulled up and then lose connection, you can still see it when re-entering the app. However, if the app gets restarted (totally closed) or you did not pull it up while you had a data connection, then you cannot get to the QR code. I see no way to store it locally within the app.Actually the Amtrak App could mimic what the UA App does, which is to store the e-Boarding passes locally until the itinerary is removed from the itinerary list. So no connection required if you have checked in using the App. The document arrives as soon as you check in and stays in the App until after the flight.
A bit of an aside just to point out that this problem in distributed solutions architecture is not new. People who have grown up with monolithic architectures forget to design things around the possibility that a connectivity may not exists when unreliable network infrastructure is involved. It requires a significant change in design attitudes. But people will learn as they go along. We in the industry have faced this problem since the early days of distributed computing dating back to the mid 70s.Yeah, I just checked the same thing. If you try to launch the app in airplane mode, it refuses to even start. You get a modal dialog box telling you to connect to the internet and then the program terminates.
Amazing. Hopefully this can be fixed in future updates to the app.
The e-Ticket PDF attached to the email or even the one downloaded in the App has every piece of information that is needed regarding the itinerary in human readable form. However, that information is current as of the time the e-Ticket was downloaded. It is possible for the itinerary to have changed in the time since one downloaded the e-Ticket, and to guard against that possibility it makes sense for the baggage clerk to make sure that the itinerary in the e-Ticket being presented was the most upto date version of it, and a way to ensure that is to get it printed out at the time the baggage is checked.The baggage clerk doesn't have the ability to just scan a bar code and see where the bags should be routed to? Hopefully that can be resolved.
That is quite incredible that an employee knows nothing about an e-ticket. Then again, it is Amtrak.Ok so this morning at penn station baltimore, the baggage counter would not accept my e-ticket and made me print one at the quik trak machine!
Perhaps you were typing this as JIS was making his post.That is quite incredible that an employee knows nothing about an e-ticket. Then again, it is Amtrak.Ok so this morning at penn station baltimore, the baggage counter would not accept my e-ticket and made me print one at the quik trak machine!
I HIGHLY doubt the guy at the baggage desk was just making sure the itinerary had not changed. I am betting he has had customers show up with just there reservation printouts(pre e-tickets) and is just use to telling people with printouts to go print their tickets.Perhaps you were typing this as JIS was making his post.That is quite incredible that an employee knows nothing about an e-ticket. Then again, it is Amtrak.Ok so this morning at penn station baltimore, the baggage counter would not accept my e-ticket and made me print one at the quik trak machine!
She didn't say the employee knew nothing about it, but that the employee would not accept it.
Isn't that a somewhat extreme position based on per-conceived notions and next to zero evidence? At least I think so.I HIGHLY doubt the guy at the baggage desk was just making sure the itinerary had not changed. I am betting he has had customers show up with just there reservation printouts(pre e-tickets) and is just use to telling people with printouts to go print their tickets.
But they could not travel a different itinerary from that on the ticket using that ticket, no matter when they printed it. Things are different with e-ticket. The same PNR could have a very different itinerary under it at one time from another. A ticket once printed is not changeable without substitution with a new set of tickets.If someone had their paper tickets printed out 11 months before they travel, their itinerary could have changed since then. You really think the baggage guy made them do anything?
Not sure I would use the word "extreme"? Just from my experience dealing with Amtrak. Do YOU really think the guy was worried that that her e-ticket was not correct? Or does it make more sense that he is use to sending people with printouts to the QT machine?Isn't that a somewhat extreme position based on per-conceived notions and next to zero evidence? At least I think so.I HIGHLY doubt the guy at the baggage desk was just making sure the itinerary had not changed. I am betting he has had customers show up with just there reservation printouts(pre e-tickets) and is just use to telling people with printouts to go print their tickets.
You do have a point. I wonder, though, how much change can happen before a new reservation number would be generated.But they could not travel a different itinerary from that on the ticket using that ticket, no matter when they printed it. Things are different with e-ticket. The same PNR could have a very different itinerary under it at one time from another. A ticket once printed is not changeable without substitution with a new set of tickets.If someone had their paper tickets printed out 11 months before they travel, their itinerary could have changed since then. You really think the baggage guy made them do anything?
Without knowing more I have no basis to think this way or that. I don't even know the people involved from Adam to know what their normal behavior is.Not sure I would use the word "extreme"? Just from my experience dealing with Amtrak. Do YOU really think the guy was worried that that her e-ticket was not correct? Or does it make more sense that he is use to sending people with printouts to the QT machine?Isn't that a somewhat extreme position based on per-conceived notions and next to zero evidence? At least I think so.I HIGHLY doubt the guy at the baggage desk was just making sure the itinerary had not changed. I am betting he has had customers show up with just there reservation printouts(pre e-tickets) and is just use to telling people with printouts to go print their tickets.
There is no reason to create a new PNR at any point. Heck airlines have changed my itinerary from traveling westwards around the world to eastwards without changing PNR number. Why would Amtrak have to be different from that. Afterall their system comes from the same place that the airline ones come from.You do have a point. I wonder, though, how much change can happen before a new reservation number would be generated.But they could not travel a different itinerary from that on the ticket using that ticket, no matter when they printed it. Things are different with e-ticket. The same PNR could have a very different itinerary under it at one time from another. A ticket once printed is not changeable without substitution with a new set of tickets.If someone had their paper tickets printed out 11 months before they travel, their itinerary could have changed since then. You really think the baggage guy made them do anything?
Last summer my travel plans went from GJT-CHI on the CZ to ALB-CHI on the Chief and back to the GJT-CHI on the CZ (long story) and kept the same reservation number throughout. Of course that was before E-ticketing so they may have changed procedure.As for e-tickets and changes in the itinerary. If I had a reservation from Lamy to Chicago, called up Amtrak and told them I wanted instead to go from Chicago to Lamy, do you think they would change my reservation? Or would they cancel my reservation and make a new one? I suspect the former, but do not really know for sure.
Now if I called them and wanted to change Lamy to Albuquerque, I would suspect the latter, and again, don't really know for sure.
Technically there is no reason to change the PNR number. They would need to release each segment that you are not traveling anymore and attach new segments that you want to travel. As for what they may or may not actually do that is a different matter.As for e-tickets and changes in the itinerary. If I had a reservation from Lamy to Chicago, called up Amtrak and told them I wanted instead to go from Chicago to Lamy, do you think they would change my reservation? Or would they cancel my reservation and make a new one? I suspect the former, but do not really know for sure.
Now if I called them and wanted to change Lamy to Albuquerque, I would suspect the latter, and again, don't really know for sure.
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