question about the sales!

[sutton8596]

HI guys,

I was thinking about waiting until April to see if there would be a rail sale or e-bay ticket for my late June NYC-OMA trip. Right now, with the AAA discount, I can get it for $113.

My question is: in your experience, when does Amtrak usually start offering their annual spring sale? How much off is it likely to be? If only 10 or 20 percent, I might as well just buy the ticket now. I would only lose a few dollars. But if they have a 50% off sale...or is that impossible for peak season?

Thanks!

 

[AlanB]

It's very hard to say as to whether Amtrak will put any seats into RailSale for June. That's done on a train by train basis as Amtrak sees how well or poorly sales are doing for that time period.

As for the Spring Sale that Amtrak used to have in years past, you can forget about that one. David Gunn last year lowered and revamped the pricing structure for coach. When he did that, he eliminated all those sales that Warrington used to have. The only sales that Amtrak has had in the past year has been RailSale & the Ebay auctions.

 

[sutton8596]

Hi Alan,

Thanks for the tip. I'll go ahead and purchase the ticket now; one question: I live overseas. Will Amtrak mail me the ticket? How soon do they send it out? If it's soon, I could have it sent to a US address and forwarded to me. Or should I trust them to hold it at Penn Station in NYC? Thanks!

Scott

 

[AlanB]

Scott,

One would think that Amtrak would always mail the tickets within a few days of purchase. Generally that does seem to be the case, but I have seen incidents where they didn't mail them right away.

A good friend of mine from the forums here, Superliner Diner, once had to jump through hoops to get a set of tickets for his trip. He was riding several different trains over the course of a week. Amtrak mailed him all of the tickets, but since they were all different reservations, they were mailed separately.

He got all but one set in time for his departure. The final set however, Amtrak took its time to process and mail, thinking that they had plenty of time for him to get the tickets. However since he was leaving home almost a week before the day he needed those tickets, they arrived after he left home.

When he called Amtrak, their response was, well you’ve still got plenty of time to receive them. So he had to buy new tickets in the station and then get a refund on the mailed set when he got home.

So the bottom line is that I would be careful about having them mailed to a US address, unless you can get to that address to pick them up in person. Yes the tickets may well arrive in time for them to be forwarded to you, but I wouldn't want to guarantee it.

As far as mailing to a foreign address, you can't do it via on-line bookings. Perhaps calling and speaking to a live agent, arrangements could be made, but I've never tried so I'm not sure.

So that may well leave you with no choice but to pick up at the station. As long as the tickets are paid for via credit card and you've got your reservation number, you should have no trouble picking them up at Penn. You could even use the QuikTrack machines, instead of standing in line at the ticket windows.

You just swipe the credit card that you used to buy the tickets in the machine, select prepaid tickets, and it will print them out for you. It couldn't be easier. In fact I rarely ever stand in a ticket line, much less have my tickets mailed. I just hit the machine as it's quick and easy.

In fact Amtrak even has an on-line demo of how to use the machines, that you can find here.

 

[battalion51]

My recommendation would also be to pick up the tickets in person. Make sure you arrive at least hlaf an hour before departure to do this, at least 45 if you will be checking baggage, and you will be fine. If you do have to check baggage I would suggest skipping the ticket machine and go straight to a live person.

 

[AlanB]

If you do have to check baggage I would suggest skipping the ticket machine and go straight to a live person.

In NY Penn, unlike most other Amtrak stations, the baggage check area is completely seperate from the ticket windows. So there is no way for a ticket agent to check your bag. The ticket windows are across that station from the bag check area.

Therefore heading to the ticket windows to pick up your tickets would only mean that you now have to stand in two lines, one for your tickets and one to check your bags.

So I'd still recommend using the QuikTrack machine to pickup your tickets.

 

[sutton8596]

Hi Alan, Battalion,

Thanks for the info! I'm not checking baggage so won't have to worry about that. I'll take your suggestion, Alan, and just pick up the tickets at Penn. I'll try the swiping deal. Sounds easy.

You've been very helpful! Happy travels!

Scott