Refund question

[Dan O]

Greetings,

We took the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara and back to LA on the Surfliner today. I got the tickets in July for $19 to Santa Barbara and $29 back to LA on the Surfliner. I bought 3 adult tickets at these prices and 2 kids tickets at half the cost. Total was $192. So one of the little kids got sick and had to stay home. When I got to LA I went to the Amtrak window and asked if they could help me. The man took my eTicket and asked which kid wasn't able to go. He then said I could receive a refund of $20.50 less the $5.00 refund fee. I asked about a voucher and he said that there wasn't any for this type of action. I was hoping to get the voucher for what I thought would be $24 rather than the refund. Anyway, he plugged some data into the computer and said a bit later that I could get a voucher but it would be for $15.50, the same amount as my refund would be. I took the refund. We were in a hurry and I was just glad to get anything back at the last minute. Later I looked at the refund receipt I received and it said that the original amount paid was $29, which is higher than the child fare according to what I bought a month ago. But the next line showed a "Used Portion" of $8.50. I don't know what that was about as I had not used any of the ticket yet. A bit lower was listed the $5 refund fee and that $15.50 would be credited to my credit card. I guess the question is regarding the "used Portion" fee that seems not quite right or at least not explained at all. Anyone have any idea? It's not worth fighting over $3.50, the amount of credit I thought I would receive above the $15.50 amount.

Dan

 

[AlanB]

Dan,

The "used" would seem to indicate that somehow Amtrak thought that he had made part of the trip with you, so Amtrak was deducting a fare for that portion of the trip.

I cannot explain how or why that would be however.

This was a solo reservation not tied to any other? There were no transfers to other trains/buses? And was this a one way or RT?

 

[Dan O]

Dan,

The "used" would seem to indicate that somehow Amtrak thought that he had made part of the trip with you, so Amtrak was deducting a fare for that portion of the trip.

I cannot explain how or why that would be however.

This was a solo reservation not tied to any other? There were no transfers to other trains/buses? And was this a one way or RT?

All five of us were on one reservation. The reservation was for LA to Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara back to LA. No transfers to any other train or bus. Round trip ticket.

It's not a big deal money wise. It appeared to me that the $29 that they used as the original price was $5 high so really only a "loss" of $3.50 but just wondered how or why they deducted anything.

I may be wrong but it appeared to me from reading info at their website that the voucher offer should have been for $5 more than the refund amount. I would have taken the voucher in that case as it is likely I would have used it. When it was the same amount, no point in taking it with the risk that I may never use it.

Thanks,

Dan

 

[Anthony]

Dan,

I have a hypothesis.

Go back to Amtrak.com and price your trip now as you did originally, if you were traveling on the same trains and schedule, with your three adults and two children. I bet Amtrak raised the price of your seats since you booked them, because I just did a test for a random Saturday in September on Amtrak.com and got $196 for the same mix (Starlight and Surfliner, 3 adults, 2 kids). When you went to the ticket counter to remove the child that fell ill, I bet the whole itinerary (including original passengers) was repriced at the current fare, leaving you $3 or $4 short.

Note that when I say current fare, I don't mean anything to do with buckets. It's completely possible for a cheap bucket to change in price if Amtrak sets new fares, as they do throughout the year on various trains. Being repriced in your situation wouldn't involve a change of bucket, but removing someone from the itinerary could trigger a reprice at the current tariff.

 

[AlanB]

Working from that assumption, then it sounds to me like the agent didn't really know what he was doing. I would think that it's possible to just remove 1 rider from a reservation, without cancelling and rebooking everyone. Even if that can't be done, then frankly IMHO, he should have overrode the price increase and restored things back to the original price.

I have to wonder if Dan would have been better off under these circumstances in waiting until he was onboard and having the conductor no-show his son, and then going for the refund after the fact.

 

[Anthony]

When you have multiple people in the same class of service on the same train and in the same reservation, they are all priced together by default. Reducing the number of people will cause a reprice to occur, even if you're not rebooking anyone or changing their bucket. Whether the agent should or could have overridden the price increase is a different matter.

 

[Dan O]

When you have multiple people in the same class of service on the same train and in the same reservation, they are all priced together by default. Reducing the number of people will cause a reprice to occur, even if you're not rebooking anyone or changing their bucket. Whether the agent should or could have overridden the price increase is a different matter.

That explains it. I wish the agent had mentioned it at the time. It was not a big amount to us but I could see how it might be disadvantageous to do that if maybe it was a higher bucket ticket. The difference in tickets and $5 refund charge might make it more expensive than just saying nothing.

Even if that can't be done, then frankly IMHO, he should have overrode the price increase and restored things back to the original price.

Agreed. A small explanation would have been nice too.

I have to wonder if Dan would have been better off under these circumstances in waiting until he was onboard and having the conductor no-show his son, and then going for the refund after the fact.

I thought about that but got to the station early enough on the Metrolink to be able to talk to someone at the Amtrak window so I thought I'd give it a shot. I may not have done better on the train but I might have gotten an explanation.

Thanks to both of you for shedding light on this situation!!

Dan

 

[Alice]

When you have multiple people in the same class of service on the same train and in the same reservation, they are all priced together by default. Reducing the number of people will cause a reprice to occur, even if you're not rebooking anyone or changing their bucket. Whether the agent should or could have overridden the price increase is a different matter.

So does this mean that as much as possible, people traveling together should all have separate reservations? (granting that wouldn't have helped with this reservation on account of the child tickets)

 

[Anthony]

When you have multiple people in the same class of service on the same train and in the same reservation, they are all priced together by default. Reducing the number of people will cause a reprice to occur, even if you're not rebooking anyone or changing their bucket. Whether the agent should or could have overridden the price increase is a different matter.

So does this mean that as much as possible, people traveling together should all have separate reservations? (granting that wouldn't have helped with this reservation on account of the child tickets)

Not necessarily. This is how it's always been and has nothing to do with the recent refund policy or eTicketing changes.

 

[Dan O]

When you have multiple people in the same class of service on the same train and in the same reservation, they are all priced together by default. Reducing the number of people will cause a reprice to occur, even if you're not rebooking anyone or changing their bucket. Whether the agent should or could have overridden the price increase is a different matter.

So does this mean that as much as possible, people traveling together should all have separate reservations? (granting that wouldn't have helped with this reservation on account of the child tickets)

It would have saved me $4 so I'd be tempted to go that route next time.

 

[Anthony]

When you have multiple people in the same class of service on the same train and in the same reservation, they are all priced together by default. Reducing the number of people will cause a reprice to occur, even if you're not rebooking anyone or changing their bucket. Whether the agent should or could have overridden the price increase is a different matter.

So does this mean that as much as possible, people traveling together should all have separate reservations? (granting that wouldn't have helped with this reservation on account of the child tickets)

It would have saved me $4 so I'd be tempted to go that route next time.

A half-rate child has to be on the same reservation as the accompanying adult, though.

 

[Dan O]

When you have multiple people in the same class of service on the same train and in the same reservation, they are all priced together by default. Reducing the number of people will cause a reprice to occur, even if you're not rebooking anyone or changing their bucket. Whether the agent should or could have overridden the price increase is a different matter.

So does this mean that as much as possible, people traveling together should all have separate reservations? (granting that wouldn't have helped with this reservation on account of the child tickets)

It would have saved me $4 so I'd be tempted to go that route next time.

A half-rate child has to be on the same reservation as the accompanying adult, though.

Oh okay. Thanks. I guess I won't do that next time.

Thanks for the info.

Dan

 

[Trogdor]

The agent didn't explain the issue to you because, I'd bet odds are 90% or better that the agent didn't know what was going on.

Most agents really don't know the ins and outs of the revenue management system or how fares are calculated. That's what often leads them to making certain statements (which are really guesses on their part) about how the system works when it really doesn't work that way (statements such as "room 5 will cost more than room 4").

Even if an agent advisory is sent out, there are dozens of advisories covering various topics every week, and most people wouldn't begin to be able to memorize them all, especially for situations (such as this) which occur relatively rarely.

 

[Nathanael]

I think it's *quite* clear the agent didn't know what he was doing. I couldn't tell you what was actually going on, but whatever happened was *definitely* wrong.

 

[Shortline]

1346115857[/url]' post='390004']I think it's *quite* clear the agent didn't know what he was doing. I couldn't tell you what was actually going on, but whatever happened was *definitely* wrong.

You don't know what was going on, but it's quite clear the agent was definetely wrong???