Your opinion please

[jb64]

I just boarded a regional from Charlottesville headed to Philly. My daughter will be joining me, separate reservation, at Burke Center which is an unstaffed station. I still had my one class upgrade coupons from being select for this year which I had not yet used so I thought I would upgrade us to business class. When I presented the reservations and the coupons to the ticket agent at the station, he refused to do it since her name wasn't on the coupons. I immediately called the number on the select card to see if they could upgrade hers for me and got a helpful agent but she kept having to ask her support team. She finally came back and said that they would call the Charlottesville station while I was on hold to talk to them about upgrading hers since she was boarding at an unstaffed station and would not be able to turn in a coupon there. When they called, the agent told them that he refused to do it since her name was not on the coupon so that came back to me to say he refused to do it and they couldn't make him. The agent then asked if I wanted her to try to contact AGR about the situation and so I stayed on hold for a long time while they tried to work it out. Finally, as I was waiting to board my train, they came back and suggested I contact customer service about the situation. They said the coupons do state in black and white that they are transferrable and so they could not make the station agent do it. I said they do not state that they are but it also does not state that I could not use them for a ticket I purchased for someone else. They agreed which is why they suggested I contact customer service regarding the whole instance. So now, I was stuck with my ticket being business class and my daughter's ticket in coach and so I asked them to switch mine back to coach as we would want to sit together and she did so as I was boarding the train. We hoped there was not a problem with me sitting in coach now since the rese had been upgraded and she was concerned that now I had lost my coupon since I had turned that one in.

Anyway, should I have been able to use the coupon to upgrade my daughter's ticket too since I had two coupons or was the ticket agent right? Should I call customer service about the situation?

 

[Blackwolf]

I'd certainly call. I can see where no one at the AGR level could "force" the station agent to do his job as they are not his/her supervisor. However, it is AGR's program and rules and the station agent is supposed to follow them as they are policy. The agent deciding to make his/her own rules and do as they please really is not the correct way to execute the roles and responsibilities of their position. I am quite sure that Customer Relations would be interested in hearing about this case. If I were in your shoes, this would be both a phone call and a letter; the phone call to get the ball rolling and a case number started as well as the proper mailing address for both the direct supervisor of the agent and the management-level supervisor for that district.

Were you able to grab the name of the agent and write it down? What about the AGR agents you spoke with on the phone. All useful information!

 

[the_traveler]

That agent was WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! Although there are names printed on the coupons, it also states that they "ARE TRANSFERABLE "! That means anyone can use it! It just can't be sold, but as long as it's freely given, they should accept it.

After all, that "rule" would eliminate us from exchanging our unused coupons at the end of the year with other AU members!

I would call Customer Service on this one!

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

Its been a while since I had one of those coupons. Isn't the upgrade request suppose to be done back with the original ticket purchase/reservation? They aren't for "on the fly" walk-up upgrades, no?

 

[the_traveler]

Depending on the person's status (Select or Select+), they can be done 12-48 hours in advance or less!

 

[The Davy Crockett]

I've seen the agent at ClubAcela at NYP upgrade someone on the spot when they presented their coupon. Though it did cause me to have to wait to get into CA, I made a mental note of it being done. I agree, call.

 

[amamba]

Its been a while since I had one of those coupons. Isn't the upgrade request suppose to be done back with the original ticket purchase/reservation? They aren't for "on the fly" walk-up upgrades, no?

WrOng . They are either 12 hour or 48 hour upgrade coupons. They ARE designed to be used on the fly. I often do mine at the window at PVD.

 

[diesteldorf]

jb64,

Sorry to hear about that. The agent was definitely wrong. I've redeemed my coupons for myself and also given some away for others to use, which they have without trouble.

 

[jb64]

Thanks for the replies. Sorry for the double post, you can blame that on the spotty internet service on the regionals between CVS and WAS.

Anyway, I thought the coupons said that they are transferrable but they do not, only the club acela/metro lounge access coupons state that. The one class upgrade coupons do not have that verbage on them which was why the phone rep said I should call to see if it could be added to future editions to prevent this from happening. And yes, as a select member, I have to wait until 12 hours before departure before I can upgrade which was why I had to do it at the station with the not-very-accomodating agent. I failed to get his name, but CVS isn't that big and they should be able to figure out who it was as I bet there are not more than maybe 7 employees, total.

My last call to customer service was an abject failure, so I am not holding my breath on this one, either, but I will call if nothing else than to suggest they clarify the rules on the coupon.

 

[AG1]

I just looked at the Amtrak One-Class Upgrade Coupons # H121 that I purchased with AGR points. "Coupons are transferable" is clearly stated .

I also use the coupons "on the fly."

 

[AlanB]

While everyone is correct about the usage of the coupons, in that they are transferable, and the agent would be wrong if that's the reason that he refused to do the upgrade, but there is another issue here.

That would be the fact that JB was asking to modify another person's reservation who wasn't present with her at the station and who was not booked on the same reservation. I suspect that could actually be grounds for the agent to refuse the upgrade. The fact that JB may have paid for the reservation would be irrelevant, as her daughter wasn't there. I do appreciate the fact that JB's daughter was boarding from an unstaffed station and I'm not sure what the work around might have been for this.

Frankly it probably shouldn't really matter, since you’re increasing the service level for someone, so it’s hard to imagine that they’d be upset. But still, you are changing a reservation that does not belong to you.

Now, that said, while the phone agent can’t order the local ticket agent to do the right thing, she should have pointed out to the agent that when he brings up the procedures in the computer on how to process the coupon, it is quite clearly listed in there that the coupon is transferable. I don’t know if she did that, but if she did, then the agent is clearly in the wrong if his refusal grounds were on the transferable issue.

Anything in ARROW is indeed an Order to him as that comes from management

Finally, one thing to keep in mind for the future JB, is that even with the 12 hour coupons you can still call up an agent to do the initial processing of the upgrades, then just turn in the coupons when you get to the station. Not sure if it would have resulted in a different outcome here, but it might have made a difference if it was already in the computer, as now the agent at the station has to undo things and that makes extra work for him.