What does Amtrak do for non-guaranteed connections?

I haven't taken Amtrak in a while, and wanted to go on a bit of a joy ride, and the half off sale is giving me an excuse to do it sooner than later.

I want to take the Lake Shore Limited from Boston to Springfield, take the Amtrak Hartford Line from Springfield to New Haven, and then take the Northeast Regional back to Boston from New Haven. The LSL to Amtrak Hartford Line connection is 37 minutes, the Amtrak Hartford Line to Northeast Regional connection is 16 minutes.

I know that these connections are not guaranteed based on the current wording of the guaranteed connections policy, but if I book this all under one ticket (and Amtrak will let me book this all on one ticket) as a multi-city ticket, what happens if I miss a connection due to a late train? Will I just lose the entire value of the ticket, or will Amtrak be willing to let me change to a later train (with change fee/fare difference paid or not)? If Amtrak is willing to let me change the ticket, should I do it proactively (do it while on the train if I know that it will be late) or should I just go to the ticket window when I arrive?

Go to the ticket window. They're better equipped to assist you than the conductor is.

Better yet, if you know the connection will be missed, call 800-USA-RAIL and proactively try to get the ticket endorsed over to a later train.

You'll have to pay the fare difference at the very least.

If you can book everything on a single ticket, then all of the connections are "Guaranteed". If you miss a train then you'll be booked on the next train at no extra cost. Considering that everyday Trains from Boston to NYP, PHL, WAS, etc have a Springfield Shuttle that have a connection in NHV of about 10 minutes or so the 15 minute connection to BOS shouldn't be an issue. I've been on 173 once and 473 from SPG was late so they held us for the connecting passengers off of 473. Hope this helps a bit. If you do miss a connection go to the Ticket Office.

This trip should not be a issue. The only one-a-day train is the first one. If you miss the connection at Springfield or New Haven you still have multiple trains that can get you back to Boston the same day.

That said try to get them on the same ticket. You may or may not have a price difference to pay, but a late train may cause the change of train to be waived. Station with staffing may work better than the calling in, calling in will be better than doing it on your phone.

I am not ready for a joy ride myself, but enjoy yourself.

Yeah, this should be no problem. I've done the 449 connection to the Springfield connection myself too, but I made it. Just go visit the ticket window in Springfield and they will change it without issue. A good agent won't make you pay the fare difference if there is one. I would bet they get a few people making that connection more often than not anyway.

Just-Thinking-51 said:

..., calling in will be better than doing it on your phone.

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I remember in ancient times, phones were used for calling and we had to find one if we weren't at home or at the office. Now we have them with us turned on 24x7, and it doesn't occur to us that they are PHONES, once called TELEPHONES, and actually can be used for CALLING someone. We just think of them as app carriers. And now they sell for $2K or more!

Sad. I wonder when they will remove the calling capability from them and call them "tablets" instead. Oops, I just read they actually have that!

me_little_me said:

I remember in ancient times, phones were used for calling and we had to find one if we weren't at home or at the office. Now we have them with us turned on 24x7, and it doesn't occur to us that they are PHONES, once called TELEPHONES, and actually can be used for CALLING someone. We just think of them as app carriers. And now they sell for $2K or more!

Sad. I wonder when they will remove the calling capability from them and call them "tablets" instead. Oops, I just read they actually have that!

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And at least the tablet that I have has the same calling capabilities as the "phone" thing.

Fortunately both phones and tablets still have a switch that can be used to turn it off. Just because one has a device does not mean it has to be kept on all the time

What exactly is a guaranteed fare? I have a ticket on Texas Eagle which "should" arrive at 5:35 A.M. in LAX. My return ticket on the SW Chief leaves at 6:00 p.m. the same day. I bought both tickets at the same time as a round trip ticket. Is that a guaranteed ticket?

Oaxacajo said:

What exactly is a guaranteed fare? I have a ticket on Texas Eagle which "should" arrive at 5:35 A.M. in LAX. My return ticket on the SW Chief leaves at 6:00 p.m. the same day. I bought both tickets at the same time as a round trip ticket. Is that a guaranteed ticket?

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Yes, it is.

A guaranteed connection means that Amtrak will accommodate you if you miss a connection. You're connection (more like a layover) is 12 hours, so unless something goes seriously wrong (pretty rare), you don't need to worry.

However, I will give an example of a connection that would be guaranteed vs one that is not. To make sure a connection is guaranteed, book it under the same reservation/ticket.

So let's say you are coming in on the Texas Eagle into LA, and connecting onto the Coast Starlight towards Seattle, you booked it under one reservation. The Texas Eagle is running 7 hours late, meaning you will miss the connection to the Coast Starlight, which departs at 10:00 AM. To accommodate this, Amtrak will take you off your train at an earlier stop, put you on a bus, and bus you to Bakersfield. At Bakersfield, you will board a different Amtrak train which will take you to the Bay Area. Here, you will then wait for the Coast Starlight and then board it there when it arrives.

If you hadn't booked it under the same ticket, Amtrak wouldn't do that. Your ticket on the Coast Starlight would be cancelled because you didn't show up, and you would be stranded in LA with no accommodations. Amtrak would not help you.


Hope this made sense, have fun on your trip.

Resurrecting this old thread. I want to do Wolverine (ROY to CHI) to EB (PDX) to CS (LAX) to a little hop on Pacific Surfliner to Anaheim (yay Disneyland). The LAX to Anaheim part is a 59 minute connection. I can make it come up if I do multi-city. It's the last PS of the day. I guess my question is-- is it even worth making this part of my ticket, when these two places are so close? Or should I just wait until I'm on the CS and if it seems like I'll make it, book a last minute PS ticket and if not just get an Uber? Because-- I don't really want them to give me a hotel in LA for the night. If the solution would be they would bus me from LA to Anaheim that night, that would be great, but I'm not sure that's really on the table.

The guarantee connection from the Coastal Starlight (Portland, OR) is a bus going to Anaheim. Doing a multiple city booking will not make it a guarantee, if your late Amtrak will not take care of you. Since this is a wick tight connection for a long distance route, go with the bus that the booking system recommend. Or play it by ear and grab a ticket for the train while switching platforms in LAX.

(Heck will they allow you to take the train to Anaheim if your holding a bus ticket?)

Disneyland you say…
You need a guild, someone tall. Easy to find in a crowd, like me.

Oh I didn't notice that a bus was even offered as a connection! It seems like I get different options each time I do a search-- it differs whether it is website or app, and each day looks different too.

You can meet us at Disneyland.

My twelve year old and I have a goal of all the LD trains, and we are doing CZ next month for her spring break. Then I want to do this Disneyland trip in August! I already have SWC booked for the home journey. I'm so glad she is fully on board with my latest obsession. Ever since she found out, I keep finding her reading wikipedia articles about Amtrak or whatever she can find.

Flyaway said:

Oh I didn't notice that a bus was even offered as a connection! It seems like I get different options each time I do a search-- it differs whether it is website or app, and each day looks different too.

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With out having a paper scheduled in my hand, you might be getting a different option based on the day. Not uncommon for different times and number of train between weekday and weekends. I really miss the paper schedule as there a lot of weird connection that only show up on a paper schedule. Or at least you could figure out what Amtrak was trying to do with your booking.

For a bit of time booking upstate NY to Orlando required two change of trains. Albany, NY to New York City to Washington DC to Orlando, FL. Such a weird connection, when you could board the Sliver train right there in NYPenn.

Flyaway said:

Resurrecting this old thread. I want to do Wolverine (ROY to CHI) to EB (PDX) to CS (LAX) to a little hop on Pacific Surfliner to Anaheim (yay Disneyland). The LAX to Anaheim part is a 59 minute connection. I can make it come up if I do multi-city. It's the last PS of the day. I guess my question is-- is it even worth making this part of my ticket, when these two places are so close? Or should I just wait until I'm on the CS and if it seems like I'll make it, book a last minute PS ticket and if not just get an Uber? Because-- I don't really want them to give me a hotel in LA for the night. If the solution would be they would bus me from LA to Anaheim that night, that would be great, but I'm not sure that's really on the table.

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I know PDX-SAN doesn't show up with a connection in LAX on the CS because it's not guaranteed any longer. I think more often than not the CS can be delayed longer than the hour connection, so Amtrak was losing money having to offer hotels for the 6am next-morning departure.

There is an overnight bus that plies LAX-SAN. I imagine an agent at LAX could endorse a ticket if the CS arrives late but that's not an ideal solution. I think that bus arrives at LAX at 2am local time.

Also check Metrolink. Unfortunately I think the 10pm Pacific Surfliner is the last train out of LAX heading in that direction.

Can you get a guaranteed connection if you pay for one of your trains with cash and the other with travel points? For example, traveling from Toledo to Chicago on Capitol Limited No. 29, paid for with travel points, and connecting with the Southwest Chief No. 3 paid for with cash?

Just-Thinking-51 said:

With out having a paper scheduled in my hand, you might be getting a different option based on the day. Not uncommon for different times and number of train between weekday and weekends. I really miss the paper schedule as there a lot of weird connection that only show up on a paper schedule. Or at least you could figure out what Amtrak was trying to do with your booking.

For a bit of time booking upstate NY to Orlando required two change of trains. Albany, NY to New York City to Washington DC to Orlando, FL. Such a weird connection, when you could board the Sliver train right there in NYPenn.

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Paper (PDF) schedules are on RPA website or mine at Amtrak Timetable Archives - Home

Eric in East County said:

Can you get a guaranteed connection if you pay for one of your trains with cash and the other with travel points? For example, traveling from Toledo to Chicago on Capitol Limited No. 29, paid for with travel points, and connecting with the Southwest Chief No. 3 paid for with cash?

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I think you can call and ask them to “connect” the two reservations.

Another way to do a cash & points is to book the first train to a station before the connection station then book the 2nd leg starting at that station continuing on to your destination. That leg would have the guaranteed connection.
If you’re doing a room on the first train you’d need to call so the agent can try to get you into the same room on that train.

Eric in East County said:

Can you get a guaranteed connection if you pay for one of your trains with cash and the other with travel points? For example, traveling from Toledo to Chicago on Capitol Limited No. 29, paid for with travel points, and connecting with the Southwest Chief No. 3 paid for with cash?

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AmtrakBlue said:

I think you can call and ask them to “connect” the two reservations.

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The "connection" is just a manual note on the reservations. It does not trigger anything within the system. So when an automated list of passengers affected by a missed connection is generated, passengers with just manual notes won't be on it. The note will enable an agent to probably get you guaranteed connection benefits, but you'd have to talk to an agent to get them, it won't be automatic as it would be for passengers on one reservation. That would be pain, requiring phone work under already stressful conditions.

You cannot mix points and cash on a single reservation.

The best way when mixing cash and points is to split the reservations at overnight layovers at minimum.

AmtrakBlue said:

I think you can call and ask them to “connect” the two reservations.

Another way to do a cash & points is to book the first train to a station before the connection station then book the 2nd leg starting at that station continuing on to your destination. That leg would have the guaranteed connection.
If you’re doing a room on the first train you’d need to call so the agent can try to get you into the same room on that train.

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Correction: Zephyr17 beat me to it, see his post above!

Eric in East County said:

Can you get a guaranteed connection if you pay for one of your trains with cash and the other with travel points? For example, traveling from Toledo to Chicago on Capitol Limited No. 29, paid for with travel points, and connecting with the Southwest Chief No. 3 paid for with cash?

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I had been in the habit of reserving separate segments separately (not on the same reservation) due to not understanding the system. One time we almost got stung by that. The LSL was 5 hours late and arrived in Chicago at the same time the SWC was scheduled to leave. We were saved because they held the SWC because others on the LSL had reservations with guaranteed connections. So we coasted on their coattails.