USA Rail Pass questions

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I've traveled Amtrak quite a bit over the years, but I've never used a USA Rail Pass until now. I purchased mine on January 18, and the receipt says it is valid until May 17. Does this mean that I need to book my trip using the pass before May 17, and travel anytime thereafter, or does it mean that I need to end my trip by May 17? I can do either, but I really want to travel the last part of June. Thanks in advance for your guidance.
 
I've traveled Amtrak quite a bit over the years, but I've never used a USA Rail Pass until now. I purchased mine on January 18, and the receipt says it is valid until May 17. Does this mean that I need to book my trip using the pass before May 17, and travel anytime thereafter, or does it mean that I need to end my trip by May 17? I can do either, but I really want to travel the last part of June. Thanks in advance for your guidance.

That's interesting. I don't know the answer to your question, because I have never purchased a USA Rail Pass, but I've traveled around Europe at least a half-dozen times on Eurail passes. You can buy one up to a year ahead. You "activate" it at first use, and that starts the clock ticking, whether you bought (e.g.) a 7- or 10-day or 3-month pass. It's a nice arrangement and I wonder why Amtrak doesn't emulate it.
 
I've traveled Amtrak quite a bit over the years, but I've never used a USA Rail Pass until now. I purchased mine on January 18, and the receipt says it is valid until May 17. Does this mean that I need to book my trip using the pass before May 17, and travel anytime thereafter, or does it mean that I need to end my trip by May 17? I can do either, but I really want to travel the last part of June. Thanks in advance for your guidance.
The official statement on this is:

The pass validity period is 120 days following the date of purchase. Once the first segment is completed, the traveler will have 30 days before the pass expires.

This clearly says that all travel using the pass must be completed within 120 days of its purchase. Also all travel on the pass must be completed within 30 days of its first use.

The full set of terms and conditions that apply can be found at:

https://www.amtrak.com/services/con...-conditions.html#ticketsAndPasses-usaRailPass
 
Thanks everyone for your help. I got hold of a customer service agent at Amtrak who answered all my questions, and I'm now all set for my next adventure. The only connection I'm worried about is the one in Chicago between the arriving California Zephyr and the departing Cardinal. It's a guaranteed connection, but only 3 hours between arrival and departure. If the Zephyr is late, I get a night's stay in Chicago courtesy of Amtrak. Since the Cardinal is 3 times a week, that really puts a crimp in my plans to stay 2 nights in Manassas, but I can change my reservation dates. They will probably send me out on the Capitol Ltd., and I'll get to ride the Cardinal east to west instead. Oh well, life's an adventure. :p
 
I recently booked the $299 pass augmented by a few sleepers and lower costing segments Question…I am on a rail pass to LA on the SW Chief. I paid extra for the next segment LA to Davis on the Starlight so I could bid up to a roomette. If my bid is accepted and train 3 misses the connection in LA will Amtrak refund my bid up fare? I chose LA to Davis,where I am staying for a couple of days because if I miss the Starlight there’s the San Jauquins and the buses to get me to Davis
 
Hello,

I am planning the biggest journey ever I had done in my lifetime. I'll be going to purchase the Amtrak USA Rail Pass and need some feedbacks since I never used it before so I want to see and understand better about it before I make a decision.

Though, the USA Rail pass is very affordable and it's only $499 and it stated I will be travel on coach seats only and I cannot be able to upgrade to next level (ie: Business Class or Sleepers) which I think I find it asburd because if they allow to upgrade the ticket, that would allow Amtrak to lure more people to travel and end up, Amtrak will be gaining more ridership.

However, what it does bother me about this USA Rail pass is that once you make a purchase on a day of your choice and you have 180 days to activate that ticket then you must complete the trip within 30 days equals to 10 tickets. But I don't think 30 days is not enough if you are doing a cross country trip because some route takes up to 2 or 3 days. Hence, if your trip gets delayed and add more time, you will lose the expire remaining.

I think the USA Rail pass should change from 30 days to 60 days for the expire time so it'll give more time for passengers like me to complete my 10 trips in time frame, since if that will allow me to do the full cross country trip. Here is the example schedule I outlined if I decide to purchase the pass. What it would look like for my trip:


1) Day 1 - Leave Buffalo/Depew - 12:39am
Arrive Chicago - 10:12am

Trip time: 9 hours 12 minutes (Overnight)

Layover in Chicago via one night hotel


2) Day 3 - Leave Chicago - 3:05pm
Arrive Seattle - 11:29am

Trip time: 46 hours 24 minutes (2 days)

Layover in Seattle via one night hotel


3) Day 6 - Leave Seattle - 9:50am
Arrive Los Angeles - 9:11pm

Trip time: 35 hours 21 minutes

Layover in Los Angeles via one night hotel


4) Day 8 - Leave Los Angeles - 7:30pm
Arrive New Orleans - 9:40pm

Trip time: 48 hours 10 minutes

Layover in New Orleans via one night hotel


5) Day 12 - Leave New Orleans - 9:15am
Arrive Wash. DC - 1:47pm

Travel time: 27 hours 32 minutes

Layover in Wash. DC via one night hotel


6) Day 14 - Leave Wash. DC - 7:24pm
Arrive Miami - 6:59pm

Travel time: 23 hours 35 minutes

Layover in Miami via one night hotel


7) Day 16 - Leave Miami - 8:10am
Arrive Wash. DC - 7:25pm

Trip time: 23 hours 15 minutes

Layover in Wash. DC via one night hotel


8) Day 18 - Leave Wash. DC - 10:59am
Arrive Chicago - 10:00am

Trip time: 24 hours 1 minutes

Layover in Chicago via one night hotel


9) Day 20 - Leave Chicago - 9:30pm
Arrive Boston - 8:32pm

Trip time: 22 hours 2 minutes

Layover in Boston via one night hotel


10) Day 22 - Leave Boston via flight to New Orleans

Layover in New Orleans via one night hotel


11) Day 24 - Leave New Orleans - 1:45pm
Arrive Chicago - 9:15am

Trip time: 19 hours 30 minutes


12) Day 24 - Leave Chicago - 9:30pm
Arrive Buffalo - 8:53am




So, that completes my trip. It would take me 24 days to complete my journey with my USA Rail pass within the 30 days expire date. Would this make sense or anyone can make suggestions/ideas how to make my trip worthwhile? I will be making videos and stories and it'll be a interesting one.

I look forward to hear all from you. Have a great Monday!
 
It depends on what you want to do. Are you ”riding for miles” or do you want to actually see more of the cities? I did will say (and I never thought I would) I did 7,600 miles in 12 awesome days on the USA rail pass and I was sick of trains by the time I finally got home, like the rocking was starting to bug me. That said after about two weeks I was ready to go again. I notice the California Zephyr isn’t on your list. I don’t know if that’s intended or not, but it is famously the most spectacular scenery in the country. Big fan of the Cardinal. Most of the different portions of the Silver Service are overnight ergo invisible, so if you’re riding to see different scenery maybe not the move to do both. There’s really no wrong way to do it, but caveat emptor: The way you have it laid out is a lot of miles in little time and not a lot of wiggle room if there’s trouble. I would do it, but it certainly isn’t for everybody.
 
Like Septa9739 said, it depends on what you want. Is it transportation to the destinations, or is if the rides/miles that are your goal?

I just did 13k miles in 27 days on the pass. Rode all the long distance routes I could manage, and it was fantastic. After 2 days at home I would have gone right back out again. I wanted to soak in the views, appreciate the freedom (and monotony), accept the irritations of coach and just go. I never got sick of being on a train. But I spent 2 nights in hotels after most of the longest legs. In the end I would have been happy with a more even split of nights aboard vs hotel nights (I did 11 nights on trains and 16 in hotels/hostels). I think if every night was on a train I would have gotten sick of it.

More days to use the pass would be nice, but for my trip I didn't mind the deadline. Although I didn't have any major delays. As you said, it would be nice if the ticketing could grant extra time to compensate for big delays.
 
I have a trip "envisioned" (not quite planned since budget is a concern). To make mine work I would have to take one segment out-of-pocket (would only cost $7) to keep the segment count down to 10.

One odd thing I found was a connection in Chicago. When I first looked into my route there was a connection in Chicago from Lansing, MI to Spokane, WA. When I looked again, it did not seem to exist as the site told me there were no connections. I just looked again and the connection is back ... go figure.

If I ever get into the position to take my trip, I would be spending a few days at each of 3 stops/destinations to visit with friends and family. My total time away from home would be about 3 weeks. Fortunately, I would not have to spend for a room, but I would need food along the way.

I would be riding the Silvers, Empire Service, Lake Shore Limited, Blue Water, Empire Builder, Capitol Limited and a couple bus rides.
 
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It depends on what you want to do. Are you ”riding for miles” or do you want to actually see more of the cities? I did will say (and I never thought I would) I did 7,600 miles in 12 awesome days on the USA rail pass and I was sick of trains by the time I finally got home, like the rocking was starting to bug me. That said after about two weeks I was ready to go again. I notice the California Zephyr isn’t on your list. I don’t know if that’s intended or not, but it is famously the most spectacular scenery in the country. Big fan of the Cardinal. Most of the different portions of the Silver Service are overnight ergo invisible, so if you’re riding to see different scenery maybe not the move to do both. There’s really no wrong way to do it, but caveat emptor: The way you have it laid out is a lot of miles in little time and not a lot of wiggle room if there’s trouble. I would do it, but it certainly isn’t for everybody.
Indeed, I plan to travel on Zephyr on 2nd project after this journey is completed, more likely in the end of the year or in 2024 and I am aware of the amazing scenery however I rather Empire Builder, it's way more better than Zephyr, just my opinion. I am going for miles since I already at 19,000+ since when I first started in 2001 so by doing this, I would be at edge shy of 30,000 miles and that would be amazing. if I didn't use the USA Rail pass and earn TQP, I would move up to Select Executive on 3rd trip, easy since I would be travelling in the bedroom, the fastest way to boost your TQP.

Sucks is that the new USA Rail pass, you are not allowed to upgrade to Sleeper ticket. If they ever allow, they should and give you say 25% off so that would lure more people to travel more and they would generate more revenue.



Like Septa9739 said, it depends on what you want. Is it transportation to the destinations, or is if the rides/miles that are your goal?

I just did 13k miles in 27 days on the pass. Rode all the long distance routes I could manage, and it was fantastic. After 2 days at home I would have gone right back out again. I wanted to soak in the views, appreciate the freedom (and monotony), accept the irritations of coach and just go. I never got sick of being on a train. But I spent 2 nights in hotels after most of the longest legs. In the end I would have been happy with a more even split of nights aboard vs hotel nights (I did 11 nights on trains and 16 in hotels/hostels). I think if every night was on a train I would have gotten sick of it.

More days to use the pass would be nice, but for my trip I didn't mind the deadline. Although I didn't have any major delays. As you said, it would be nice if the ticketing could grant extra time to compensate for big delays.
Like I said, I am doing for miles however I never done something like this, travel all in coach for this cross-country trip so it'll be interesting for me and yes, I'll be doing the filming and sharing my story so people can understand more about the value of USA Rail pass.



I have a trip "envisioned" (not quite planned since budget is a concern). To make mine work I would have to take one segment out-of-pocket (would only cost $7) to keep the segment count down to 10.

One odd thing I found was a connection in Chicago. When I first looked into my route there was a connection in Chicago from Lansing, MI to Spokane, WA. When I looked again, it did not seem to exist as the site told me there were no connections. I just looked again and the connection is back ... go figure.

If I ever get into the position to take my trip, I would be spending a few days at each of 3 stops/destinations to visit with friends and family. My total time away from home would be about 3 weeks. Fortunately, I would not have to spend for a room, but I would need food along the way.

I would be riding the Silvers, Empire Service, Lake Shore Limited, Blue Water, Empire Builder, Capitol Limited and a couple bus rides.
If Amtrak ever changed back to the old USA Rail pass program that you will have 365 days to activate your pass and you must complete within 180 days, but now they trimmed big time which was a big mistake. If they left it untouched, I would extend my trip into two months, tops by staying in these cities 2-3 days and do tours and enjoy the views and hopping on public transit and so forth, make the cross country trip worth it.

Unfortunately, with the new USA Rail pass policy as of today, it's absurd, big time. We need new people in the marketing so they can understand the value what railroad is all about, guess not anymore.
 
...What it would look like for my trip:

So, that completes my trip. It would take me 24 days to complete my journey with my USA Rail pass within the 30 days expire date. Would this make sense or anyone can make suggestions/ideas how to make my trip worthwhile? I will be making videos and stories and it'll be a interesting one...
That is an ambitious schedule. I love trains, but after a long leg (3 days) I need more of a break than one night in a hotel room. Do you have any interest in exploring one of the destinations in any depth?
 
When designing my trip, I have adjusted the day I leave each stop to allow me to arrive at the next destination on a specific day. I then made any changes needed to allow for the entire trip to fit within the 30-day timeframe. Since I would be staying with family and friends, I can manage this with no additional cost or inconvenience.
 
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