Amtrak Cancellation/Exchange policy in action

[Railroad Bill]

As I was checking on ticket prices for an upcoming trip to NYP in April , I noticed that the price of said tickets on that day had dropped by almost $100 since I booked the trip back in August.

Under the old format, I would have been able to cancel the original trip, have the money credited back to my Amtrak Mastercard, and rebooked the new trip.

But under the present rules, I was forced to cancel the trip, take a 10% penalty for a refund to the credit card, and then rebook at the lower rate. (Could have also received an e voucher for the entire amount, but because those vouchers cannot be used on line, I would have had to drive to Cleveland to use it)

It was still worth it to take the penalty, since the savings offset what we lost on the penalty and more. I ended up with the same roomette that I had abandoned with the original reservation, which was also interesting.

Although the old policy was certainly nicer to deal with, I suspect that Amtrak will make some extra money and perhaps avoid so many reservation changes. But it would be nice if Amtrak would let us use those vouchers in an online transaction in the future. I guess they are as technologically challenged right now as I am :giggle:

 

[AlanB]

As I was checking on ticket prices for an upcoming trip to NYP in April , I noticed that the price of said tickets on that day had dropped by almost $100 since I booked the trip back in August.

Under the old format, I would have been able to cancel the original trip, have the money credited back to my Amtrak Mastercard, and rebooked the new trip.

But under the present rules, I was forced to cancel the trip, take a 10% penalty for a refund to the credit card, and then rebook at the lower rate. (Could have also received an e voucher for the entire amount, but because those vouchers cannot be used on line, I would have had to drive to Cleveland to use it)

It was still worth it to take the penalty, since the savings offset what we lost on the penalty and more. I ended up with the same roomette that I had abandoned with the original reservation, which was also interesting.

Next time just call Amtrak and have the agent adjust the price for you. Then you can also decide if you want 100% of the amount being refunded in a voucher or 90% back to your card.

Although the old policy was certainly nicer to deal with, I suspect that Amtrak will make some extra money and perhaps avoid so many reservation changes. But it would be nice if Amtrak would let us use those vouchers in an online transaction in the future. I guess they are as technologically challenged right now as I am :giggle:

To my knowledge it is something that is being worked on. Not sure when the change will come; but they are working on that.

 

[Railroad Bill]

Thanks Alan for the advice. Did not know that I could have had the agent do the switch and saved a little more money :wacko:

Another good reason to be an AU member

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Although the old policy was certainly nicer to deal with, I suspect that Amtrak will make some extra money and perhaps avoid so many reservation changes.

They didn't make a little extra money with you on this change. They lost $90.

 

[dlagrua]

Management at Amtrak probably realized that rail travel was the only transportastion service that did not charge a ticket cancellation fee and jumped on the bandwagon. If the bucket pricing were consistent and not heavily weighted on a dozen or more factors relating to route sales history, demand, time of year, actual ticket sales, etc, we would not have this problem.