Hello All,
I have been reading about the big changeover to E ticketing which may go nationwide by this summer. I have several questions on how this system will work for those of us who are technically challenged. :giggle:
1) When my reservation paper is printed at home, will this have a barcode similar to what we get now? Is that the paper that the conductor will scan when you get on the train? :unsure:
2) If I am on a rail vacation and want to change the reservation route, train, etc, how will that be done if I dont have a WIFI connection and printer to produce a new reservation paper? Will you still be able to get a new reservation paper (e ticket) from the agent at the station? or produce one from a Quik Trak machine?? :unsure:
3) Once the conductor has screened your e ticket on his Iphone reader, must you still hold on to your e ticket to prove you should be on that train.? Example: I get off at a stop to take photos and when I get back on, I sometimes must prove I am really in that sleeper car. :unsure:
4) Under current system, we can print part of our tickets and wait until later to print others. Will an e ticket reservation cover an entire trip and thus make it difficult to change part of it later? Ex: CLE-CHI tickets printed in CLE, while waiting until we get to Chicago to print our CZ tickets? Still not clear about how a lost reservation e ticket can be replaced if I do not have access to print another one? :unsure:
I guess that is enough questions for now. I suppose this new system will be more efficient but may take a while to adjust old habits.
We do not ride planes so the whole concept is new to us. :help:
The Amtrak e-ticket does not use the same barcode as the present e-mail confirmations. It uses a "
QR Code", which are those square graphics with patterns of small squares now commonly used.
Unlike airline boarding passes, the Amtrak boarding document and the code will cover all the segments on your reservation. If your reservation has two trains, the same printout will be used for both trains. If the round trip is on one reservation, the same printout will be used for both the outbound segment and the return.
If you change the reservation after printing the document, that is no problem. The code links to your reservation as stored by Amtrak's system. The original code will now be valid for your new reservation. Your printout will still be the one you use for your new trains unless your original reservation is cancelled outright and a new one generated. Note that you do not have to have a hard copy of the code. If you have a phone that can receive e-mails and display graphics, you can have the conductor scan the code right off your phone or even computer screen.
I would expect that you should keep a copy of your reservation code with you to prove to an attendant or subsequent conductor that you belong on the train. That could be either paper or on your phone.