Another Quick Trak question

[sportbiker]

1. My home service, the Pacific Surfliner, has unreserved seating. The ticket doesn't even list a train number or a date of travel because each ticket is good for any train between the identified city pair for one year. It's more like a subway ticket than a train ticket.

2. I generally use a promo code when buying over the Web, and it gets me 20% off, but the code expires this December.

(1) and (2) got me thinking: could I buy several sets of tix (using the promo code) and bank them? Leave them unprinted until the day of travel when I would use a Quick Trak to print one set from my bank? If so, I could potentially save quite a bit by using the discounted tix well into next year even after the discount has expired, and even during the higher-priced summer season. (Most of my travel is between the same city pair)

However, I'm not sure this will work because, using the Web, I still have to choose a date and train of travel and I don't know if that would xfer over to the Quick Trak and cause it to burp if, next April, I print a set of tix I bought today.

I could punt: buy several sets for, say, this November, then print all the sets before that date and store them in my files, but I'd rather not print before I use because then it's less for me to have to keep track of. Plus, if I buy too many but they're not printed I can get a refund on the unused tix.

So... does anyone know the answers?

 

[Trogdor]

Based on my experience, you couldn't do what you're trying to do easily.

I once booked a Hiawatha ticket for a trip, and wound up taking that trip a day later. When I tried picking up my tickets, QuikTrak couldn't find my reservation. The agent found my reservation, but basically had to redo the thing because it was after the train I picked had departed.

 

[AlanB]

Even if the the problem that Robert encountered did potentially loom in the distance for you, or if you choose to print out all of the tickets you'd still have another potential problem. That being the expiration dates on the tickets. A normal unreserved ticket is typically good for one year. However, almost always when applying a discount code, the ticket expires on the last day of the promo for the discount.

Now it is possible that the conductor won't notice that the ticket has expired, assuming that the above is true, but if he does you've got a problem. And again, all of that assumes that you print out the tickets in advance to avoid the problem that Robert had.

 

[sportbiker]

A December expiration would certainly put a crimp in my plans. Drat.