Another stupid question

[R Johnson]

How does Amtrak determine if you are a senior?

Regarding the earlier post I had about Bangor/Charlottesville connections, I'm guessing that when buying tickets in person my driver's license would be good enough but I'm not sure. The initial ticket from home to the trail will be bought on line. What sort of proof of age will I need for that? With all the planning going into the logistics of the actual hike, I'd feel stupid to find I was unable to get a discount on tickets at the last minute because I couldn't prove my age.

Getting to senior citizen status hasn't been the easiest thing in the world, but now that I'm here, I might as well take advantage of every benefit I can get from it. God knows it has its unavoidable drawbacks.

 

[caravanman]

Amtrak gives a discount for folk aged 62 and above. When you buy your ticket online, you select the "senior" option, rather than the "adult" one in the passenger selection window. The discount is applied at that point.

You only need to "prove" your age when your ticket is examined on board.

An official item showing your age should be fine, a passport or drivers licence, etc, which will be ok for your regular I.D. too.

By the way, the alternative to never getting to senior status is not too good, so enjoy it!

Ed.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

The conductor may or may not ask for "proof". I'm deaf/HoH and use the disability discount. I carry documentation with me but have never been asked for it. Perhaps they see my glitter ear molds and realize I'm wearing hearing aids.

 

[NW cannonball]

How does Amtrak determine if you are a senior?

Regarding the earlier post I had about Bangor/Charlottesville connections, I'm guessing that when buying tickets in person my driver's license would be good enough but I'm not sure. The initial ticket from home to the trail will be bought on line. What sort of proof of age will I need for that? With all the planning going into the logistics of the actual hike, I'd feel stupid to find I was unable to get a discount on tickets at the last minute because I couldn't prove my age.

Getting to senior citizen status hasn't been the easiest thing in the world, but now that I'm here, I might as well take advantage of every benefit I can get from it. God knows it has its unavoidable drawbacks.

Amtrak runs on "we trust you are a senior like you reserved as" and rarely asks for proof on board if you look older than 40

Any driver license or a passport will do. Get yourself a "interagency Senior lifetime pass to all national parks and more" from <http://www.nps.gov/findapark/passes.htm>for ten thin dollars -- the card has a pretty picture and the discounts at all national parks and monuments are a good deal

 

[andersone]

I have never been asked to prove my age. I guess they take one look at me,,,,,,, rather like the feeling of not being carded at the liquor store anymore

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I have never been asked to prove my age. I guess they take one look at me,,,,,,, rather like the feeling of not being carded at the liquor store anymore

When I turned 55 and started ordering off the 55+ menus, I wondered if I should feel insulted that nobody ask for ID.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

The conductor may or may not ask for "proof". I'm deaf/HoH and use the disability discount. I carry documentation with me but have never been asked for it. Perhaps they see my glitter ear molds and realize I'm wearing hearing aids.

Or perhaps, they actually do ask you for proof each time, but you never hear them. That might be all the proof they need.

When I turned 55 and started ordering off the 55+ menus, I wondered if I should feel insulted that nobody ask for ID.

Or on the flip side, I have them automatically give me the Senior discount, even though I am not old enough. Might be because they know I'm having dinner with my grandkid.

 

[jis]

Get yourself a "interagency Senior lifetime pass to all national parks and more" from <http://www.nps.gov/findapark/passes.htm>for ten thin dollars -- the card has a pretty picture and the discounts at all national parks and monuments are a good deal

Of all the senior perks that one is the most amazing one. I discovered it by chance when the guy at the ticket counter at Steamtown (which is an NPS operation), offered it to me. It has found a lot of use of late to get me into the Canaveral National Seashore to photograph birds and Manatees, go to the beach and also watch space launches.

 

[caravanman]

I got a senior discount at all the places where it was offered, except one. I was told that the senior discount at Mesa Verde park was only for US citizens. I seem to remember reading somewhere that all persons were treated equaly in the States, under the laws?

No big deal, and an amazing place!

Ed.

 

[Eric308]

I'm a senior disabled vet and have one of these passes. I was issued mine at no charge at the Little Bighorn Battlefield years ago. It's good at over 2000 federal agencies and parks nationwide. I do a Rocky Mountain cycle trip every summer, and it has really saved me a lot of money over the years.

https://store.usgs.gov/pass/access.html

 

[andersone]

I use my NPS pass with regularity. I was surprised when I was told when applying for a handicap pass that this would serve better instead. How right they are,,, and I do suppose citizenship has it's privileges. We are headed north of the border this fall and can find no Cannuck equivalent. They do offer a Senior Discount but I am almost ashamed to take it with the exchange rate being what it is.

There must be some irony that at most motels the Senior rate is equal to the AAA rate. Not valid with any other offer is my fate.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

The conductor may or may not ask for "proof". I'm deaf/HoH and use the disability discount. I carry documentation with me but have never been asked for it. Perhaps they see my glitter ear molds and realize I'm wearing hearing aids.

Or perhaps, they actually do ask you for proof each time, but you never hear them. That might be all the proof they need.

When I turned 55 and started ordering off the 55+ menus, I wondered if I should feel insulted that nobody ask for ID.

Or on the flip side, I have them automatically give me the Senior discount, even though I am not old enough. Might be because they know I'm having dinner with my grandkid.

Hey? Huh? Yeah, they may have asked... On the Cardinal I noticed the conductor used a different colored seat check for me so that he and the one's after him would know that I was deaf - in case there were any problems, I presume. It made it easy for me to find my seat whenever I got up to walk around.

I had a cashier at a fast food place try to quietly tell me that seniors get a free soda. Guess she didn't want to embarrass me by saying louder where others could hear, but I had to get her to say it louder so that I could hear.

 

[oregon pioneer]

Ed's advice is good. I have almost never been asked for ID on board for any reason, but when I am, a drivers license always sufficed.

I got a senior discount at all the places where it was offered, except one. I was told that the senior discount at Mesa Verde park was only for US citizens. I seem to remember reading somewhere that all persons were treated equaly in the States, under the laws?

No big deal, and an amazing place!

Ed.

Ed, I guess they figure if you can afford to get to one of our national parks, you can afford to support them! I do have the Senior Pass as mentioned above, but I often put a couple dollars into the "Friends of..." jar when I see it, as a way of showing my appreciation for their protection and management of our national treasures.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Checked out the link. I'm not old enough, YET, for the senior pass, but I could get the Access (disability) pass. I'll give it some thought. Since Delaware just recently got a National Park (and I don't believe it's one location, but a combination of several public areas), the only places to get the pass without a processing fee are at least an hour from home.

 

[Eric308]

I use my NPS pass with regularity. I was surprised when I was told when applying for a handicap pass that this would serve better instead. How right they are,,, and I do suppose citizenship has it's privileges. We are headed north of the border this fall and can find no Cannuck equivalent. They do offer a Senior Discount but I am almost ashamed to take it with the exchange rate being what it is.

There must be some irony that at most motels the Senior rate is equal to the AAA rate. Not valid with any other offer is my fate.

The Access Pass (disabled) and Senior Pass offer exactly the same privileges. Only difference is that the Access Pass is free. Why did they tell you the Senior Pass would "serve you better?"

 

[ehbowen]

I still remember the first time that the cashier at Long John Silver's gave me the senior discount...without my asking for it...and I wasn't even 50 yet at the time!

 

[me_little_me]

Eh?

 

[Alice]

Andersone, re Canadian NP pass, you can buy an annual pass this year that is good through Dec 2017 (an extra year) on account of the Canadian NPS centennial. Well worth it, some of their daily prices are pretty high. I was in Jasper, Banff and Lake Louise last month and figure only one more trip is breakeven.

 

[R Johnson]

This has kind of moved away from the original intent of the thread.......but I'm really enjoying it, because I too belong to a group of people who are commonly referred to as "deaf as a post". A few years ago, while I was still working, one of the ladies in the office who was in her early forties came into the service room one morning, displayed her new hearing aids, and asked me why I wouldn't get any. I told her that if I was going to spend the kind of money hearing aids cost it would be for a fine flintlock rifle so I could finish off the little I had left. She wasn't amused.

And then, I retired and applied for VA health care.

Tomorrow I will drive to the VA hospital in Dayton, OH and get my new hearing aids. For a lot less than I could have got them a few years ago. Yeah, this aging/retiring bit has some definite upsides.

 

[MikefromCrete]

I still remember the first time that the cashier at Long John Silver's gave me the senior discount...without my asking for it...and I wasn't even 50 yet at the time!

The cashier was probably 17 years old and thought you were ancient.

 

[R Johnson]

I still remember the first time that the cashier at Long John Silver's gave me the senior discount...without my asking for it...and I wasn't even 50 yet at the time!

The cashier was probably 17 years old and thought you were ancient.

It works both ways. A few years ago I had surgery that was performed by a doctor who looked like he should still be in high school.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

This has kind of moved away from the original intent of the thread.......but I'm really enjoying it, because I too belong to a group of people who are commonly referred to as "deaf as a post". A few years ago, while I was still working, one of the ladies in the office who was in her early forties came into the service room one morning, displayed her new hearing aids, and asked me why I wouldn't get any. I told her that if I was going to spend the kind of money hearing aids cost it would be for a fine flintlock rifle so I could finish off the little I had left. She wasn't amused.

And then, I retired and applied for VA health care.

Tomorrow I will drive to the VA hospital in Dayton, OH and get my new hearing aids. For a lot less than I could have got them a few years ago. Yeah, this aging/retiring bit has some definite upsides.

Yes, hearing aids are expensive. Vocational Rehab helped pay for my current ones. I went to them because I was having trouble talking to recruiters and interviewers on the phone when I was job hunting. The previous pair were bought with some of my late husbands life insurance money (but I used CareCredit to charge them interest free and paid that down monthly so that I could get the good interest rate I was getting on the insurance acct). And the pair before those were bought with a low-interest loan an organization in my state helped me obtain.

 

[SarahZ]

My father had salt-and-pepper hair in his twenties, and it was completely white by his mid-thirties.

When we went on family vacations, always a road trip, we'd stay in the car in that little hotel "entrance ramp" while he got our room. More often than not, he'd come out to the car smiling and say, "They gave me the senior discount!"

I accused him of lying at one point, and he said, "I never ask for the discount. That would be dishonest. But when we're in the lobby, call me Grandpa so they don't suspect anything." Then he'd sort of nudge/wink and laugh.

 

[Alexandria Nick]

I still remember the first time that the cashier at Long John Silver's gave me the senior discount...without my asking for it...and I wasn't even 50 yet at the time!

The cashier was probably 17 years old and thought you were ancient.

It works both ways. A few years ago I had surgery that was performed by a doctor who looked like he should still be in high school.

I'm only 33 and my eye doctor is younger than me. Its...disconcerting.

 

[andersone]

my bad,, the feebleness is showing through,, I do have the access pass,,, still trying to put the round hole in the square peg