Arrow Irregularities

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chrsjrcj

OBS Chief
Joined
Mar 24, 2011
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964
Location
West Palm Beach, FL
Trying to look up ticket prices from S. Florida to the West Coast, but for some reason it's saying that the routing doesn't exist. Tried WPB to El Paso, Albuquerque, Denver, LAX....no dice. But get this, I tried WPB to Seattle and got a routing via the Empire Builder or the Zephyr (which goes through Denver).

I broke down the segments (WPB-CHI and WAS-ABQ), and had no problems. Even tried the reverse routing and had no problems.
 
Just realized that for WPB-SEA, I'm only given two options. The California Zephyr or Empire Builder 27 (forcing me to take a Cascade up to SEA). Trying WPB to PDX only gives me the Zephyr to Coast Starlight routing, even though I can take 27 if I use SEA as my destination.

Unreal. Did someone nuke Arrow? ALWAYS would get reasonable routing from here to the West Coast.
 
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Try CHI-WAS on Aug 13th. The first option that comes up is CHI-PDX-LAX-NOL-ATL-WAS at 162.5 hours including the overnight in New Orleans. But if you wanted to do CHI-ELP on that same day, it says it can't be done, even though the aforementioned epic journey goes through ELP.

So yes, I think Arrow got nuked.
 
Try CHI-WAS on Aug 13th. The first option that comes up is CHI-PDX-LAX-NOL-ATL-WAS at 162.5 hours including the overnight in New Orleans. But if you wanted to do CHI-ELP on that same day, it says it can't be done, even though the aforementioned epic journey goes through ELP.

So yes, I think Arrow got nuked.
No, that is not true! A lot of AU'ers claim that what looks like problems with Arrow is really a design feature to discourage rail fan type AGR awards. :p
 
Looks like the routings to the West are working again. Though, I am curious to try the Chicago to DC via PDX, LAX, NOL, and ATL route. :giggle:
 
According to AGR Insider over at FlyerTalk, all the connecting routings in Arrow are determined and entered manually, they aren't the result of an algorithm. If there is a logical routing that is missing, you can message him over at FlyerTalk and he'll try to get it added if he agrees that it is logical.

When they re-scheduled the Empire Builder recently they cut a lot of thouse connecting routings, and when they put the schedule back, they didn't put all of them back, especially the more obscure ones. I don't know, but that feels more like an oversight to me rather than a deliberate action.
 
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So is the bone of contention here all about whatever the AGR redemption rules will or won't allow?

Or is it about the perceived inability of the Amtrak system to sell a potential customer tickets to wherever he/she wants to go and however he/she wants to get there?
 
The problem was I couldn't even pay for a ticket from WPB to ABQ, DEN, or ELP (it said no valid route), or get a logical routing to LAX, SEA, or PDX. This has never been a problem anytime I Iooked up ticket prices in the past. It was like that since at least Sunday. I checked this morning (after sending an e-mail to Amtrak), and the issue is resolved.

The fastest way from Florida to say Denver is the Silver Meteor to Capitol Limited/Cardinal/Lake Shore Limited to the California Zephyr. All of these are legal, guaranteed connections. Yet I couldn't check fare prices online or over the phone (I finally called last night, but didn't feel like talking to an agent so I just shot an e-mail).
 
Well the glitch in the Amtrak computer system was probably caused by a square electron that got stuck in one of its many PN junctions <old electronics joke>. So the fix could have been your email or maybe the graveyard shift janitor gave it a good poke with the end of his mop handle while cleaning up. My money's on the janitor! ;)
 
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