Booking on the internet

[Musicians4Trains]

Hello all.

I just booked my Christmas vacation on Amtrak .

However I had a heck of a time doing it on the internet. This time instead of taking the Sunset LTD both ways, I'm taking the SW Chief to Chicago then the City of NO to New Orleans. Then the Crescent to Atlanta. After that I'll come back on the Sunset.

Anyhow I had great success with the online system until I got to completing the reservatiion. I kept getting an error message. Finally I was put in contact with someone who helps out on the internet and she was a delightful young lady.

Anyhow she walked me through everything and when the system still wouldn't complete my reservation, she booked it for me with the discounted fair.

Even though it was a drag (computers can be frustrating at times :angry: ) all in all it was a pleasant experience because of her.

I didn't get her name :angry: My bad. But I'm going to write Amtrak anyhow and commend her. I hope that most people have good experiences like that. Phone stuff can be very irritating as I'm sure you all know.

Anyhow is online booking prone to problems? :huh:

 

[battalion51]

Well a lot of it is knowing what shortcuts you can take when using multi city trip page. There are some segments where you can put in one set of city pairs and hit two cities with no problem. I've never really had trouble with the system but I've become very familiar with its ins and outs too.

 

[Amfleet]

I used it to book my Downeaster trip last June, but that was about it. The one major lacking for me in the online reservation system is being able to choose your Sleeping Car accomadation or at least know what you have booked upon finalizing your reservation. This could change though with a new online reservation system that is suposed to be put into place.

 

[AMTRAK-P42]

I agree. That was my only complaint, you cant request an upper or lower room on the superliners for instance.

 

[jccollins]

Write down your conf# after booking a sleeping car trip online and then call Amtrak to verify which room you were assigned. If you don't like the room #/letter they can usually reassign you right over the phone and will not charge you any additional fee.

 

[Anthony]

One of the neat things about the airlines' seat picker in the reservations sites is that you can roughly see how full a flight is. With pricing being based on availability, that can be a useful tool.

 

[battalion51]

I think it'd be nice if you could have the option of choosing what room you had and what car it is in. I personally would rather have room 4 in the 10 car vs. room 2 in the 12. Hopefully that'll be a new option installed on the reservation system.

 

[jccollins]

I think it'd be nice if you could have the option of choosing what room you had and what car it is in. I personally would rather have room 4 in the 10 car vs. room 2 in the 12. Hopefully that'll be a new option installed on the reservation system.

Aren't all sleeper cars _ _ 30, _ _ 31, _ _ 32, etc? :huh: (with the _ _ being replaced with the train's number). For example, the sleeping car closest to the diner on the eastbound Sunset Ltd (Train 2) would be 0230, right?...

 

[battalion51]

Nope, Silver Service (the only one I know for sure) goes in consist order. If all cars got line numbers it'd be:

Baggage xx00

Sleepers xx1x

Diner xx20

Lounge xx30

Coaches xx4x

Our trains however only get line numbers on Sleepers and Coaches since they are in multiples.

 

[Amfleet]

Nope, Silver Service (the only one I know for sure) goes in consist order. If all cars got line numbers it'd be:
Baggage xx00

Sleepers xx1x

Diner xx20

Lounge xx30

Coaches xx4x

Our trains however only get line numbers on Sleepers and Coaches since they are in multiples.

What about the crew dorm? Does it get put in with the sleepers as xx14?

 

[battalion51]

Good catch there Amfleet. Not sure on that one, but I guess you could call the dorm the xx00 car since it is a person carrying car, and the baggage car is not.

 

[AlanB]

Nope, Silver Service (the only one I know for sure) goes in consist order. If all cars got line numbers it'd be:
Baggage xx00

Sleepers xx1x

Diner xx20

Lounge xx30

Coaches xx4x

Our trains however only get line numbers on Sleepers and Coaches since they are in multiples.

Actually it seems to vary from train to train. On the Auto Train the sleepers run in the 40's or 5X4X. The former Twilight now the Federal runs the sleeper as 00. The Lake Shore NYP section follows suit with the Silver Service, while the Boston section sleeper is 4X20.

The Capitol and the City of NOL follow the Federal's example and run as 300X or 290X and 5X0X respectively. The Sunset runs it's sleepers as 0X3X.

So bottom line here is that it varies from train to train.

 

[jccollins]

Hm, well, that's interesting. I know the Sunset Limited and California Zephyr run their sleepers in the 30s, with the coaches as 10s. That is strange... I guess that's just more Amtrak confusion.

:blink:

 

[AlanB]

Hm, well, that's interesting. I know the Sunset Limited and California Zephyr run their sleepers in the 30s, with the coaches as 10s. That is strange... I guess that's just more Amtrak confusion.:blink:

Yeah I thought it was odd too, that they were all over the place.

At first I was going to agree with Battalion and the number he posted, but then I went back through all my ticket stubs and came up with the list above.

 

[Musicians4Trains]

Well my room numbers are as follows:

Southwest Chief Room#004 Car#0431

City of NO Room#006 Car#5900

Sunset Ltd Room#004 Car#0131

Is that good or bad?

 

[AlanB]

Well my room numbers are as follows:
Southwest Chief Room#004 Car#0431

City of NO Room#006 Car#5900

Sunset Ltd Room#004 Car#0131

Is that good or bad?

Well any bedroom is better than being in coach or worse stuck in the baggage car. :lol:

I personally don't see any thing wrong with those numbers. All your rooms are on the upper level of the car and in the middle of the car. This should make for a quieter ride and better views. You will however a bit more sway in those rooms, than a room on the lower level would have.

As for scenery, I can't really tell you what's best for the Chief and the Sunset. On the City, I don't think that it really matters which side you're on. The scenery is bascially the same on either side. Plus there's always the Sightseer Lounge.

You can get the lay of the land as it were, by clicking here to be taken to a page showing the sleeping cars.

 

[Amfleet]

Well my room numbers are as follows:
Southwest Chief Room#004 Car#0431

City of NO Room#006 Car#5900

Sunset Ltd Room#004 Car#0131

Is that good or bad?

Just to add a little more info to what Alan said, on the Southwest Chief and Sunset Limited your car will be adjacent to the Dining Car so no long walks. I believe that the City of NOL Sleeping Car is actually a Transition Dorm shared with the crew. Revenue passengers are in the rear of the car while the crew is in the front half. Again the Dining Car will be directly adjacent to your sleeper.

 

[battalion51]

I thought that was the Texas Eagle, although they may share the dorm on the City too.

 

[AlanB]

I thought that was the Texas Eagle, although they may share the dorm on the City too.

I agree with Battalion here, to my knowledge only the Eagle is running with just a transdorm. The City continues to run with a full sleeper.

 

[battalion51]

Also if I'm not mistaken the Eagle still has a full sleeper (two three days a week) in addition to the Trans Dorm.

 

[AlanB]

Also if I'm not mistaken the Eagle still has a full sleeper (two three days a week) in addition to the Trans Dorm.

You are correct, on the days that the Eagle runs throught to LA with the Sunset Limited, it does get a full sleeper. They also to my knowledge still utilize the trans-dorm for pax traveling between CHI and SAS.