Buying tickets? (e-ticket v. Quik Trak)

[TexasBorn]

Which do you use/perfer and why?

 

[Train Rider]

Buy on my phone. Has ticket right in the app. All I have to do is walk into the station and show my phone when boarding.

 

[brentrain17]

I like quik trac but one time it did not give me my return ticket

 

[SarahZ]

E-tickets. I hate carrying paper tickets. It's just more clutter in my purse.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I like the E-ticket system, using your phone, PC or tablet (I dont have one) is so 21st Century for a 19 th Century Experience! ( riding the Train!) The Quick Trax will probably disappear soon, old technology with lots of maintence problems and vandalism at unstaffed stations!

 

[neroden]

E-tickets printed on paper. With all members of my party having duplicate tickets. Just. In. Case.

 

[savoirfaire]

I bring both, just in case. Then again, I am a little paranoid.

-Sav

 

[Cali]

I much prefer printed tickets. It's a nice memento of the trip.

 

[Ryan]

You still are getting e-tickets from the QT machine in most cases. They just look a little different.

The more correct question is "How do you present your e-ticket to the conductor? Electronic device, print at home or print at QT?"

 

[TinCan782]

I usually carry the paper e-ticket...seems less problematic for that conductor to scan than my Galaxy s4. Also, I can do other things with my phone that not possible while the ticket is being displayed.

I also give a hard copy to my wife as a "back up".

 

[Acela150]

I carry a quick track printed copy, a print at home copy, but use my phone to be scanned.

 

[Train Rider]

Mentioned e-ticket on phone before........I also forward the emailed tickets to my wife's phone. I had paper tickets stolen once by an Amtrak SCA and it was a pain filing that claim with Amtrak that was only successful because of a great gate agent at St Paul Midway station.

 

[caravanman]

I prefered the old thick card tickets, nice to have as a memento, however there is something nice about getting your confirmed e-ticket from the printer at home too.

I am a bit behind the curve with using my phone for tickets... slightly too lazy to find out how to do it, and slightly convinced that the phone battery might die.

Phones seem the most ecological way, I seem to get several pages of "terms and conditions" as well as my ticket from the computer printer!

Ed.

 

[NW cannonball]

Usually print the e-ticket at home before departure. Also have a netbook that could display the e-mail ticket if needed.

Smart-phone - me so far behind the times - daughter has one and it works.

The Quick-Trak is a welcome backup for when the electronics run out of juice and/or can't print the ticket at the hotel -

or, as happened to me last month - bought ticket last minute (05:03) from Julie while stranded at O'Hare. :unsure: . No way to print, phone and netbook most out of juice - took the Blue line to CUS and the Quik-trak gave me something for the gate dragons and the conductor to see/scan. Recharged the buke and phone on the train to Saint Louis.

Good to have alternatives.

 

[FreeskierInVT]

I always use the Passbook option on my iPhone, but also try to print a paper copy at a QuikTrak machine to keep as backup and a memento of the trip. Wish stations in Vermont had QuikTrak to do this!

 

[Silver Star rider]

I prefer the old style ticket like others say for a nice memento. Last trip, I used the printed e-ticket. Problem was, the return ticket was on the same sheet. I used it to go to Disneyworld and it got wet when I still had the ticket in my pants pocket. I was worried they couldn't read the code for the return trip. But it did still work. Still, lesson learned, make more then one copy I also have a smartphone and my next trip is registered in the app.

Bruce-SSR

 

[fairviewroad]

You still are getting e-tickets from the QT machine in most cases. They just look a little different.

The more correct question is "How do you present your e-ticket to the conductor? Electronic device, print at home or print at QT?"

Or, print at ticket counter.

Personally, I prefer using my IPhone. I always take a screen shot of the E-ticket when I first receive it, so I don't have to worry about network availability

on the train. Just pull it up as a photo, easy peasy.

 

[battalion51]

I prefer the old style ticket like others say for a nice memento. Last trip, I used the printed e-ticket. Problem was, the return ticket was on the same sheet. I used it to go to Disneyworld and it got wet when I still had the ticket in my pants pocket. I was worried they couldn't read the code for the return trip. But it did still work. Still, lesson learned, make more then one copy I also have a smartphone and my next trip is registered in the app.

Bruce-SSR

Bruce, when you returned to the station you could've asked the station personnel to print you a duplicate. The beauty of the E-Tickets is that you can have them re-printed if you lose/damage it with no hassle.

 

[printman2000]

And making changes to a booked trip means you do not have to return the tickets and wait to receive new ones.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[HAL]

I prefer the old style ticket like others say for a nice memento. Last trip, I used the printed e-ticket. Problem was, the return ticket was on the same sheet. I used it to go to Disneyworld and it got wet when I still had the ticket in my pants pocket. I was worried they couldn't read the code for the return trip. But it did still work. Still, lesson learned, make more then one copy I also have a smartphone and my next trip is registered in the app.

Bruce-SSR

If it does not scan the Conductor can look up the reservation and lift it without scanning. That is called ad hoc lifting. The bar codes make the lifting of etickets easier and Amtrak desires the tickets be lifted by scanning to prevent errors or fraud, but if scanning fails one of the features of etickets is that the eticket document has no value. As a last resort, looking up the reservation and ad hoc lifting of the ticket is allowed.

 

[Guest]

And making changes to a booked trip means you do not have to return the tickets and wait to receive new ones.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

True. The only caveat there is that at stations where they check them at the gate they will likely make you go to the ticket office or Quick Trak machine and print a new eticket document because the gate agents don't yet have scanners.

Likewise don't change your booked trip and change your mind, then get on the original booked train and expect your ticket to be accepted by the conductor because of what is printed on your eticket document. When scanned it will show as invalid for that train.

 

[TinCan782]

Personally, I prefer using my IPhone. I always take a screen shot of the E-ticket when I first receive it, so I don't have to worry about network availability

on the train. Just pull it up as a photo, easy peasy.

Good idea! I make sure I've got the PDF ticket that was emailed to me on my phone for display. I you have a ticket from an AGR redemption (or a phone booking), the app does not display the ticket and does you no good. Those tickets will still generate a PDF that is emailed to you however.

 

[Amtrak Cajun]

I love the E-ticket. Just show the conductor my phone, and Im good to go.

The last trip I took, he just asked me for my name, and said "Welcome aboard Anthony!"

 

[Anderson]

I prefer printed (i.e. Quik-Trak) tickets for a few reasons:
-I don't have a smartphone (and really would rather avoid getting one...I don't want to have to deal with a data plan on top of my phone plan, and I'd rather not blow a few hundred dollars on a device which fills an odd intermediate role without displacing another device for me.

-Ticket stock tickets are smaller than anything I would run off on my printer and thus store more nicely (fitting well into a coat pocket with minimal folding).

--My printer is in my office, so I'd have to remember to pop by the office on my way to the station to run one off anyway.

 

[JayPea]

I use a printout of my E-ticket from my computer's printer for one very basic reason: most of my trips involve a departure from Spokane, and the Quik-Trak machine there is about as useful as a tire pump in a canoe. Rare is the time it is not out of service.