Can't print e ticket

[DryCreek]

I just looked at my e-ticket (in Adobe PDF) and it has a square, box-looking thingy (QR code?) in the upper left corner. I plant to print (multiple copies) of our e-ticket, as well as having a copy of them on both of our tablets. I guess that the conductor would be able to scan either format offered to him?

Being dinosaurs, neither of us have a smartphone. I am pretty sure that an older Samsung Rugby flip-phone doesn't have a PDF reader anyway.....

 

[chakk]

The square box thingy is the QR code. The conductor can scan it.

 

[BCL]

I just looked at my e-ticket (in Adobe PDF) and it has a square, box-looking thingy (QR code?) in the upper left corner. I plant to print (multiple copies) of our e-ticket, as well as having a copy of them on both of our tablets. I guess that the conductor would be able to scan either format offered to him?

Being dinosaurs, neither of us have a smartphone. I am pretty sure that an older Samsung Rugby flip-phone doesn't have a PDF reader anyway.....

You could probably take a photo of the code, and unless it's way out of focus or distorted it can be read. I have a code reader on my iPhone, and often it's already decoded properly - even if the camera input (shows this on the display) isn't fully in focus. I've had faded or poorly printed eTickets, and they've been scanned pretty easily. You can block or cross out a third of a QR code, and it can still be possible to read it properly. It's got redundancy built.

 

[jis]

Even if everything is hopelessly unreadable, the Conductor can check you in using your name and possibly a photo Id. So don't overly worry about this, and just concentrate on enjoying the trip.

 

[DryCreek]

Oh, I wasn't worrying too much about it. Like I said, I will print out several paper copies, and just keep a PDF on our tablets. I was just thinking about how dependent everyone has become on smart phones and technology in general. There are times I actually leave the house without my phone. I kinda enjoy being "unchained" when those unfortunate "accidents" like that happen.

Last month when my wife had to fly to Virginia, she ended up having to use a PDF boarding pass because she couldn't get the printed copy scaled correctly enough to scan. Well, the tablet she was using then (Acer) has a very sensitive accelerometer and the picture kept flipping and wouldn't scan. They ended up having to print her a boarding pass at the gate during the boarding process. She wasn't very impressed.

I'm not sure that if I took a picture with my phone that the tiny little 2" X 2-1/2" main screen would have a good enough resolution even for just the QR code. I also figured that they could call us up by name too. When we travel and don't expect to rent a car I generally just carry my passport card instead of the DL and/or CHL with me. I figure that I would end up buying airfare from wherever I was stranded at instead of renting a car to drive home. It usually works out cheaper that way anyway.

 

[BCL]

Even if everything is hopelessly unreadable, the Conductor can check you in using your name and possibly a photo Id. So don't overly worry about this, and just concentrate on enjoying the trip.

Almost nothing is unreadable with modern equipment an all the redundancies, unless it's just not there (I've actually had that happen on a 10-ride ticket).

I remember buying a baseball game ticket, which was printed on a machine where the print head had lots of dead lines. I was worried that it wouldn't scan and that a ticket taker might have to look up the number on the ticket. It scanned just fine. A lot of Amtrak printers have print heads that need to be replaced, but the output still works.

 

[NW cannonball]

Right -- the e-ticket isn't some bar code, or some printout --

It's a record in some database in some "cloud" and it is tied to your name, credit card, date and time of booking, payment, reservation dates.

Keep the reservation number, it might help in some problem scenario, but.

There's so many ways to tie your e-ticket to you -- don't worry,

Actually, has anyone ever ever "lost" an e-ticket - on airline Amtrak or anywhere?

<< edit >> forgot to mention -- actually your e-ticket might -- depending how you bought it, also be tied to yuur phone number, your grandams maiden name, and the last 4 of your social

and the last 100 things yo0u put on Facebook.

Don't sweat it.

 

[Guest]

Right -- the e-ticket isn't some bar code, or some printout --

It's a record in some database in some "cloud" and it is tied to your name, credit card, date and time of booking, payment, reservation dates.

Keep the reservation number, it might help in some problem scenario, but.

There's so many ways to tie your e-ticket to you -- don't worry,

Actually, has anyone ever ever "lost" an e-ticket - on airline Amtrak or anywhere?

The bar code is to make it easy and fast to pull up the record. If the crew had to look up all the tickets they might not be able to complete the lift on heavily traveled trains. Sometimes the scanner fails because the batteries have reached end of life, they are over two years old, ( new scanners are on the way ) and the lift has to be done wthout scanning. It is a really slow to to do a lift doing look ups when you can't scan.

You can't lose an e-ticket. What happens is passengers make mistakes and book the wrong date or they are not booked on the train they boarded. They dont have a valid e-ticket. Since the crew loads the device by train number and date then it won't be on the device if the train number and date were booked wrong. The crew can look up by reservation number if a passenger does not have an e-ticket document if the passenger has it and maybe find out what went wrong. After that a phone call to reservations might be necessary to correct an issue or have the passenger purchase a valid ticket.

 

[DryCreek]

<< edit >> forgot to mention -- actually your e-ticket might -- depending how you bought it, also be tied to yuur phone number, your grandams maiden name, and the last 4 of your social

and the last 100 things yo0u put on Facebook.

Don't sweat it.

Oh my gosh, I'm doomed. I don't "Facebook" or "Tweeter" or any of those other things.

Is it too late for me to start before our trip in late May?

 

[the_traveler]

The last 50 posts on AU also count :giggle: so you're good.

 

[DryCreek]

The last 50 posts on AU also count :giggle: so you're good.

Oh thank goodness! I was worried that I'd have to start taking "selfies" and keeping the world updated with what I was doing this exact second - because you know, the world really does revolve around me....

We are really looking forward to this vacation. I hope that it is everything that I planned for. If so, then we are off on the TE to CHI (overnight) and then on to the EB for a visit to Glacier national Park, or out to Portland to visit my sister who just relocated to battle Ground WA this week.

I will be sure to take lots of pictures during our trip and forward them to my elderly in-laws. They are wanting to come visit us again here in Texas, but are thinking about avoiding flying. My MIL just went through having urostomy surgery two months ago, and the horror stories about incompetent TSA agents are giving her nightmares. I recommended Amtrak, and her husband looked into it. They would depart NPN to WUS on one of the Amfleet equipped NE Regionals and then connect to (I guess) the CL to CHI. From there they would take the TE to CBR or FTW. Well, her husband kinda balked at the round-trip fare of $2,000. I told him that was a bargain considering they were looking at booking a bedroom the whole way (where offered) and it included meals. He was also fretting about checked baggage (no problem) and other trivial matters. He has convinced himself that they can drive and "see the country" better than if they took the train. I hope he couldn't hear me rolling my eyes through the phone (but my wife could see it and was paralyzed with silent laughter). They are in their mid 70's. I can see them getting out here and not being able to drive back, so I'll have to take a week off of work to do it for them. I promise to drive really fast so that I can take the train back (coach, if I must) and take pictures to show what they missed! I couldn't convince him otherwise. I explained that they can sit in their private bedroom and enjoy their privacy (and carried-on booze!), or freely wander about as they need - including a trip to the observation lounge. Oh well, you can't convince everyone when they see a good deal. I think it all falls back on my MIL listening to her sister recount the horrors she endured when she was riding coach on a LD train back in the 80's, and it either broke down or was snowed-in on the tracks on the way to the PNW somewhere.

Trust me, I'm not sweating one bit of this trip - we're seasoned travelers here. I know that no matter how bad it gets, it won't be worse than the old way I used to travel and see the world (courtesy of the U.S. Navy and SSN-702)!

What type of equipment does the CL run? Viewliner or Superliner? After a long day I'm nearly too inebriated to Google that up right now....

 

[AmtrakBlue]

CL uses Superliners

 

[DryCreek]

CL uses Superliners

Thanks. I just happened to click on the thread for CL Consist Recovery, and then wandered out into the discussion on baggage cars being included in the TE consist. I also watched the YouTube video of the consist with four locomotives. I take it that was just for repositioning assets?

Within the fog of bottom-shelf bourbon and H.E.B. brand cola, I am alternating between this message board and trying to find an older Jeep Wrangler (YJ) to replace the Geo Tracker I had to part with this week. Please pardon my ramblings.