Changing destination while on the train

[enervator]

Is this allowed? I'm not looking to do it, but someone I know is asking if it's possible. She is planning to take the Empire Builder next year but is debating whether to end in Portland or Seattle. If she takes the ticket to Portland and during the trip decides she'd rather go to Seattle, is there any way to make that change? I thought it might be possible if there was seating available and if she were willing to pay any potential difference in fare price but obviously am not sure.

 

[PRR 60]

Is this allowed? I'm not looking to do it, but someone I know is asking if it's possible. She is planning to take the Empire Builder next year but is debating whether to end in Portland or Seattle. If she takes the ticket to Portland and during the trip decides she'd rather go to Seattle, is there any way to make that change? I thought it might be possible if there was seating available and if she were willing to pay any potential difference in fare price but obviously am not sure.

My guess is that she would have to buy a new ticket from Spokane to Seattle, change cars at SPK (coach or sleeper), and will not get a refund of any portion of the Seattle reservation. Since travel had started, her ticket would have been lifted and recorded as used. Only traveling as far as Spokane on that ticket was her choice, and would not be a justification for a partial refund. She might have some better options if the decision to change destination is made prior to the start of travel.

 

[zephyr17]

Call 1-800-USARAIL and buy a Spokane-Seattle ticket at current bucket already enroute. She'll be eating the portion of the fare already paid the applies to Spokane-Portland. If before travel, cancel ticket to Portland and get voucher (no 10% refund penalty) , apply voucher to Seattle ticket at current bucket, all with the same agent at the same time.

 

[PRR 60]

Call 1-800-USARAIL and buy a Spokane-Seattle ticket at current bucket already enroute. She'll be eating the portion of the fare already paid the applies to Spokane-Portland. If before travel, cancel ticket to Portland and get voucher (no 10% refund penalty) , apply voucher to Seattle ticket at current bucket, all with the same agent at the same time.

Be careful with that. Amtrak has a process to scan for duplicate/impossible reservations. Having two reservations for the same time period, one to Portland and one to Seattle, may be flagged and could result in one reservation being cancelled without notice. The process is to cancel the oldest reservation and keep the newest. That would be a bad outcome in this case. She could show up at the departure station (CHI, MSP or wherever) and find her reservation from there to Portland (Spokane) no longer exists.

 

[railiner]

Or....buy only as far as Spokane, and then take a chance at being able to extend it enroute, once destination is decided....during busy times, may not work....you could be "stranded" at Spokane....

I'm not sure if that strategy would even pay, as the fares are not necessarily mileage based any more, so it may make more sense to buy to whichever destination is more likely in the first place....

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Or go to Portland and take a Cascades to Seattle (I'm on the east coast so I'm not familiar with timing, etc.)

 

[Bob Dylan]

I agree with Betty, book to Portland OR Seattle, make the trip and then take a Cascade Train between the two Cities, the fare will probably be cheaper than changing during the trip on the Very Popular Empire Builder!

 

[the_traveler]

#27 gets to PDX at 10:xx, and there is a Cascade to SEA at noon. You can also transfer at Vancouver, WA with about 1 hour more connection time. (VAN is served by both routes.)

 

[Steve4031]

Depends on when OP wants to arrive Seattle. The EB has similar arrival times in pdx and sea. Going to pdx and taking cascades to Seattle might be cheaper but would get OP to Seattle several hours later. This is A good back up plan if OP is in able to book Spokane-Seattle at a favorable price at the last minute.

If this the change is made at Spokane I would advise letting the car attendant know so they are not worrying about leaving a pax in Spokane.

 

[enervator]

Thanks for the replies. Turns out I misunderstood and she was asking if she booked to Portland NOW and decided closer to the trip that she wanted to go to Seattle if she'd be able to change, not on the train itself.

 

[fairviewroad]

Seems as though this might now be a moot point, but no one has mentioned one obvious possibility: Just ask the conductor en route or upon boarding if you can switch destinations. The advance purchase ticket price from Chicago to Portland is exactly the same as from Chicago to Seattle. [i suspect this is true for most other departure points, too.] Of course, there can be a considerable fare difference once ticket sales begin if one leg is selling faster than the other. But on some basic level, going from XXX-PDX is fundamentally the same as going from XXX-SEA. [in coach, of course. Sleepers are a whole different ball of wax]

I actually tried this successfully back in 2008. Due to a change in our travel plans, my SO and I bought a last-minute (well, a week or so in advance) ticket from GFK intending to go to PDX. However, GFK-PDX was literally sold out in both coach and sleeper. (This was right after Christmas). So we booked coach tickets GFK-SEA and then connecting down to PDX via the Cascades. Yes, they were expensive.

However, upon boarding in GFK [at that time the conductor came and took tickets in the station building] we told the conductor of our situation and he just said no worries, go board the PDX section and they'll find space for us. So that was that. We just rode GFK-PDX and skipped going to SEA entirely. Granted, this was not a case of us trying to cheat the system since we genuinely couldn't book the PDX leg. I don't know how flexible a conductor would be otherwise. But if someone is in this situation, I think it wouldn't hurt to simply ask on board if you can ride to SEA (or PDX) instead of the booked destination. The worst thing that can happen is that they say no.