Changing rooms mid-trip

[shelzp]

Next month I'm taking an AGR trip starting with the CS, then the EB, and ending with the TE to get back to LA. When I was setting the trip up the representative told me there were not enough rooms available for me to ride in the same one from Portland to Chicago. He kept putting city pairs into the system to find a reasonable spot for me to move from one room to another and came up with Whitefish where I need to change to another car.

I don't think it's a big deal but it got me wondering if this is common and has happened to others here very often. I've never had a hint of this and have always stayed in the same room on my trips. This is my first AGR redemption and I'm wondering if AGR is similar to airline redemptions where you go through Minneapolis, San Francisco or Atlanta whether you want to or not meaning they fit you in where they can.

I'm excited about this trip because it's simply for the purpose of riding the train. I don't plan to visit anyone along the way. Just one night in a hotel in Chicago and the other six nights are on the train.

 

[Rail Freak]

You're fine. Whitefish is a longer stop, if on time, so you'll have plenty of time to switch!

I have a trip next month, where I'll be leaving West Glacier, connecting to the CS in Portland & will be switching cars in Spokane. Wish I could switch in Whitefish!!! :wacko:

Have Fun

 

[Texan Eagle]

I switched room from the Seattle sleeper of the EB which is at the very front, to the Portland sleeper which is the very last car of the train at Spokane last week. I had similar situation like yours, the agent first gave me option to switch rooms within the same car THREE times during the journey because that's the only way he could accommodate me on train 27, but then I asked the agent to check if they have a room available on train 7 (the Seattle portion) all the way from CHI to Spokane, and then at Spokane I would switch to Portland portion. This needs to be done at 2 in the morning but I didn't mind that at all since I was anyway planning to get out in Spokane to see the train get detached into two parts.

 

[the_traveler]

Ask your SCA to check with the other SCA. If th room is available early, you may be able to switch earlier at a longer stop outside. I did this many times. The 2 most recent was switching on the EB at Havre instead of at Wolf Point and switching on the LSL at Syracuse instead of at Schenectady.

 

[Rail Freak]

Ask your SCA to check with the other SCA. If th room is available early, you may be able to switch earlier at a longer stop outside. I did this many times. The 2 most recent was switching on the EB at Havre instead of at Wolf Point and switching on the LSL at Syracuse instead of at Schenectady.

Great idea Dave, my train will probably be a few hours late (if I'm lucky) picking me up. So it sure would be nice to sleep thru the Spokane switch!!!! I'll mention that when I board in WGL!!!

 

[AlanB]

Shelzp,

Frankly in my humble opinion, you got lucky! Many agents wouldn't have figured out what the problem was when they tried to book you, much less have gone through the needed steps to figure out that they could accommodate you provided that you were willing to switch rooms along the way.

This is not all that common, but it does happen provided that either you know to ask or you get a good agent. I too had to do that once on the EB going west, moving from room #14 to #10 in the Portland sleeper.

One thing you can be certain of, this is not due to any AGR rules. This happened simply because there was no one room empty between your origin and destination. It was only by stringing two rooms together like he/she did that you were able to make this trip.

 

[shelzp]

Thanks for the info guys. I don't mind switching and especially since it will be 7:30 am. I was just wondering if this is common. By the examples you've given it sounds like it happens with the EB fairly often and as we all know the route is busy nowadays. I'm usually on the SWC and haven't had or noticed changes like this.

The AGR representative was super helpful and pleasant to me. He took it upon himself to keep checking city pairs saying "I don't want you to have to change in the middle of the night" and we discussed how it would be nice if that information would pop up on his screen instead of him having to wing it and search for it. This is my first AGR trip so I had never spoken to an agent before so I can report I had a good one. I want to collect points-not spend them.

 

[the_traveler]

My above example of the switch in SDY was due to the fact that I was going CHI-NYP, but #48 had no rooms available to NYP from CHI. So the very helpful AGR agent took it on herself, and discovered that #448 (the BOS section) had a room available and then found a mid point where I could switch to #48 (at the back of the train)!

 

[gn2276]

Another option might be to ride the train into Seattle, send a day and night and then go out on the Starlight the next day.

 

[Ispolkom]

Another option might be to ride the train into Seattle, send a day and night and then go out on the Starlight the next day.

AGR won't book that way. If it's an award, you go through Portland. (Unless you're yarrow, of course.)