Does Amtrak differentiate between a "missed connection no-show&#34

[richm49]

Considering the ongoing problems with late arriving East Coast trains in Chicago there appears to be a decent chance of those pax missing connections to LD West Coast trains. So my question is this: if a pax is a no-show on say the 3/SWC due to a missed connection caused by late arriving East Coast trains does Amtrak treat that differently than just a regular no-show that misses that train. As a matter of fact, is Amtrak even capable of telling the difference between those two types of missed connections? Having read many posts regarding Amtrak's no-show policy it seems quite clear that if you no-show for any one of your travel segments they cancel any and all remaining travel segments right down the line. I would hate to miss a West Coast LD train due to a missed connection that is obviously not my fault and then wind up losing all my remaining travel segments as well. That would be equivalent to pouring salt into the proverbial wound. Does Amtrak notify the crew of departing trains when it becomes clear that missed connections are about to occur? Or do these trains just take off and start marking off the no-shows and canceling their remaining segments? Please advise what would happen in this case.

 

[yarrow]

if your connection is guaranteed and you miss it due to a late train then amtrak will either get you to your train or bus you to your destination or lodge you overnight and put you on the next train to your destination. you can ask an agent to verify if a connection is guaranteed. you would want to speak to a conductor on board if it looks like you will miss a connection as they may be able to tell you what amtrak has planned

 

[richm49]

if your connection is guaranteed and you miss it due to a late train then amtrak will either get you to your train or bus you to your destination or lodge you overnight and put you on the next train to your destination. you can ask an agent to verify if a connection is guaranteed

I understand how Amtrak would try to take care of a passenger that missed a connection. My question had to do with whether or not the conductor on the train that was missed lists you as a no-show and cancels all your remaining travel segments as a result. How would he/she know whether a no-show was due to a missed connection or some other reason?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

They probably have it on the manifest that you're coming from an inbound train. Or else the conductor on your late train, who knows what passengers are making connections may get word to the other train's conductor.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Customer Services @ Union Station will know about Late Trains and missed connections and have Plan B ready for those arriving late and missing GUARANTEE Connections!

You should still let your attendant and Conductor ( they change during the trip, OBS ride start to end of the line!) know about your connections when running late into CHI, they can call on their I phones to Amtrak and will have have info for those involved before reaching CHI! You can also call, either AGR or Amtrak, and check on availability of Trains, Rooms etc. The biggest problem is Sold Out Rooms on the next Train out, you may spend the night in CHI on Amtrak's dime with meal and cab dare plus Hotel, you may be bustituted, vanned or cabbed or even be rerouted on another Train!( for example the SWC instead of the Zephyr)

Chicago Employees are VERY Experienced handling these situations and usually do a good job!

Relax and enjoy the ride and go with the flow, travel is an adventure not a timed contest! If you absolutely, positively have to be there Today, Fly!!! (And even then stuff happens!)

 

[TinCan782]

if your connection is guaranteed and you miss it due to a late train then amtrak will either get you to your train or bus you to your destination or lodge you overnight and put you on the next train to your destination. you can ask an agent to verify if a connection is guaranteed

I understand how Amtrak would try to take care of a passenger that missed a connection. My question had to do with whether or not the conductor on the train that was missed lists you as a no-show and cancels all your remaining travel segments as a result. How would he/she know whether a no-show was due to a missed connection or some other reason?

The conductor will simply not check you in...its the "system" that will, or not, cancel the rest of your trip. Does the "system" know why you missed the connection? Don't know. As mentioned, you might want to be proactive and start calling if missing a connection is becoming a possibility.

 

[Barciur]

Chicago Employees are VERY Experienced handling these situations and usually do a good job!

I wonder why! :giggle:

 

[andersone]

Nothing beats experience,,,,,,

not sure how wise a teacher it may be,,,,,

 

[Guest]

In reading this thread, I think the original question was more along the lines of, what happens to the empty seat, roomette, bedroom on the outgoing train, not what happens to the passenger.

I could expand on that, and add something more specific, does the now empty roomette or bedroom become available for an on-train upgrade from coach? Or does the conductor know that Amtrak is rushing the passenger via bus (Trans-warp Bus Lines) to an upcoming station?

 

[zephyr17]

Amtrak knows the train is late and will have already changed your reservation before the connecting train even departs so that you are no longer on the manifest, the reservation having been changed to your revised itinerary. The space formerly held is released and can be resold. This is generally done quite a bit of ahead of the actual arrival of the late train.

I was on an extremely late eastbound Empire Builder in December 2013 and they hadn't done their up-until-then customary routine of boarding the Passenger Services reps in Minneapolis to inform the connecting passengers of their revised travel plans. I called up Amtrak somewhere in Wisconsin to see what arrangements were being made (I wanted to know if they were going to bus me that night or send me out the next day). At first the agent didn't know what I was talking about, because my reservation showed me departing Chicago the next day. It had already been changed.

 

[oregon pioneer]

If you are going to miss your connection, what does it matter if a segment down the line is also cancelled? You are NOT going to make to the boarding point in time to get on that particular segment, at the originally scheduled time!

What WILL happen is that, as soon as they know that you are going to miss your connection, you will be re-booked for the entire itinerary that was originally booked with guaranteed connections. If you are proactive, you will find some way to check your email, because they will send you the new e-tickets and itinerary the same way they sent the original ones. When this happened to me last winter, I observed another passenger receiving their new reservations and figured out what was happening. Since I had a don't have a smartphone, because it would be just an expensive paperweight where I live, I borrowed their phone and checked my email (it helps to know your email login by heart). Sure enough, I had a new reservation, which was NOT the one I wanted (Amtrak assumed I'd need to sleep a while at a hotel in CHI before boarding the next train, and I figured on getting enough sleep in my roomette before I got there, and then getting to my destination on the earliest possible connecting train). A quick call on my dumb phone to AGR (because it was an award trip) fixed the reservation.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Where it could be a problem, I suppose is if you book a round trip and all segments - outbound and inbound - are on the same reservation.

I never book round trips, on trains or planes.

 

[oregon pioneer]

Where it could be a problem, I suppose is if you book a round trip and all segments - outbound and inbound - are on the same reservation.

I never book round trips, on trains or planes.

Good point, and always good to be reminded of that!

 

[jtoddander]

I would presume that any connection generated by the Amtrak reservation system would be regarded as a legal connection and thus guaranteed.

Connections that the traveller concocts by piecing together several different train routes would not be guaranteed.

Right?

 

[zephyr17]

Yes, that is basic rule. However, I have heard that if you manually put together a connection that Amtrak would have generated itself you are also covered, but I wouldn't bank on that.