First time user E ticket Quick Trak (Dumb Question?)

[andersone]

In more than fifty years of riding the rails this is the first time I have not been issued a paper ticker.

I booked GBB-OSC at turkey time through my travel agent and she forwarded an E Ticket. Do I just save the email or the pdf that came with it on my phone and show it to the conductor?

I also booked the spring 2016 junket from GBB-FLG-LAX-SAC-GBB and they sent me an email about printing the page then going to the station and scanning it to get the printed tickets. I checked the description of GBB and it says it has a Quick Trak Kiosk,, so I am good?

When you grow up in a house where mother always claimed even paranoids have real enemies, you worry about stuff like this.

Thanks for being my Cymbalta.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Your turkey ticket can be printed at home and/or saved on your smartphone. You can also print it at the kiosk if you want.

Sounds like the other one includes a bus, therefore you will need to pick up the tickets at the station. You can scan the "barcode" at the kiosk.

 

[the_traveler]

If the station you are at doesn't have a QT, or it's not working, you can also go to the ticket agent to get them printed. And even if you can't, the Conductor can "scan" your ticket with just your name that's on the reservation. Note that some (but not all) buses also have this option. For most Thruway buses, you need a paper ticket.

 

[andersone]

thanks for the wisdom ,,, there are no bus legs (unless the hated bustittion occurs on the SWC) I would really hate to miss the CS - first ticket on it I have ever had that will let me use the Parlor Car,,,,, and there is two day stop at FLG the Grand Canyon and three for Yosemite at SAC....

 

[TylerP42]

You can still pick up a ticket at the station. I do that, even if I was issued e-tickets.

 

[oregon pioneer]

Because of where I llive, and the bus leg at my end (where they need a paper ticket), I almost always end up with the barcode version, and I have scanned at many a Quik-Trak machine. I trust the ticket: if it is a PDF with a QR code, I am good to go with a printout from my computer (or a smartphone if I had one). If on your smartphone, be sure and save the pdf to your phone in advance because there may possibly not be cell service right when you need it.

If I get the version that says "Scan at Quik-Trak" and it has a barcode, I print the whole reservation and take it with me to a Quick-Trak or ticket agent. If it's at the start of my trip, I actually must have them send me a paper ticket in the mail because there is only a platform where I board, no services at all, LOL. Here's my station, CMO on the Coast Starlight:

Keep us posted on how everything turns out. You are going to have a great trip!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Why not create your own printed ticket as a keepsake? Amtrak paper tickets haven't looked interesting in many years now and the thermal ink doesn't last anyway.

 

[BCL]

Why not create your own printed ticket as a keepsake? Amtrak paper tickets haven't looked interesting in many years now and the thermal ink doesn't last anyway.

They can last if stored in a dark, cool place. Now I've prepaid for street parking before, and the ticket to be displayed on the dash turned mostly black in less than two hours. Must have been the particular vendor they used, because it doesn't happen that quickly with the right paper.