Look the reservation agents did to us.

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Guest_Gingee

Guest
Okay, this is our first time taking a long distance train (except for my husband who went with his dad 40 years ago). We got our tickets in the mail today. They had my son's name on it instead of my husband's name. My son was never going. He is an adult (23). Anyhow after I called tonight, the only way to refund these tickets is to cancel out my husband's ticket and send it back to them. We will have to pay for certified mail with signed signature to make sure they get it. Or we can drive one hour or so to the nearest train depot to trade them in. Our price will be a little higher since they just raised the prices. If we took them to the train depot that we are going out of, it is 3-4 hours away. We received no apologies or anything. I guess they figured it was our fault that they put the wrong name down.

ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR This is not good.
 
If your son was never going on the trip, then how did they get his name? Did you use his credit card? Or does he have a Guest Rewards number that you used?

Agents would have no access to a cancelled reservation from 2 years ago.

I would still call back in the morning and ask to speak to a supervisor. Since it is only a name change, you really shouldn't need to pay the increased price. Yes you will have to pay to mail the ticket back and certified return receipt is a good idea. It only costs about $2.50 or so.

Just make sure that there is enough time for you to mail the ticket to Amtrak and get the new one back, before the start of your trip.
 
Oh I did talk to the supervisor. This was the best they could come up with. I really don't know how my son's name got on it. It could have just been a coincidence and maybe they put Michael on by accident. I don't know. They say they have a new policy and this is what you have to do unless you live close to a train station.

Our trip isn't until the end of May.

I just hope we all land in the same car.
 
Yes they are charging us the new price. Fortunately, I don't think it is much more. Maybe under $10. I am going to call when I make the new reservation around the 30th. Hopefully my husband can get the old tickets in the mail tomorrow. Will have to go to the post office for this.
 
Guest_Gingee said:
I just hope we all land in the same car.
Click to expand...
Seats aren't assigned at the time of booking. You won't get a seat assignment until you're ready to board the train.

It would be very unlikely that you'd end up in different cars, especially in May. The train shouldn't be that full. On the other hand getting 4 seats all together might be a bit harder, but they should at least be able to get you 2 & 2 within the same car.
 
If this was an error on their part, then there is no reason you should have to pay. I think the Indianapolis station (where your trip is starting, IIRC), is staffed, so you shouldn't even have to send the tickets in the mail. Just take the bad ticket to the agent and have it changed there.

Not to be too nosy, but how close are your son's and husband's names? Is it easy to hear one and screw up and type the other (i.e. Don vs. Ron), or are they completely different?

Odds are, you could still use the "wrong" ticket and, if they ask for ID (and assuming your last names are the same), explain that the reservation agent put the wrong name on the ticket.

Also, you mentioned that the only way to "refund" the ticket is to send it through the mail. Did they tell you you had to refund the ticket, or is that just a miswording?

If it's not too late (i.e. you haven't already sent them off), I'd hold off on sending them for a few days, and see if there is another resolution to the issue. The trip isn't until May, so there's no real rush.
 
If I were you I would just use the ticket with your son's name on it for your husband. The majority of the time (95%+) the conductors hardly even look at the tickets when they collect them. If they do question it, I assume your husband has the last name as your son and since your ticket is correct they really won't care. It will save you a lot of hassle and inconvenience over a petty issue. Unlike the airlines, it is NOT a big deal.
 
When I took my trip to Canada last fall there was something minor wrong with my name on the NY to Toronto portion of my tickets. Don't rmember just what. Anyway--I took it to the station and had them change it.

The only reason----the only reason---I was paranoid about it is because it involved crossing the border into Canada. For that reason only I felt it could be problem. Better safe than sorry.

The staff at the ATl station felt the way I did---no problem,it would have been ok the way it was, but no use getting in trouble at the border if you can prevent it.

I do not think I had to pay any charge, it was their error, after all.

I do not remebmer in m what way my name was wrong, but it had nothing to b do with confusion with another person.
 
Note to Gingee:

Have you sent the ticket in yet (or otherwise resolved your issue)?

If not, e-mail me off list at [email protected] and I'll see if I can help get it resolved.
 
Thanks for all the responses. We did mail it off today. We are three hours from where the train takes off from. We will be taking the Amtrak bus (or the bus they arranged) from our town to Indy where we catch the train.

I guess it is too late.

One of you mentioned that you could have gotten it fixed? How so?

We have a tentative reservation for my husband being held until the 31st. I want to make sure they get the other tickets back first.
 
Too bad you sent them in already. If Indy is anything like Cleveland, the people at the station would have easily taken care of it.

I am taking the Capitol Limited from Cleveland to Washington DC with my wife, my sister and her husband. We are booked in a sleeper for the return trip. I don't know how but Amtrak messed up the room assignments. My wife is in a room with my brother-in-law and my sister is in my room. I'm not even going to correct it. The rooms are across from each other and when the attendant takes our tickets I'll just point and say we switched.
 
I guess we sent too early. I just wanted it settled.

I understand on the sleeper business. It is kind of like the cruises. They have one of our kids with one parent and another with another parent.

We will switch as usual for that.
 
Gingee,

Let me reassure you.....when all is said and done, you will have a really fun trip if, once you board the train you just relax and enjoy yourself.

Let us know how all works out.
 
You are right. It isn't that huge of a increase but it was a matter of inconvenience.

Now I hope nothing happens like it did on the Metrolink in California.
 
Just got back from a trip on The Cardinal and Empire Builder and the conductor was doing a random security check. They used a number, 0-9, and if your ticket ended in that number you had to show ID. Going out the number was 4, return it was 3. I never win anything. spot
 
Yeah I don't know if the word ever made it out, but they are doing random ID checks on each train. The originating Conductor picks a number at random and writes it on the pouch, most have started to call it the magic number. Conductors down the road are supposed to check ID for each ticket that ends in that number, and then punch in a certain location to show who checked it, and that it was checked. This in my opinion is a good system so they don't have to check ID for every person, but IDs are still being checked. Not foolproof, but good.
 
On my last five trips on the Amtrak San Joaquin trains (Sacramento, CA to Bakersfield, CA), conductors checked IDs for EVERY ticket they collected. All the trains had different crews and were on different dates/times too. It really just depends on what the crews feel like doing.

On the contrary, I did not see the conductors checking any ticket IDs on my last few trips on the California Zephyr or Capitol Corridor trains...
 
I have no problems with security checks. How do they check on a train to make sure someone is not carrying something dangerous?
 
They don't - they just trust you.

In all seriousness, we have two police canines assigned to the states of California, Nevada, and Arizona which are supposed to randomly make the rounds between stations and smell people's luggage they will be bringing aboard. I believe their primary purpose is to smell for drugs or contraband. One of the two canines is always stationed at Los Angeles Union Station and was more of a show and tell dog last time I was there with a whole bunch of kids circling around him waiting to pet him and talk to the officer walking him. We had the other canine in Martinez, CA one day out of the two years I worked at the station.

The major security effect in check is through checking passenger IDs. This is the reason officials want to make sure the names on the tickets match the actual travelling passengers. The ticket names are matched to a computerized database of known terrorist suspects or dangerous individuals (Amtrak employees can go through a process to "blacklist" a person who is thrown off a train for a good reason). If your name resembles one similar to one on the blacklist, the computer reservation system or Amtrak agents might have difficulty issuing you a ticket. We had one case like this when I was in Martinez where a frequent passenger's name was similar to one on the blacklist. The poor guy had to show us a letter from the Amtrak Police Department confirming that it was okay to issue him a ticket every time he wished to purchase one. He was unable to purchase a ticket online or by phone because of the name issue.
 
Oh gee. Poor guy.

I am surprised that there wouldn't be more security in NYC (our destination) after September llth.
 
Aloha

With todays computer resorces a picture could be made at the time of purchase and printed on the ticket. First time purchesers would need to ticket in person thereafter the saved image could be used again
 
Aloha

My Idea fo security is to require the firstime purchaser to have their picture taken and recorded at time of purchase from a station or travel agent. This image would be saved in the reservation system, it would also be printed on the ticket so that th security could be sure the person that purchased the ticket is also the user oif that ticket.
 

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