Missed Connection when on a Point Trip??

[musikdude]

Since the EB has been running about 4 hours (on average) late into Chicago and Amtrak in not holding the CL, what has been happening to the CL passengers? Bus ride to catch up?

Overnight in hotel paid by Amtrak and then out on next day's CL?

If that is the case, and there is not an available roomette on the next day's CL, do they just send you in coach (even if you don't want to ride in coach)?

If you are forced into riding coach the next day and you had paid for a room with points, do you get some type of point's refund due to not having a room?

Do you still get your free meals even though you have been put in coach??

Does anyone know the specifics of what happens??

 

[nybatt]

Musik dude... Ironic that you posted about this topic..

Last summer the wife and I were coming east on the Zephyr and missed our Cap Ltd. connection by 90 minutes.. we thought they migh hold it for the numerous passengers on the CZ in our position... They did not. Upon arrival into CHI (it was a madhouse!!) we were told that Amtrak would put us up for the night (hotel voucher) and then be booked on the following day's Cap. Only problem was that we were not guaranteed a sleeping accomodation. (We did have sleeper tix for the Cap we missed, but the following day's sleepers were sold out).

We wound up taking coach home to the east coast and it was miserable. We did NOT have dining car privileges either. It was brutal. Upon arrival home I did get a refund from Amtrak for the sleeper accomodation we did not use. For the record, we did NOT stay in the hotel that night, rather we booked coach seats on a later departing Lake Shore Ltd. Our logic was, if we're going to be seated in coach let's get home as soon as possible!

This weekend we head west again, and in 2 weeks we return on the Emp. Bldr. In anticipation of missing our connection in Chicago I have already booked a room in Chicago (on my own) the night the EB arrives and have sleeper tickets for the following day's train (the Cardinal this year). I don't see any chance of the Builder getting us to CHicago in time for our connection and I cannot go through another disaster like last summer.

Hope this helps!

 

[the_traveler]

nybatt - Did you ask to be accommodated on the LSL instead?

It sounds like you paid (and most likely a higher bucket). I think Amtrak would have given you the ticket free, and if there was a Roomette on the LSL, paid fro that also!

 

[musikdude]

Musik dude... Ironic that you posted about this topic..

Last summer the wife and I were coming east on the Zephyr and missed our Cap Ltd. connection by 90 minutes.. we thought they migh hold it for the numerous passengers on the CZ in our position... They did not. Upon arrival into CHI (it was a madhouse!!) we were told that Amtrak would put us up for the night (hotel voucher) and then be booked on the following day's Cap. Only problem was that we were not guaranteed a sleeping accomodation. (We did have sleeper tix for the Cap we missed, but the following day's sleepers were sold out).

We wound up taking coach home to the east coast and it was miserable. We did NOT have dining car privileges either. It was brutal. Upon arrival home I did get a refund from Amtrak for the sleeper accomodation we did not use. For the record, we did NOT stay in the hotel that night, rather we booked coach seats on a later departing Lake Shore Ltd. Our logic was, if we're going to be seated in coach let's get home as soon as possible!

This weekend we head west again, and in 2 weeks we return on the Emp. Bldr. In anticipation of missing our connection in Chicago I have already booked a room in Chicago (on my own) the night the EB arrives and have sleeper tickets for the following day's train (the Cardinal this year). I don't see any chance of the Builder getting us to CHicago in time for our connection and I cannot go through another disaster like last summer.

Hope this helps!

thanks! this was helpful!! My main question now is, if I am on a points trip, and get screwed out of the sleeper part on my other trains (CL and one other), and forced into coach, am I getting a partial points refund??

 

[nybatt]

nybatt - Did you ask to be accommodated on the LSL instead?

It sounds like you paid (and most likely a higher bucket). I think Amtrak would have given you the ticket free, and if there was a Roomette on the LSL, paid fro that also!

When I found out that the next day's Cap Ltd. was going to be a definite coach seat (even though I had a roomette ticket) I took the option of that night's LSL.. there were no sleeper accomodations on the LSL either, or I would have jumped all over it!! I was not charged for the trip on the LSL as I was travelling on a 15 day rail pass.

Again, my logic was I'm travelling coach any train i take east at that point, so I might as well take the first available, which was the LSL..

Amtrak was very helpful in making it all work... it just took a lot of "work" on my part!!

 

[nybatt]

Musik dude... Ironic that you posted about this topic..

Last summer the wife and I were coming east on the Zephyr and missed our Cap Ltd. connection by 90 minutes.. we thought they migh hold it for the numerous passengers on the CZ in our position... They did not. Upon arrival into CHI (it was a madhouse!!) we were told that Amtrak would put us up for the night (hotel voucher) and then be booked on the following day's Cap. Only problem was that we were not guaranteed a sleeping accomodation. (We did have sleeper tix for the Cap we missed, but the following day's sleepers were sold out).

We wound up taking coach home to the east coast and it was miserable. We did NOT have dining car privileges either. It was brutal. Upon arrival home I did get a refund from Amtrak for the sleeper accomodation we did not use. For the record, we did NOT stay in the hotel that night, rather we booked coach seats on a later departing Lake Shore Ltd. Our logic was, if we're going to be seated in coach let's get home as soon as possible!

This weekend we head west again, and in 2 weeks we return on the Emp. Bldr. In anticipation of missing our connection in Chicago I have already booked a room in Chicago (on my own) the night the EB arrives and have sleeper tickets for the following day's train (the Cardinal this year). I don't see any chance of the Builder getting us to CHicago in time for our connection and I cannot go through another disaster like last summer.

Hope this helps!

thanks! this was helpful!! My main question now is, if I am on a points trip, and get screwed out of the sleeper part on my other trains (CL and one other), and forced into coach, am I getting a partial points refund??

I will defer to those on the board who are more knowledgeable.... but I do know that Amtrak was very helpful getting my money refunded for the missed sleeper connection. I was not charged for the train I 'hopped' to get home as i was travelling on a rail pass...

 

[the_traveler]

You most likely will not get any points back, but if you contact Customer Service, you will most likely receive a voucher for future Amtrak travel. In my opinion, the voucher is a better deal!

 

[TrainLoverJoy]

I have a round trip planned on the EB in September. I am hoping some of the late problems will have improved by then (I have a 2.5 hour layover), but am starting to realize I should be making alternate plans, as you did. I am confused about the vouchers tho. Does Amtrak put you up in one of their affiliated hotels, or can I make my own reservation somewhere close and get a voucher or refund towards where I go? (The next day connection is not an overnight, so I don't have to worry about a roomette.)

 

[the_traveler]

Amtrak will provide a hotel voucher for the hotel of their choosing that has rooms available that night. It may be a OK hotel, or you may get lucky and get to stay at the Ritz!

But you do not (I don't think) have a choice of the hotel provided free by Amtrak. You can if you want stay at another hotel of your choosing, but it will be on your dime, not Amtrak's!

 

[AlanB]

TrainLover,

Part of your confusion I suspect is the fact that people are actually talking about different types of vouchers in this topic.

If you miss your connecting train, Amtrak will give you a voucher for a hotel that they have a contract with. You present that voucher to the hotel to pay for your room. Amtrak will also give you a voucher that you can take to an agent at a ticket window and they'll give you some cash for food & cab.

Finally, if you get downgraded the next day and lose your sleeper, then you can call up customer service and they will issue yet another voucher good towards future Amtrak travel to compensate you for the loss of the sleeper.

 

[musikdude]

TrainLover,

Part of your confusion I suspect is the fact that people are actually talking about different types of vouchers in this topic.

If you miss your connecting train, Amtrak will give you a voucher for a hotel that they have a contract with. You present that voucher to the hotel to pay for your room. Amtrak will also give you a voucher that you can take to an agent at a ticket window and they'll give you some cash for food & cab.

Finally, if you get downgraded the next day and lose your sleeper, then you can call up customer service and they will issue yet another voucher good towards future Amtrak travel to compensate you for the loss of the sleeper.

I think that clearly explains it. Thanks.

Since the EB #8 is running very late every day, it seems that this missed connection thing is probably 99% going to happen. While I don't mind the free room in chicago, I really don't care to be stuck in coach all the way from Chicago to Florida (as odds are the next day's trains will not have sleeper available- can't take a chance), even if they give me a big fat travel voucher!!!

I might just have to re-route completely and/or break up my trip differently. I had the perfect use of points in my current reservation, but oh well!!

 

[VentureForth]

But I don't know if that's completely true or not on an AGR points ride. Could be just a chicken and an egg thing, but I was screwed out of a portion of my 25,000 point 2 zone sleeper redemption last year when I went from Dallas to Savannah. But in my case, I knew there wasn't a sleeper available on the date I needed. It was booked solid. Amtrak's attitude was take it or leave it. Now, once tickets are issued, and your trip is started, I'm sure the ball game changes.

 

[Aaron]

Since the EB #8 is running very late every day, it seems that this missed connection thing is probably 99% going to happen. While I don't mind the free room in chicago, I really don't care to be stuck in coach all the way from Chicago to Florida (as odds are the next day's trains will not have sleeper available- can't take a chance), even if they give me a big fat travel voucher!!!

The Empire Builder is in chronic late mode right now, where it's pretty much guaranteed to miss the connection every single day. That creates an interesting phenomenon. If your EB is late and you miss your connection, you're put up in a hotel and then probably rebooked in coach the next day. However, if that day's Empire Builder is equally late, people on that train will miss their connection, opening up sleeper space for you by the time the train leaves. Then, when the following day's EB is late, it opens up sleeper space for the next round of displaced passengers and so on.

In order for that to work to everyone's favor, the EB has to miss the connection every day (very likely), and have the same amount of rooms miss the connection each day (probably unlikely, although they might frequently be close to the mean). It takes just one on time EB arrival to mess the whole system up. I guess the best thing to hope for if you missed your connection is that there are a greater number of passengers on tomorrow's train missing their connection than missed the connection from your train.

Does anyone know exactly what happens when you get rebooked in coach because of a broken connection but sleeper space opens up later from a missed connection. Is the staff able to just easily move you over, or do you have to call AGR and get new tickets issued and stuff like that?

 

[AlanB]

Does anyone know exactly what happens when you get rebooked in coach because of a broken connection but sleeper space opens up later from a missed connection. Is the staff able to just easily move you over, or do you have to call AGR and get new tickets issued and stuff like that?

In your example, if they know that today's EB will not connect and that therefore opens up 5 rooms, calling AGR will NOT help. Those rooms will not be released for sale, which is the only way that AGR can grab a room to give to someone.

Personnel at the station have a special password/procedure that will allow them to assign those 5 rooms to people who misconnected from the day before. Typically, although not always, rooms are assigned in the order of booking. So the first person who had booked from the day before gets the first room, and so on until they run out of rooms or people.

That makes a good argument for still being the first to book your trip, even though it doesn't always get one a low bucket room like in the past.

 

[Rail Freak]

If I want to book a trip from SEA-NOL (in roomettes) & my itenerary has me connecting from the #8 to the #59 on the 1st of Oct will Amtrak let me also book a an additional trip, CHI-NOL roomette, on the 2nd of Oct as a backup? That way if the Oct 1st train is on time, I would just cancel the Oct 2nd reservation?

EDIT: Answered my own question! I reserved another CHI-NOL ticket for the following day to ensure I have a sleeper on that leg. I'm not good at overnight in coach!!!! :lol:

 

[amamba]

The escalating delays helped out everyone transferring to the LSL on my delayed train last week. I was in the 448 sleeper and it was only half full, despite showing up as sold out at amtrak.com. Everyone I know that made the connection and had sleeper tickets from the previous day ended up in the sleeper. Some did get downgraded from bedrooms to roomettes, though, but that makes sense because there are so few bedrooms in the viewliner. In fact, the H room was open the entire trip in the 448 car, too. I am assuming that the folks on my super delayed train got the rooms that were mis-connects from that day's late EB.

 

[ceblack]

Okay, I'm probably just dense... but I want to make sure I'm getting the bottom line here:

If I'm on a trip bought with AGR points and a missed connection results in downgrade from sleeper to coach for part of the trip, I should seek restitution from Amtrak Customer Service (travel voucher) rather than AGR (points)?

 

[JayPea]

Okay, I'm probably just dense... but I want to make sure I'm getting the bottom line here:

If I'm on a trip bought with AGR points and a missed connection results in downgrade from sleeper to coach for part of the trip, I should seek restitution from Amtrak Customer Service (travel voucher) rather than AGR (points)?

Last year, I had a scheduled trip on the CZ (Chicago-Sacramento) that was cancelled altogether. I had gotten a bedroom with points, but was rescheduled on the SWC to Los Angeles in coach, then had a bedroom from LA to Seattle (original plans were to go from Chicago-Seattle via the CZ to Sacramento and the CS to Seattle). The result was not only did I get a refund of 10,000 points from AGR but I also got a $150 voucher from Amtrak Customer Services. Slightly different scenario than having a missed connection, but I'd try BOTH avenues as far as possible compensation.

 

[amamba]

Last week I was on the 29.5 hour delayed EB #8(16). It was a 30K two zone bedroom trip. I called AGR at the completion of my trip to seek compensation, and they said that they couldn't help and transferred me to customer relations. Now, in my case, I did get the whole trip in the bedroom which is what I paid for with my points, so a downgrade situation is definitely different.

Customer relations was great and gave me a very generous voucher for future amtrak travel. I am satisfied with what I received, even if it was just a voucher and not a points refund. I have already used the voucher to purchase a monthly pass for August for my H who commute on amtrak, and I plan on using more of the voucher for an acela FC Trip.

 

[maurt]

I was told by amtrak on phone this morning they are chartring busses if they tbink they have a chance of helping people on eb make connections in chicago. I was told the decision is made when eb gets in to minneapolis of how they will manage the delay.