So far my Amtrak experience has been limited to short, in-state trips, but I'm looking at a trip from Cleveland, OH to Raleigh, NC this summer.
When I plug my origin and destination trip into the on-line system, Amtak says it can't be done. When I do it as a multi-city trip with DC as my stop over, Amtrak sends me out of Cleveland on the Capitol Limited, and then out of DC on the Silver Star. But it still won't let me select the Silver Star for the same day I arrive in DC. CL arrives at 12:40pm (hopefully), and SS leaves at 3pm. I'm guessing that Amtak considers that connection too tight to book. If I leave DC on the following day, I can book the trip.
I'm weighing my options, but I'm trying to see if there's a problem with this plan: Buy 3 tickets-- 1 CL from Cleveland to DC, 1 DC to Raleigh for the same day, 1 DC to Raleigh for the next day. If I make the connection, I refund my next day ticket. If I miss my connection, I refund my same day ticket and spend the night in DC.
My main concerns are that either Amtrak won't let me buy that combination of tickets (although I don't see why not if I do them as three separate transactions), or that if I pull into to DC after my connecting train has left, I'll be out the full cost of the ticket. Talking to Amtrak and looking at their refund policies, it seems like the most I would be out is 10% of my ticket price, but I thought I'd ask the travel-smart folks on the Amtak forum before I went ahead with this.
When I plug my origin and destination trip into the on-line system, Amtak says it can't be done. When I do it as a multi-city trip with DC as my stop over, Amtrak sends me out of Cleveland on the Capitol Limited, and then out of DC on the Silver Star. But it still won't let me select the Silver Star for the same day I arrive in DC. CL arrives at 12:40pm (hopefully), and SS leaves at 3pm. I'm guessing that Amtak considers that connection too tight to book. If I leave DC on the following day, I can book the trip.
- Problem is that I'd rather not spend the night in DC, and CL seems to have decent, on-time performance, so I'd like to try to make the connection.
- Other problem is that if I don't make the connection, there seems to be a high probability of sell outs on these lines (based on my trying to book this trip a day or two in the future), and even if there is space available, it may be pricey.
- Other potential problem is that I'll have checked luggage in the form of a bicycle that I will have to collect from CL and move to SS. I don't know how long this would take. Seems like it should take far less than the 2 hour layover, but I've never done it before.
I'm weighing my options, but I'm trying to see if there's a problem with this plan: Buy 3 tickets-- 1 CL from Cleveland to DC, 1 DC to Raleigh for the same day, 1 DC to Raleigh for the next day. If I make the connection, I refund my next day ticket. If I miss my connection, I refund my same day ticket and spend the night in DC.
My main concerns are that either Amtrak won't let me buy that combination of tickets (although I don't see why not if I do them as three separate transactions), or that if I pull into to DC after my connecting train has left, I'll be out the full cost of the ticket. Talking to Amtrak and looking at their refund policies, it seems like the most I would be out is 10% of my ticket price, but I thought I'd ask the travel-smart folks on the Amtak forum before I went ahead with this.