Questions about phone reservations-when do I have to pay?

[Bill631]

Hi everyone,

I was planning a trip to TX recently via the Lakeshore Ltd and the Texas Eagle.

Due to some last minute changes on my part and some time-frame concerns, I decided to take the Crescent instead to New Orleans. My return was not yet booked.

I had to reserve my tickets on very short notice, for both the outbound and the return.

The reservations were for sleeper accommodatrions.

My questions concern the time-frame for paying for a ticket once you've made a reservation with anm agent on the phone.

I called for my first reservation on Sept.4, which would depart on Sept. 15. The agent said I had until Sept. 8 to call back with my credit card. Fine, so I called back on Sept. 8 and paid for my ticket, and got it at the Quik-Tik machine at Penn Station on the day of departure.

The confusion came when I was trying to book my return.

I assumed I would always have 4 days to pay for my ticket after making the reservation.

On Sept. 17 I called to make my return reservation. I told the agent I needed to depart Houston on Sept. 21 to get the Texas Eagle(in Longview). I was not %100 certain that this was going to actually be my return date, so I asked the agent how long I had to pay for the ticket(the fare was almost $800 and I didn't want to tie up my money in case I had to change the reservation).

She told me in no uncertain terms that all telephone reservations MUST be paid within 24 hours of making the reservation!

I told her that they gave me 4 days to pay for my outbound trip, and she said that must have been a mistake.

So, I held the reservation for Sep. 21 for 24 hours.

I called again to ask a different agent the same question, and of course got a different answer.

The next agent said I always had 3 full business days to pay for any reservation made by telephone as long as the departure date is more than 3 days away.

OK fine.

So, I called again after deciding to take the Crescent back rather than the Texas Eagle.

This time the agent said that the rules for paying for telephone reservations varied depending on the train you wanted to book!

Why was I given 3 completely different answers for exactly the same question????

I was able to get the reservations I wanted but why can't the agents get the rules straight???

I ended up purchasing the Texas Eagle ticket then switching the reservation to the Crescent, but I wouldn't have done that had I been given the correct info all along.

Any comments???

Bill

 

[TransAtlantic]

No, there was no mistake; if you book by phone more than a week in advance, you must pick up your ticket at a staffed station and/or give your credit card info at least 7 days before departure. That gives them time to get the card charged, and (if necessary and possible) to send you your tickets by mail. There are some unstaffed stations where they will have your tickets available for pickup onboard, but that still must be paid for in advance. If you do a last-minute reservation, you need to give your credit card info within 24 hours. That way, if you just don't show up, you will owe a cancellation fee (just like any other form of transportation - they don't want to be left with unsold seats at the last minute), which will be charged to your card. Different stations have different hours for the ticket agents, so that's where the different policies for prepayment come into effect: if you're taking a train that's scheduled and/or likely to depart when there is no agent, you have to pay further beforehand.

 

[had8ley]

Hi everyone,I was planning a trip to TX recently via the Lakeshore Ltd and the Texas Eagle.

Due to some last minute changes on my part and some time-frame concerns, I decided to take the Crescent instead to New Orleans. My return was not yet booked.

I had to reserve my tickets on very short notice, for both the outbound and the return.

The reservations were for sleeper accommodatrions.

My questions concern the time-frame for paying for a ticket once you've made a reservation with anm agent on the phone.

I called for my first reservation on Sept.4, which would depart on Sept. 15. The agent said I had until Sept. 8 to call back with my credit card. Fine, so I called back on Sept. 8 and paid for my ticket, and got it at the Quik-Tik machine at Penn Station on the day of departure.

The confusion came when I was trying to book my return.

I assumed I would always have 4 days to pay for my ticket after making the reservation.

On Sept. 17 I called to make my return reservation. I told the agent I needed to depart Houston on Sept. 21 to get the Texas Eagle(in Longview). I was not %100 certain that this was going to actually be my return date, so I asked the agent how long I had to pay for the ticket(the fare was almost $800 and I didn't want to tie up my money in case I had to change the reservation).

She told me in no uncertain terms that all telephone reservations MUST be paid within 24 hours of making the reservation!

I told her that they gave me 4 days to pay for my outbound trip, and she said that must have been a mistake.

So, I held the reservation for Sep. 21 for 24 hours.

I called again to ask a different agent the same question, and of course got a different answer.

The next agent said I always had 3 full business days to pay for any reservation made by telephone as long as the departure date is more than 3 days away.

OK fine.

So, I called again after deciding to take the Crescent back rather than the Texas Eagle.

This time the agent said that the rules for paying for telephone reservations varied depending on the train you wanted to book!

Why was I given 3 completely different answers for exactly the same question????

I was able to get the reservations I wanted but why can't the agents get the rules straight???

I ended up purchasing the Texas Eagle ticket then switching the reservation to the Crescent, but I wouldn't have done that had I been given the correct info all along.

Any comments???

Bill

Sometimes you can get an extension on an existing reservation. Give 'em a sob story like your car died and you can't make it to a manned station until it's fixed. Also, at small manned stations don't wait until the last minute to pick up tickets because 1. There might be a lot of other people with the same idea. 2. Amtrak has a bad habit of not sending an extra board clerk to outlying points if the regularly assigned agent lays off at the last minute. Hope this helps.