Reservations in peak season

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Svante

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Hello!

I and my girlfriend are thinking about traveling across the USA with AMTRAK's USA Rail Pass this summer (mid-June to mid-July). We would go from coast to coast and back. We would like to be spontaneous and decide the same day the train leaves if we would like to continue our journey or stay another day. As summer is the peak season for AMTRAK, I am afraid that we can not be spontaneous but have to reserve place several days in advance. Does anyone know? How is it to travel at other times of the year?

Regards,

Svante
 
Svante,

You'll probably get lots of other replies on this post, but here is my own experience. You probably picked a not so good time of year to be spontaneous. With that said, I know several experienced AMTRAK travelers who never make advance reservations, even in Summer. The key to their success is extreme flexibility. If you plan to book sleeping car accomodations on transcontiental trains (such as #3 and 4), then you're going to find it difficult to impossible if you haven't booked several weeks in advance. However, coach seats are usually available on short notice. AMTRAK sometimes experiences equipment shortages in Summer, which means the months of July and August can see some all-reserved trains running close to capacity. But that is the exception, rather than the rule. A larger problem may surface when your itinerary requires an AMTRAK Thruway bus connection between two stations, or cities. These buses have limited seating capacity, and its not always as easy to schedule another bus as to add a coach to the train. If the timing of your proposed trip is not critical, you may find it less stressful to wait until Sep. 20th or later to start your journey. I hope this helps a little.

Have fun on your trip and good luck!

Best Regards,

John Wolfskill

http://www.trainweb.org/metrovalleyline/index.html
 
You will probably find that most availability will be from Tuesday to Thursday since quite a few people hop on the trains to make short distance trips from Fri-Mon and can therefore block the seats from being used by passengers making longer trips. Good luck and have fun!
 
Thank you for your knowledge and experience.

Regards,

Svante
 
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