Amtrak Watcher
Lead Service Attendant
Early this month (June) I had to go to New York City from Dallas on business, so I went the Amtrak web site to make a reservation on the Texas Eagle and the Lake Shore Limited in both directions. The reservation system could not find me a seat on the Texas Eagle in either direction: not a coach seat, not a sleeper, nothing – everything was sold out. Having seen this kind of no-seats-here problem before, I switched over to the “Multi-City-Trip” option and found the seats on the Texas Eagle I needed. Going between Chicago and Dallas, I found a seat on number 21 in one direction and on number 422 in the other direction. These seats (sleeper reservations in this case) were available only in the “Multi-City-Option” and only when I asked for the particular train numbers. The same phenomenon applies to coach seats.
There is, apparently, something wrong with the web-based reservation system; it often can’t find seats on multi-city trips unless I go directly to the “Multi-City-Trip” option and shop all the alternative train numbers on the routes of interest myself. This mechanism requires more than a pedestrian knowledge of the train numbers, and is likely far outside the scope of the casual traveler, especially those new to Amtrak.
I wonder how many new rail travelers have been scared away from buying Amtrak tickets by this apparent lack of seats?
There is, apparently, something wrong with the web-based reservation system; it often can’t find seats on multi-city trips unless I go directly to the “Multi-City-Trip” option and shop all the alternative train numbers on the routes of interest myself. This mechanism requires more than a pedestrian knowledge of the train numbers, and is likely far outside the scope of the casual traveler, especially those new to Amtrak.
I wonder how many new rail travelers have been scared away from buying Amtrak tickets by this apparent lack of seats?