Roomette problem

[nanavc]

I'm traveling in 10 days from Florida to PA, NY, PA & back to FL. I am traveling with my 13 & 10 y.o grandkids on the 97 from DC to Orlando, I have 2 roomettes, I was just checking the tickets and one roomette is 09/9710 and the other 06/9711 , 2 different cars. I called Amtrak and was told "Sorry train is booked" Everything was going so well. Any chance when we get to that train, conductor can help by switching 1 of our rooms with somebody? otherwise I'm in for a sleepless night. I love train travel this is 1rst time I've gone with more than 1 kid, so didn't even occur to me that they'd give me separate cars.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I have had some oddball mismatch situations that occurred when making last minute purchases. In those cases the SCA was able to explain the situation to other passengers and find a compromise that worked for everyone. I never saw or heard about the conductor getting involved but I suppose it's possible they played some role in the process.

 

[Everydaymatters]

I had a situation where my daughter and grandson were down the hall from my room. The SCA asked another pax if they would mind switching rooms so we could be across from eachother. Not a problem. Had a great trip.

 

[amamba]

Definitely ask the SCA to help when you board. I am sure some other pax wouldn't mind switching.

 

[chandj]

We were switched out of our room on the Zephyr even before we got on==no one asked us if we minded (we didn't), so definitely take it up with the attendant as soon as you board. I'm confident he/she will sort it out for you. Have a great time.

 

[AlanB]

nanavc,

Seeing as how you're new here, just in case "SCA" means Sleeping Car Attendant. This will be the person that the door of the car when you board.

This won't be as easy as for example Everydaymatter's situation where only one sleeping car attendant was involved; here you've got two involved. Additionally, if you're boarding in DC as indicated (although I'm confused as to why you're not boarding in PA), make use of the Club Acela Lounge while your waiting for the train to arrive. Additionally, when you get into the lounge and checkin, ask for a Redcap to help you to the train even if you don't really need one.

The reason is that the Redcap will take you out to the train before the rest of the passengers, this will give you some extra time to explain to the SCA what has happened. They may then try to get someone to switch while boarding, instead of after they've already settled in to their rooms. They may tell you "let's deal with it later", there is no way to know for sure. But I'd say that it's worth the tip to the Redcap to get out there first and at least try. It can only increase the chances that they can get someone to switch with you.

Good luck!

 

[Guest]

I really dont see that big of an issue here to create a situation where you will be awake all night. At 10 and 13 the children should be well behaved enough to handle themselves just one car down. It is really not that far away, the doors can be locked, and the SCA is around making sure that everyone is OK. Bring some FRS radios if you want so they can talk to you while they are in their room. It will also give everyone a reason to walk between cars and stay a little more active.

 

[Trogdor]

One suggestion I'll make, since you're boarding at a downline station and it's possible that the adjacent rooms' passengers are boarding in New York (or somewhere else on the corridor), call Amtrak reservations with your reservation number, and see if the agent can add a special service request notation to your reservation. This would then show up on the manifest. In it, the request should explain the situation, and alert the attendants in the two cars to your desire to switch rooms and see if they can do the trade while the other passengers scheduled to board in those rooms.

 

[me_little_me]

I'm traveling in 10 days from Florida to PA, NY, PA & back to FL. I am traveling with my 13 & 10 y.o grandkids on the 97 from DC to Orlando, I have 2 roomettes, I was just checking the tickets and one roomette is 09/9710 and the other 06/9711 , 2 different cars. I called Amtrak and was told "Sorry train is booked" Everything was going so well. Any chance when we get to that train, conductor can help by switching 1 of our rooms with somebody? otherwise I'm in for a sleepless night. I love train travel this is 1rst time I've gone with more than 1 kid, so didn't even occur to me that they'd give me separate cars.

Like an airline trip, ALWAYS check your reservations. When I made roomette reservations online, they randomly assigned the rooms (apparently). I IMMEDIATELY called Amtrak , asked the agent which rooms, requested and got room changes across from each other and had them email confirmations to me then checked the emails to verify it. I had to do this three different times - once for each direction as reservations were made on different days and once when I changed the outgoing day.

Next time you'll know better. But most people are nice and will be willing to change if approached properly. The SCA should help. And if someone moves for you and if you see them in the diner, offer to by them a glass of wine.

 

[nanavc]

Thanks to all for the advice, I appreciate it. The kids are quite well behaved the 13 yr. old assures me she and her 10 yr. old cousin will be just fine, and I guess I'm just an old worrywort, but I can't help that. We are going via DC because the kids want to check out Air & Space museum and few other things. We are all really excited I love riding the train. again Thanks to All .

 

[Stitcher]

Let me say:

As a passenger, switching would NOT be a problem for me so that you could be close to the minors that you are supervising.

Even though they are likely to be extremely well behaved, I think that it helps the others around kids to know that there's an adult "within shouting distance" when they are seen to be appearing unsupervised.

I agree, ask for help in switching once you get to the train, and ask early.

I can't imagine that it would be a huge huge problem, unless someone is completely married to their roomette.

I would find that particular matrimonial situation to be odd, wouldn't you? lol

 

[lthanlon]

On almost every trip I've taken recently, there's been a situation like yours -- and other passengers have always been willing to switch rooms to accommodate a family. I've switched rooms twice. Not a big deal.

 

[Trogdor]

As I said, though, see if you can have it noted on your PNR as a service request. It's a lot easier to get the swap done when the other passenger boards (assuming that person is boarding in New York or somewhere upline, which on the Meteor, is quite likely) than after they've been settled in, unpacked some of their items, set up their laptop, started watching a movie, etc. (or if you get on and they're in the dining car eating dinner, and there's no way to even approach them about trading until after they're done, and now you've got two groups of people trying to move their belongings between cars while it's moving, etc.).

Or, as you seem to have indicated in your follow-up post, you can just leave things be and your kids will be all right.

 

[chandj]

The SCA's can reassign roomettes before passengers holding them board. No permission required from those yet-to-board roomette passengers. Just tell the SCA's the situation as soon as you board and if there are roomettes waiting for their passengers to board at a later stop, she/he can easily solve the issue. I would think that Amtrak customer service could do the same if you called them with the story.

 

[nanavc]

So I called again today and Tracy at Amtrak got us together, I had called the other day and the lady I talked to then said "sorry nothing I can do" she must of been having a bad morning. Anyway I no longer have to worry thanks to Wonderful Tracy. Thanks Tracy your our heroine!!!!

 

[Trogdor]

So I called again today and Tracy at Amtrak got us together, I had called the other day and the lady I talked to then said "sorry nothing I can do" she must of been having a bad morning. Anyway I no longer have to worry thanks to Wonderful Tracy. Thanks Tracy your our heroine!!!!

Or it could be that someone canceled/upgraded/rebooked, or had their reservation hold limit expire in the mean time, freeing up that room. But it's good that everything worked out in the end. Much easier to do it ahead of time than on-board when people have already settled in.

 

[Anderson]

I got into a goofy situation a few months back...I was taking the SWC from Flagstaff to Kansas City, and slapped a new segment on from Los Angeles to Flagstaff when I shuffled my travel arrangements. When I boarded, I explained things to the SCA and asked when he wanted me to do the move...he simply reassigned someone boarding at/after Albuquerque (where the switch was to take place...my initial plan was coach FLG-ABQ and then sleeper ABQ-KCY) and let me stay in my place. Yes, he got a solid tip for that.

My point is that it's usually pretty easy to manage something like this, at least within one car, and I'm glad it worked out. Still, it's a shame that Amtrak doesn't at least try to assign roomettes in some order when possible.

 

[AlanB]

I got into a goofy situation a few months back...I was taking the SWC from Flagstaff to Kansas City, and slapped a new segment on from Los Angeles to Flagstaff when I shuffled my travel arrangements. When I boarded, I explained things to the SCA and asked when he wanted me to do the move...he simply reassigned someone boarding at/after Albuquerque (where the switch was to take place...my initial plan was coach FLG-ABQ and then sleeper ABQ-KCY) and let me stay in my place. Yes, he got a solid tip for that.

My point is that it's usually pretty easy to manage something like this, at least within one car, and I'm glad it worked out. Still, it's a shame that Amtrak doesn't at least try to assign roomettes in some order when possible.

Not to provide an excuse or suggest that it wouldn't be nice if ARROW would automatically pick 2 rooms in the same car when they're made on the same reservation, but it's also not like this is an Amtrak only problem. VIA's reservation system is no better. Two years ago on my aborted trip on the Canadian I had missed out on booking the 2 person bedrooms, before they sold out of the cheaper priced ones. So I booked two singles, since the total cost was the same.

I did it online and the computer put me in one car and my mom in a car about 5 or 6 cars away. I had to call VIA and get an agent to get us both in the same car. Don't recall now if we had rooms back to back or across the hall, but the agent was quite happy to fix things and admitted that it's a common problem.