Those are two BIGGIES for me.
Hey CM,Buying my tix now for the weekend of Nov 8th to Raleigh and back from ATL. Gonna go see GA Tech play UNC.
And here is the BIG restriction:
I have a res SFC-PDX I made earlier using AAA. The fare was $62.10 - under this "sale" it is $59! I think the chance to refund is worth $3!
I know the youngsters on here don't want to hear this so put on your ear muffs! SOMETIMES it pays to pick up the phone and ask questions rather than sit at a computer that has total control over a situation (and you!) such as this one. Moral of the story; let your fingers do the walking via A.T&T.
I am old and wise enough, that I have learned (the hard way), that the person who answers the phone might not be an expert either. They, themselves, might not be fully aware of the details.
Perhaps luck has been on my side; I've had more positive mistakes made in my favor by calling. Besides, once you press that "enter" button on the computer you're cooked! BTW, we went back to A.T&T after being Bell South for about twenty years. Right back where we started at!
I think you meant the youngsters should let their fingers do the walking via VOIP.
Or via Verizon Wireless or T-Movile or Alltel or ... :lol:
Yup--it's the T-1000 of corporations:
There is no such site that provides the bucket info in an easy to find format. In the back of the national timetable there is a chart that gives some sample fares for certain city pairs and it shows the high and low buckets for certain city combinations. But beyond that, the only way to figure out the various buckets is to just sit on Amtrak's sit making dummy bookings till you find all the possible fares for a given route/city pair.
And booking by phone does not guarantee the "right" fare. If you just ask for a ticket from __ to __, and the "sale fare" is available, you will get that! The best way (if you want a refundable fare) is to request something like a AAA fare!
I feel as if Amtrak should put a checkbox on their site that says, "Search for Refundable Fares only" that way this problem can be easily avoided. Every airline does it, and I feel it would eliminate a lot of confusion in this area. Now, assuming I make reservations with a non-refundable fare but do not pick up the tickets, can I get a refund? Or does the nonrefundable aspect of the fare apply regardless of whether or not you have collected the tickets?
I agree, Amtrak should make that checkbox an option, but many only ask "What's the fare?" without any questions. If they were told "The fare is $59 and the AAA fare is $61", which do you think they will pick? I only wish Amtrak would only mention more clearly that the lower fare is non-refundable! And give you a choice to not pick the non-refundable fare.
