Tickets in the mail: how long to wait?

[fillyjonk]

I'm curious, for those of you who order tickets by phone/online and get them mailed (as opposed to using Quik-trak or going to a manned station in your town), how long do you wait before you call to see if they're on their way?

I find ticket delivery times are oddly variable. The tickets for my Thanksgiving travel made it to me in just over a week. I ordered tickets for Christmas travel almost 3 weeks ago and there has been no sign of them.

Normally I wouldn't get concerned but (a) in 2000, my tickets got lost in the mail (and we had an ice storm here) and they said they were sending new ones, except they never arrived - so I had to drive to Longview hoping that the station attendant would print me out a new set (he did) and (b) last year, the tickets never came, and when I called, they said, "Oh, you said you were picking them up from the Quik Trak machine (which I NEVER did, and on my receipt it said I had requested they be mailed). That also led to some confusion, because then they said they'd mail them, then they e-mailed me the barcode for the Quik-Trak....I did finally get tickets but the timing was close.

This is an issue to me only because (a) I drive 2 1/2 hours to get to the station where I board and (b) it's an unmanned station (Mineola), where twice that I've been in there, the Quik-Trak has been non-functional. (And at any rate: because I asked for the tickets to be mailed, I don't have a barcode.)

So, how much longer do I wait before I call? My departure day is mid-December so I have some time, but if things are really bollixed up, I want to give Amtrak time to figure it out.

 

[caravanman]

Hi,

I have no personal experience of ticket delivery times, but I would imagine that a week or so should be long enough to wait.

I suggest you give them a call to double check the delivery times.

Ed

 

[tonys96]

Call today, get the date they claim to have mailed them.

 

[AlanB]

Call today, get the date they claim to have mailed them.

It's quite possible that Amtrak hasn't even printed them up yet, much less mailed them. Amtrak prioritizes those reservations that that are due for traveling within the next 2 weeks. If/when they have time, they may process reservations further down the road.

So sometimes one will gets tickets way in advance, other times they won't come until the week before. It's really luck of the draw, influenced by demand.

 

[fillyjonk]

Call today, get the date they claim to have mailed them.

It's quite possible that Amtrak hasn't even printed them up yet, much less mailed them. Amtrak prioritizes those reservations that that are due for traveling within the next 2 weeks. If/when they have time, they may process reservations further down the road.

So sometimes one will gets tickets way in advance, other times they won't come until the week before. It's really luck of the draw, influenced by demand.

Thanks, I was wondering if it was something like that. I'll wait a while longer. But I think if Dec. 1 rolls around and I don't have them...I'm definitely calling.