Two Legs on the Same Reservation

[Charlton]

Two questions about my upcoming El Paso to Portland trip (Sunset Unlimited and Coast Starlight). The reservation is all on one ticket, roomettes. So, it’s a guaranteed connection in LAX. Thanks in advance.

1) Amtrak says reschedule / cancellation must be “before the scheduled departure origin”. For the second leg of the trip, does origin still mean El Paso where my trip starts or LAX where the second leg starts on the Coast Starlight? (I hope to be able to cancel or reschedule the Coast Starlight if, say in Yuma, the train is running late enough to make it unlikely to catch the Coast Starlight out of LAX.)

2) If you miss a guaranteed connection, must you accept alternative arrangements or can you reschedule or cancel? (I have, for example, no interest in being bussed and trained to Sacramento to catch up to the Coast Starlight and miss out on going up the coast. Or, even worse, coach the next day. Or stagecoach. Or horseback.)

On my next trip, I will think about having two separate reservations and an overnight stay between trains.

 

[zephyr17]

If your train is running late enough to potentially miss a guaranteed connection, it never hurts to proactively reach out to Amtrak reservations to work out your arrangements. They'll work with you without invoking penalties within reason (they're not going to buy you an airline ticket replacement).

If the train is severely late, you should not wait until Yuma. For one thing, zero dark thirty Eastern time is not the best time to get the sharpest agents, plus shortly after the train crosses the Colorado River, the tracks go away from any roads and cell service will likely evaporate. If you are 3 hours or less late in Maricopa, you are probably good. There is a about an hour of pad into LA, the train can get in as early as 4:30 am, and there is like 4 1/2 hour between trains anyway. Amtrak won't start reaccommodating until a misconnect is projected, too.

You can negotiate with them. In the specific case of the SWC or Sunset connection with the northbound Starlight to northern California points, the normal reaccommodation for a somewhat late inbound train is to put you on the San Joaquin bus/train connection. They'll put you on the next day's Starlight instead if you ask, and if you were is a sleeper and they have a room available they'll give it to you, if not they'll put in coach and refund the fare difference. But they will not pay for the hotel layover, since they could have gotten you there without it. You can ask for that segment to be cancelled and refunded and they probably would give it to you, although if they could have gotten you to your room in Sacramento or Emeryville had you taken their original proposal you might face some resistance. But you can certainly ask.

You need to stop thinking in absolutes.

If you want to make certain you have the accommodations you want, building in an overnight layover is the best way to make that happen. I will almost always do it with sleeper to sleeper eastward connections in Chicago. Westward, I usually go straight through, since there are fewer misconnects that direction. West to north in LA, sometimes yes, sometimes no, based on the larger itinerary and recent connection history. If I am coming from Chicago, I'll often do a same day connection unless the recent connection history is dodgy (less than 90%). If coming straight through from the East Coast I'll almost always layover regardless of connection history to get a break from the train.

 

[Charlton]

Thanks, this was helpful.

I’m glad to hear that Amtrak reservations have the flexibility and willingness to help. I find that two calm, friendly, reasonable people can do almost anything.

Once I managed, before 9/11 enhanced security, to fly, rent a car, and check into a hotel without my wallet. Another time, I managed to persuade Southwest to uncancel my flight and fly only me to my destination. (Because of an impending ice storm, Southwest canceled all their flights out of BWI and was flying out their empty planes. Since I was already at the gate, and my plane was still there, it didn’t hurt to ask…)

 

[JP1822]

I totally agree with zephyr17's response (except for maybe the last paragraph - to each there own on that one, but I get the author's point!). Being proactive - within reason - to adjust travel plans works well. I've not had to do this often, thankfully, but when I did have a recent mis-connect at Chicago while travelling East, Amtrak did an automatic re-routing for me with new arrangements etc. I wasn't charged anything additionally. I did though call and adjust my sleeper accommodations (me being picky and knowing where the noises and wheel arrangements are that could interfere with the "ride quality). As long as I shifted from a "like to like" room (e.g. Roomette 11 to roomette 3 or bedroom B to Bedroom D). You proactively reach out to Amtrak reservations and they will work out the arrangements if it is clear that the misconnect is 100%. It seems that there is a completely separate - yet more specialized group of people/agents - that handle the "misconnects" and are pretty good at it.

 

[TheCrescent]

If you have two legs on the same reservation and a delay with the first causes you to miss the second, isn’t it definitely Amtrak’s responsibility to fix the situation? While if you have two separate reservations, couldn’t Amtrak claim it’s your problem if you miss the second? That’s how an airline would work.

 

[zephyr17]

If you have two legs on the same reservation and a delay with the first causes you to miss the second, isn’t it definitely Amtrak’s responsibility to fix the situation? While if you have two separate reservations, couldn’t Amtrak claim it’s your problem if you miss the second? That’s how an airline would work.

Pretty much yeah, but Amtrak will work with you within reason to reaccommode you in a way you prefer, like taking the next day's Starlight instead of the San Joaquin bus connection. If you have preferences, it may be better to be proactive rather than take whatever the default is.

You also do not need to, and shouldn't, book separate tickets for same day connections for the reasons you cite. Book through, or if the website/Arrow doesn't have an otherwise legal connection due to the fact that all connections are not entered, particularly the first weeks after a schedule change, book multiple segments on the same reservation/PNR. As to overnight connections with ample time, there is a case to be made for separate reservations. If a conductor fails to scan or otherwise check you in, all subsequent segments on that reservation are automatically cancelled. This does happen, and has happened to me. Separate reservations for return or other overnight or more layovers provide a "firebreak" to prevent that.

 

[Bonser]

Pretty much yeah, but Amtrak will work with you within reason to reaccommode you in a way you prefer, like taking the next day's Starlight instead of the San Joaquin bus connection. If you have preferences, it may be better to be proactive rather than take whatever the default is.

You also do not need to, and shouldn't, book separate tickets for same day connections for the reasons you cite. Book through, or if the website/Arrow doesn't have an otherwise legal connection due to the fact that all connections are not entered, particularly the first weeks after a schedule change, book multiple segments on the same reservation/PNR. As to overnight connections with ample time, there is a case to be made for separate reservations. If a conductor fails to scan or otherwise check you in, all subsequent segments on that reservation are automatically cancelled. This does happen, and has happened to me. Separate reservations for return or other overnight or more layovers provide a "firebreak" to prevent that.

My wife and are are traveling East from San Francisco to Newark in June. We have one leg with my points and another with my wife's. Agent said tickets are linked and we should have no problem if we miss a connection in Chicago. But I noticed there are two different reservation #'s. Will this be a problem?

 

[zephyr17]

My wife and are are traveling East from San Francisco to Newark in June. We have one leg with my points and another with my wife's. Agent said tickets are linked and we should have no problem if we miss a connection in Chicago. But I noticed there are two different reservation #'s. Will this be a problem?

Should not be, but the link is a manual note attached to the reservation, not really part of the reservation transaction itself in the system.

If there is a problem, there is a big chance you won't be flagged and automatically trigger the reaccommodation process. They will take care of you, but you may need to call and/or talk to passenger services in Chicago to get the process underway. The downside is you will be "last in line" so if there are preferable routings or accommodations they might be gone.

It is true they cannot mix cash and points on one reservation. If possible, it is best to break combinations at an overnight layover. I recognize that cannot always been done.

 

[Bonser]

Should not be, but the link is a manual note attached to the reservation, not really part of the reservation transaction itself in the system.

If there is a problem, there is a big chance you won't be flagged and automatically trigger the reaccommodation process. They will take care of you, but you may need to call and/or talk to passenger services in Chicago to get the process underway. The downside is you will be "last in line" so if there are preferable routings or accommodations they might be gone.

It is true they cannot mix cash and points on one reservation. If possible, it is best to break combinations at an overnight layover. I recognize that cannot always been done.

Thanks. I might try to switch to a later train in Chicago from the CL to the LSL. Extra hours padded in then to minimize probability of problems developing.