Unused ticket question

[Phila 30th St]

Last Saturday my Father was worried about being able to fly from New York to Raleigh-Durham. He therefore bought a one way ticket on the Carolinian from NYP to DNC. As it turned out, his flight left a mere 20 minutes late so now he has an unused, $183 ticket. My question is, will this only be valid on a NYP to DNC routing or can he use the value on another Amtrak route?

Thank you.

 

[transit54]

Last Saturday my Father was worried about being able to fly from New York to Raleigh-Durham. He therefore bought a one way ticket on the Carolinian from NYP to DNC. As it turned out, his flight left a mere 20 minutes late so now he has an unused, $183 ticket. My question is, will this only be valid on a NYP to DNC routing or can he use the value on another Amtrak route?
Thank you.

My understanding is that he can apply the balance to another Amtrak trip (or multiple trips) over the course of the next year on any route. He may also be able to get a refund for 90% of the value of the ticket.

Ideally, in this situation he would not have purchased a physical ticket, in which case he could just cancel his reservation for a 100% refund.

 

[diesteldorf]

Last Saturday my Father was worried about being able to fly from New York to Raleigh-Durham. He therefore bought a one way ticket on the Carolinian from NYP to DNC. As it turned out, his flight left a mere 20 minutes late so now he has an unused, $183 ticket. My question is, will this only be valid on a NYP to DNC routing or can he use the value on another Amtrak route?
Thank you.

If he didn't print it, get a full refund to the credit card.

If he printed it and the trip hasn't occured, call to cancel the reservation. If it has occured, it's obviously too late to call, but assuming it was not for a sleeper he should still be fine. If it was for a sleeper and he didn't show up and never canceled, he'll lose the accomodation portion of the ticket but still be able to apply the rail fare portion toward another trip.

The unused ticket can be applied toward the value of any future travel within 1 year of issue. If it is past 1 year, the ticket will lose it's value according to Amtrak, but you can request a $183 voucher before this happens.

Just think of the ticket as a coupon for $183 off a future Amtrak trip and don't lose it.

 

[the_traveler]

As said, if the ticket was not printed, and a credit card was used, the (complete) fare will just go back to your credit card as a credit. If it has been printed, and he (or anyone) thinks it can be used, the full $183 value can be applied to ANY Amtrak purchase! (It does NOT have to be just those points! ) If you do want a refund, and the ticket(s) was(were) printed, a refund of 90% of the fare would be issued.

I would use the value if I had a choice. And even though the ticket is good for 1 year, that ticket must only be turned in within 1 year. However, the exchanged ticket is also good for 1 year. Here's an example:

• He bought a ticket for NYP-DNC in Dec 2009
  
• He exchanges that in Nov 2010 for a CHI-SEA ticket
  
• He takes that trip in Sept 2011
  

That is perfectly legal, since the ticket are each good for 1 year from the date of issue!

 

[Phila 30th St]

Thanks for the answer guys, I'll brief my Dad when I'm home in a few days.

Ideally he'll give me the unused ticket as we share the same first and last name...it would be a great Christmas Present!

 

[zoltan]

Why the hell did the man fly at all?

It would seem to me that with comfort, reliability, departure and arrival locations, the environment and enjoyment of the journey in mind, the sensible thing to do would be to JUST buy the train ticket!

 

[Phila 30th St]

Why the hell did the man fly at all?
It would seem to me that with comfort, reliability, departure and arrival locations, the environment and enjoyment of the journey in mind, the sensible thing to do would be to JUST buy the train ticket!

My Dad is semi-retired. He lives in Durham and goes to New York once to twice a month for work. I don't think he wants to add 16 hours to business trips that he doesn't want to take.

Whenever I'm home we take train trips and he'll come west to do them too. So far he's been my partner in trains on the Coast Starlight, Sunset Limited and Carolinian and we have a Piedmont run planned for next week.