What if one of my segments is late?

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Pal2Pluto

Pal2Pluto

Train Attendant
Joined
Sep 20, 2021
Messages
42
Location
Pennsylvania
Still working on this trip plan for July 2022. We are traveling from Harrisburg, PA to Chicago, to Denver (stay for 24 hours) to Sacramento to Portland (stay for 24 hours) to Chicago (via Empire) to Harrisburg. My question is regarding buying the tickets..... If I buy my tickets for each segment, what happens if the train is so late I miss the next segment? Is it common they run a couple HOURS behind? Our shortest layover is 2 hours or so, so it might be a moot issue. Just looking for advice/info from the experts.... Thanks!
 
It’s not uncommon to be several hours late, latest I’ve ever been was 9.

However, I believe both of your short connections are guaranteed, so if you miss it they will accommodate you one way or another. This can be holding your next train, bussing you to the next train, or putting you on the next days train.
 
Cal said:
It’s not uncommon to be several hours late, latest I’ve ever been was 9.

However, I believe both of your short connections are guaranteed, so if you miss it they will accommodate you one way or another. This can be holding your next train, bussing you to the next train, or putting you on the next days train.
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Thanks, Cal, I appreciate your quick reply....but how do I know the connections are guaranteed?
 
Pal2Pluto said:
Thanks, Cal, I appreciate your quick reply....but how do I know the connections are guaranteed?
Click to expand...

If Amtrak lets you buy the ticket by entering the origin and destination (without having to separately book each segment,) the connection is guaranteed. For example, if you booked Portland, OR to Harrisburg, PA and chose an itinerary Amtrak showed without using the multi-city tool or booking multiple tickets (for example, Portland, OR to Chicago, IL on one ticket and Chicago, IL to Harrisburg, PA on another ticket, or using multi-city to book it) it's guaranteed.
 
Pal2Pluto said:
If I buy my tickets for each segment, what happens if the train is so late I miss the next segment?
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This is one of those situations where I would suggest putting these questions to Amtrak themselves and see what they say. All we can tell you is what we've seen in the past but that may not be how Amtrak plans on handling things moving forward. If you get an answer you like then I would make sure to get the name of the person you talk to and write down the time and date you spoke with them. I'd also ask them where and how you can get this information in writing if possible.
 
Are you doing a rail pass? I don’t know how those work with booking trips.
But if you’re not using a tail pass, don’t book in segments if you’re just making same day connections. If the connection is allowed by Amtrak, book from start point to final destination. Amtrak will take care of you if you miss a connection - which could be either a bus to catch up to your missed train or a hotel for the night and they put you on the next day’s train (or the next train if you’re connecting to a commuter type train like on the NEC).
 
Please be aware that if a connection is missed, Amtrak may get you a hotel room, put you on a bus, whatever, but you will still be late for your planned 24hr stays in hotels. A whizz around the network, with tightish connections, and just 24 hrs. off the train now and again, seems a risk, in my experience. It could all go well, but for myself, I would like to travel in a relaxed frame of mind, rather than worry about missed trains, etc. (Being retired, I do have the advantage of lots of t-i-m-e to kill! ;))
 
caravanman said:
Please be aware that if a connection is missed, Amtrak may get you a hotel room, put you on a bus, whatever, but you will still be late for your planned 24hr stays in hotels. A whizz around the network, with tightish connections, and just 24 hrs. off the train now and again, seems a risk, in my experience. It could all go well, but for myself, I would like to travel in a relaxed frame of mind, rather than worry about missed trains, etc. (Being retired, I do have the advantage of lots of t-i-m-e to kill! ;))
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Correct! In addition, if you were scheduled to be in a sleeper on the missed connection, Amtrak might not have any rooms available the next day and may offer you coach instead. Yes, they will refund the difference but for many of us, that is not an acceptable solution as there is no way I could take an overnight train in coach because of medical problems and age. It's a good way to destroy a dream vacation.

On our trip which just ended yesterday, we stayed overnight in Chicago in both directions. Sure, it cost a little more (but less than the cost of insurance) but it gave us peace of mind, a relaxing experience and an opportunity to do some things in Chicago as well.
 
Once I was on the Southwest Chief and and boarded it in Kansas City to Chicago. It was so late coming up from New Mexico for reasons I have forgotten I ended up having to stay in my hotel for an extra night. If I had boarded the extremely late train I would have ended up having to spend the night in Chicago instead. So I chose to stay put and was rebooked for the next day. Amtrak made good on it by giving me a voucher to cover the hotel bill which I applied to my next trip. I am arriving into Cary on the Star on Wednesday at 8AM. I am due to connect to the Piedmont at 10.15AM for a short trip to my home station. The Star is often late but I have 2 hours to work with. If by chance I miss the 10.15AM Piedmont I will just catch the 5.00PM Piedmont for the trip home. Hopefully the Star isn't 8 hours late...
 
I don't think Amtrak guarantees connections of 2 hours or less, so take that into consideration. I just made a test booking from Harrisburg to Denver (because you're staying in Denver for a day) using Amtrak's interactive travel planning map and it gave me a 3 train route as follows:
Segment 1 of 3
Harrisburg, PA, (HAR)
43 Pennsylvanian
2:36p, Tue, Jul 12 (5h 23m)
Pittsburgh, PA, (PGH )
Union Station
7:59p, Tue, Jul 12
4h 0m connection in PGH | Transfer
Segment 2 of 3
Pittsburgh, PA, (PGH)
Union Station
29 Capitol Limited
11:59p, Tue, Jul 12 (9h 46m)
Chicago, IL, (CHI )
Union Station
8:45a, Wed, Jul 13
5h 15m connection in CHI | Transfer
Segment 3 of 3
Chicago, IL, (CHI)
Union Station
5 California Zephyr
2:00p, Wed, Jul 13 (18h 15m)
Denver, CO, (DEN )
Union Station
7:15a, Thu, Jul 14

Then I made a test booking from Denver to Portland and got:
Segment 1 of 2
Denver, CO, (DEN)
Union Station
5 California Zephyr
8:05a, Fri, Jul 15 (31h 8m)
Sacramento, CA, (SAC )
Sacramento Valley Station
2:13p, Sat, Jul 16
9h 36m connection in SAC | Transfer
Segment 2 of 2
Sacramento, CA, (SAC)
Sacramento Valley Station
14 Coast Starlight
11:49p, Sat, Jul 16 (15h 51m)
Portland, OR, (PDX )
Union Station
3:40p, Sun, Jul 17

And finally, a fake booking from Portland to Harrisburg gave me 2 choices: one was a 3 train trip and the other a 4 train trip. I'm showing below the 3 train trip.
Segment 1 of 3
Portland, OR, (PDX)
Union Station
28 Empire Builder
4:45p, Tue, Jul 19 (45h 10m)
Chicago, IL, (CHI )
Union Station
3:55p, Thu, Jul 21
2h 45m connection in CHI | Transfer
Segment 2 of 3
Chicago, IL, (CHI)
Union Station
30 Capitol Limited
6:40p, Thu, Jul 21 (9h 25m)
Pittsburgh, PA, (PGH )
Union Station
5:05a, Fri, Jul 22
2h 25m connection in PGH | Transfer
Segment 3 of 3
Pittsburgh, PA, (PGH)
Union Station
42 Pennsylvanian
7:30a, Fri, Jul 22 (5h 20m)
Harrisburg, PA, (HAR )
12:50p, Fri, Jul 22

So this last booking looks like they will guarantee a 2 hr-25-minute connection. By the word "guarantee", I mean that if the train is late such that you might miss the connection, Amtrak will either hold the connecting train until yours arrives, bus you to the next destination or pay for a hotel until the next appropriate train comes. Before I even knew about guaranteeing connections, I would book my segments totally separately. One fine day, the LSL was 5 hours late into Chicago due to a trespasser fatality which would have caused us to miss our connection (SWC) by 30 minutes or so, but because the LSL had a number of passengers on it that did have the guaranteed connection, having booked their trip properly unlike me, Amtrak held the SWC in Chicago until the LSL arrived and we made the transfer huffing and puffing away (Hurry, hurry!).
 
You can rely on Amtrak to get you there, you cannot rely on them to meet your personal schedule. Things go awry. What good is a guarantee when you miss an important date. Plan accordingly. Is my motto.
 
You will be accommodated. Even if you make a mistake yourself, you'll probably be accommodated. I've missed my stop and a conductor wrote a note asking another conductor to allow me to get back to my planned stop, although that was on a corridor route where there were more trains.

Bus connections are convoluted. Train to bus connections are guaranteed. I know this firsthand from being at a station with a 3 hour delay. There was one bus driver who was just waiting there and chatting it up with other people who were waiting for the train to arrive. He said he'd get paid overtime just for waiting. But bus to train connections are such that they might not wait that long if there's something like a bus delayed in traffic or it breaks down. But you will be accommodated although it may not be the best situation if it has to be on a different train or train/bus combination.
 
Barb Stout said:
I don't think Amtrak guarantees connections of 2 hours or less, so take that into consideration. I just made a test booking from Harrisburg to Denver (because you're staying in Denver for a day) using Amtrak's interactive travel planning map and it gave me a 3 train route as follows:
Segment 1 of 3
Harrisburg, PA, (HAR)
43 Pennsylvanian
2:36p, Tue, Jul 12 (5h 23m)
Pittsburgh, PA, (PGH )
Union Station
7:59p, Tue, Jul 12
4h 0m connection in PGH | Transfer
Segment 2 of 3
Pittsburgh, PA, (PGH)
Union Station
29 Capitol Limited
11:59p, Tue, Jul 12 (9h 46m)
Chicago, IL, (CHI )
Union Station
8:45a, Wed, Jul 13
5h 15m connection in CHI | Transfer
Segment 3 of 3
Chicago, IL, (CHI)
Union Station
5 California Zephyr
2:00p, Wed, Jul 13 (18h 15m)
Denver, CO, (DEN )
Union Station
7:15a, Thu, Jul 14

Then I made a test booking from Denver to Portland and got:
Segment 1 of 2
Denver, CO, (DEN)
Union Station
5 California Zephyr
8:05a, Fri, Jul 15 (31h 8m)
Sacramento, CA, (SAC )
Sacramento Valley Station
2:13p, Sat, Jul 16
9h 36m connection in SAC | Transfer
Segment 2 of 2
Sacramento, CA, (SAC)
Sacramento Valley Station
14 Coast Starlight
11:49p, Sat, Jul 16 (15h 51m)
Portland, OR, (PDX )
Union Station
3:40p, Sun, Jul 17

And finally, a fake booking from Portland to Harrisburg gave me 2 choices: one was a 3 train trip and the other a 4 train trip. I'm showing below the 3 train trip.
Segment 1 of 3
Portland, OR, (PDX)
Union Station
28 Empire Builder
4:45p, Tue, Jul 19 (45h 10m)
Chicago, IL, (CHI )
Union Station
3:55p, Thu, Jul 21
2h 45m connection in CHI | Transfer
Segment 2 of 3
Chicago, IL, (CHI)
Union Station
30 Capitol Limited
6:40p, Thu, Jul 21 (9h 25m)
Pittsburgh, PA, (PGH )
Union Station
5:05a, Fri, Jul 22
2h 25m connection in PGH | Transfer
Segment 3 of 3
Pittsburgh, PA, (PGH)
Union Station
42 Pennsylvanian
7:30a, Fri, Jul 22 (5h 20m)
Harrisburg, PA, (HAR )
12:50p, Fri, Jul 22

So this last booking looks like they will guarantee a 2 hr-25-minute connection. By the word "guarantee", I mean that if the train is late such that you might miss the connection, Amtrak will either hold the connecting train until yours arrives, bus you to the next destination or pay for a hotel until the next appropriate train comes. Before I even knew about guaranteeing connections, I would book my segments totally separately. One fine day, the LSL was 5 hours late into Chicago due to a trespasser fatality which would have caused us to miss our connection (SWC) by 30 minutes or so, but because the LSL had a number of passengers on it that did have the guaranteed connection, having booked their trip properly unlike me, Amtrak held the SWC in Chicago until the LSL arrived and we made the transfer huffing and puffing away (Hurry, hurry!).
Click to expand...


Wow! you've done a lot of work to help me out! Thanks all of you for your advice!
 

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