Will coach ticket be cancelled?

[AudenHoggart]

We've reserved and paid for coach tickets from St. Louis to Chicago just before Christmas. We want to keep open the option of getting on in Alton rather than St. Louis (depending on weather.) I know we can do this if we actually get our tickets beforehand, but what if we don't? If we just show up at the Alton station and want to get our tickets, is there a chance they'd be canceled since the train would already have left St. Louis, which was where our tickets originated?

Thanks.

 

[the_traveler]

The answer is yes - and no!

The reservation will be canceled from the computer if they are not printed prior to the departure of the train. However, if they have been printed prior to (in this case) the train departing STL, they will not be cancelled. The only "problem" is the conductor may say "You paid too much"!

Another problem would be if you have a sleeper say on the CS from EMY to PDX and you decide to board in SAC instead without notifying anyone. Once the CS departs EMY and they notice that it is unoccupied, the Conductor usually waits 1 or 2 stops and then may sell it as an onboard upgrade! Thus when the CS arrives in SAC, you could find out that your room was sold!

 

[saxman]

Since Alton is not very far from St. Louis you might can get away with picking up your ticket at the Alton station but only before the train you're suppose to be on, has not departed St Louis. So I would make it easy and just pick up your tickets before hand then you can board at whichever station you choose. If not you can always call on your way to the Alton station (should you choose it) to have an agent change your ticket to depart from Alton. Hopefully it would be around the same price. Or at least you can tell them not to cancel you ticket if you're running late to the Alton station.

 

[AlanB]

Actually the reservation isn't cancelled automatically once the train leaves the station. One can no longer print the tickets via a Quik-Trak machine and you cannot cancel it online, assuming that you booked it online in the first place. But the reservation is still in the computer and an agent could still print the tickets out.