Originally Posted by
darben
Call back and talk to another agent suggested wording is "I see I have the option of booking via LA on the Zephyr and then the Coast Starlight please book me into a (BEDROOM or roomette)."
I think if you ask for "via LA on the Zephyr," that will confuse the agent a bit.
I usually just use train numbers when I'm talking to Amtrak or AGR agents so that there's (hopefully) no misinterpretation.
I just yesterday redeemed for a NYP-LAX trip in June; the agent first suggested the Lake Shore Limited and the Southwest Chief, but I said, "Actually, I wanted train 49 connecting to train 421." No problem, even though it's not the quickest route. There were in fact 15 possible itineraries showing on Amtrak.com, and I should have been able to suggest, and be booked on, any of them.