Amtrak Guest Rewards - Stations with no Agent or Quik Trak

I was poking around the Amtrak website last night for a few possible vacation ideas and saw that a fair number of stations do not have a ticket office or a Quik Trak machine. How does one get a boarding pass for the conductor to punch and collect on board or do you have to have a copy of your printout from the website?

Well there are other options. You could pay for the ticket to be mailed to you or pick it up in advance at another station. Beyond that I do not know.

I tried to use the machine to print my mileage-run ticket on the 20th (the 2 million points), and was rejected: "See Agent". I assumed it was because AMTRAK wanted me to show my I.D., but if so, who exactly can obtain tickets from a machine?

I was poking around the Amtrak website last night for a few possible vacation ideas and saw that a fair number of stations do not have a ticket office or a Quik Trak machine. How does one get a boarding pass for the conductor to punch and collect on board or do you have to have a copy of your printout from the website?

If your trip starts from a station that has neither a ticket agent or a Quik-Trak machine, then if you are making your reservation more than two weeks away from the date of travel, Amtrak will mail you the tickets free of charge.

If you have less time than that, you should call Amtrak to make your reservation. Assuming that there is enough time to still mail the tickets, they will do that. If there isn't, you have the option of paying Amtrak to express mail your tickets or they will give you a reservation number to give to the conductor and they will have your tickets waiting for you onboard the train.

I tried to use the machine to print my mileage-run ticket on the 20th (the 2 million points), and was rejected: "See Agent". I assumed it was because AMTRAK wanted me to show my I.D., but if so, who exactly can obtain tickets from a machine?

Either the machine was having problems or there was something wrong with your reservation that required the intervention of a ticket agent. I routinely pick up my tickets from a Quik-Trak machine. There are no special requirements for doing so.

About the only time that I don't pick up my tickets from a machine is if 1) All the machines are busy, 2) I've used some coupon for a special discount or upgrade that must be handed over, 3) My tickets are for the Auto Train.

Auto Train tickets can never been obtained from a Quik-Trak machine.

...they will give you a reservation number to give to the conductor and they will have your tickets waiting for you onboard the train.

The one time I did this the conductor did not have the tickets. He even asked me what price I was quoted when I made the reservation and charged me this amount.

The one time I did this the conductor did not have the tickets. He even asked me what price I was quoted when I made the reservation and charged me this amount.That was my experience as well. Though the conductor did call Reservations with my record number to confirm.

Yeah, it seems to vary. Sometimes they'll have the actual tickets, other times they'll have to cut a manual ticket. But regardless as long as you have the reservation number and have set things up to board from an unstaffed station, you'll be good to go.

The one time I did this the conductor did not have the tickets. He even asked me what price I was quoted when I made the reservation and charged me this amount.

I third this experience when I rode DYE-IND... booked too late to get it mailed to ANC... even with express... (not that I wanted to nearly double my price anyway) so I booked it over the phone with an agent, and said I'd pick it up @ a station... within the 3 day window I changed it to on-board pickup and they gave me a boarding # (or something)... and the conductor slid my CC, asked how much, etc...

So I was charged $19 for initial purchase over the phone, then refunded it when I changed to on-board pickup, and charged $19 on the train :cool:

Now I just need to find the ticket and mail it in for my AGR's :p

Just know that some conductors don't know how/won't add any appropriate discounts if you have to pay on the train.