miketest

I need to fly from Austin to Newark this week end. I am not getting a good deal for this. However, if I search for Austin to Philadelphia, I am getting a good deal with the following itinerary.

Austin to Newark --> Contintental Airline
Newark to Philadelphia --> Amtrak Train

Philadelphia to Newark --> Amtrak Train
Newark to Austin --> Continental Airline

Can I buy this ticket and not take the train trip at all? Will there be a problem on my return because I skipped a portion (the train portion) of the itinerary? Please advice. Thanks.

fly co to see the yanks

Please search on "ZFV*" using the Search button in the upper right. you'll get plenty of info.

miketest

Thanks for the response. I have read a lot and most of the information has been updated more than a year back. So, I am not sure what to believe. Now I understand that I cant skip the train segments.

I have thought about many options

- take amtrak train and get down at metropark.
- or get the amtrak ticket and not board the train.

and looks like none of them would work because I still need to board the train at ZFV for my return. I am still not clear if I can just do online check-in and show up at the airport. My return flight is 3 hours after the train. Would CO have the info that I didnt board the train at ZFV?

So, I have decided to take train. But I would need a rental car at ZFV. Please let me know whether there is rental car facility at ZFV.

On my return trip, I am planning to board the train at ZFV but get off at Metropark and go to the airport for my flight which is after 4 hours. Hope this would be fine. Let me know. Thanks.

J.Edward

It may also be useful to book the ticket as one ways.

Hartmann

Why don't you book AUS-PHL as a one-way, then ZFV-EWR or NYC as a one-way, then EWR-AUS as a one-way?

Or just book AUS-PHL and then separately book ZFV to EWR on Amtrak.com?

sbm12

Booked as two o/w trips you'll only have to take the train from ZFV to EWR, but you could reasonably safely skip the outbound train segment. Booking ZFV-EWR isn't an option, as far as I know, and the point of doing it on the return was to get the better PHL-AUS fare, not just to get the extra credit for the train trip.

craz

I havent played with ZFV for a few yrs. The last time there werent any Unrestricted trains, meaning you must ride the train that the tkt has on it or get it changed before getting on board at the tkt office of Amtrak.(it used to be if a train was Unrestricted a person was able to simply board and present whatever tkt that he was holding).

The most important thing is to make sure if you plan to get off or onto the tarin besides at ZFV or EWR that the train you are assigned to will actually Stop at the station you want. I do remember that not all trains stopped at the same stations

miketest

Thanks for the advice on One Way tickets. I am getting the same deal even if make it two one way trips.

I am pretty sure that I can take the flight from AUS to EWR and skip the train. My dad did that last week.

For my return, there is a train that leaves ZFV at 12:20 and reaches EWR at 1:20. My flight out of EWR is at 2:35 PM. If I skip the train portion, do you think CO would know about it? Does Amtrak update CO that quickly? Please let me know. Thanks.

KENNECTED

I guess this thread applies - even if the infrormation is "dated".

The Ultimate ZFV (Philadelphia) / Amtrak - CO FAQ

I don't understand starting new threads on existing discussion. Posting information in an existing thread (therefore updating it) would seem beneficial to all users of the forum.

craz

No one that I know has tried the ZFV game in awhile. As you can see if you click onto the thread CE highlighted in his above post, you will read that towards the end of the thread people were being denied boarding at EWR if they in fact didnt get their tkt at ZFV and ride the train. I did try my last time (2-3 yrs ago) to get the tkt and see if I could get onto the train that leaves right after midnight (last train till next morn), I wasnt able to get the Amtrak Quick machine to print out my tkt. A good thing I had a car waiting outside as I didnt want to take the assigned train. I had no problems at EWR and took my flight out West. However I found out the next day that CO Canceled my return tkt since I was a no-show. Once I was able to convince the agent that I did in fact fly with CO and since I wasnt able to print my tkt at ZFV I was afraid that the next day I would have the same problem so I headed to NY with a lift with someone who just missed their 12am train.

You will be rolling the Dice if you so chose to skip any train that you are suppose to take. Please if you do Update the thread so that we will know whats happenin. Personally I wouldnt chance it as at the end of it all, a number of people were being denied boarding when they presented their Boarding Pass at the gate and missed their flight and had to hang out and get rebooked onto a later flight. I dont remember anyone not being able to fly in the end but there were people who in fact were not allowed to board the flight they were to be on.

With that said CO as most Carriers are flying alot fuller today then back then, so you might have to overnight it at EWR if you are denied boarding and nothing else is available that day, heck CO could even fee you to death in order to get onto a flight the next day or charge you the difference between the lowest fare available and the one you paid for. Or nothing may happen. So picking up the tkt at a different station and not getting on at ZFV is really no different then not taking the tain at all. Having a AUS-IAH-CLE-EWR tkt and simply showing up at CLE is the samething

FWIW I did the ZFV thing a number of times, I havent done it in a few yrs, CO and AGR were in fact talking to each other, guess if a tkt isnt picked up at ZFV the machine(computer alerts CO 1-2-3) on the inbound nothing CO can do but Id still take the Airtrain at EWR to get the tkt. Heck since the tkts were good for a yr you might beable to get to EWR early enough to ride the train to ZFV with the tkt from your inbound flight , then get your new tkt especially if the tkts are on different PNRs and ride the train as you were suppose to EWR and then catch your flight out of EWR. It will mean wasting an hr riding to ZFV but make sure you leave enough time to get your tkt and catch teh train back to EWR. Remember you must go to the Amtrak counter at the end of the Airtrain line and have the agent switch the tkt from the date is was for originally to whatever that date is, you cant simply board any train any time.

Most people back when were starting at ZFV, since you will be inbounding to ZFV my above suggestion might just work for You, but you will be wasting alot of time riding back and forth the day of your outbound from EWR. If the savings arent substanial Id pass on the whole thing

JohnneeO

That should work. Last year, I had a family member that only needed to travel one way from CMH to EWR. The CMH-ZFV fare was $100 less than the CMH-EWR fare, on the same CMH-EWR flight. She booked the CMH-ZFV fare, and never even picked up the EWR-ZFV ticket. If you did this on two one way tickets, your return should be protected if you ditch your first train leg. But you would need to get down to ZFV to totally protect your return.

fly co to see the yanks

one would think....