Palal

You need a ticket to bypass the ticket gates at the EWR station.

snod08

true true,,,anecdotal reports in this thread suggest that the NJT gatekeepers will let you on the platform for amtrak...only if you can show evidence that you are going on amtrak that day ....and there is some problem with the kiosk.

snod08

yes...

ErnestTraveler

ZFV Pickup Update: As others have mentioned, please allow for issues to be resolved when trying to pick up the Amtrak ticket @ ZFV. I dropped the in-laws off @ ZFV for them to catch the ZFV-EWR leg on a return and Continental had them booked on a non-existant 3:56pm train out of ZFV. The kiosk said it could not find the reservation. Luckily, I hadn't gone to far and they called me back for assistance.

The Amtrak 800 phone representative said they couldn't find the reservation because there was no 3:56pm departure and told me to call Continental. Continental wasn't helpful as they kept insisting there was such a train. After waiting in the long line at the service counter on Memorial Day, the issue wasn't resolved until a supervisor was called over and with 10 minutes worth of keystrokes the in-laws were put on a later train that actually existed.

Luckily, they had a 4 hour layover in EWR so taking a later train wasn't an issue for them but if you are cutting it tight then you would want to pick up your ticket early. The whole process took about 60 minutes due call wait times and the long lines due to the holiday.

Continental should really provide flyers with the Amtrak reservation number because (as others have mentioned), if you don't have an Amtrak reservation number then the majority of the Amtrak representatives don't know how to help you.

In the end, it appears that Continental's system didn't account for Monday being a holiday and trains running on a different schedule. On a normal weekday there appears to be a 3:57 pm departure as Amtrak 94.

ijgordon

Hmm, how far in advance did they purchase the ticket? I wonder if an Amtrak schedule change (not that the holiday schedule shouldn't have been loaded in the first place) didn't sync with the CO reservation.

LAX

Most NJT gatekeepers are well aware of the issues with CO codeshares on Amtrak. The last few times I had issues that couldn't get resolved over the phone, I was allowed through without problem. In fact, the gatekeeper even commented on how amazing it was for neither CO or Amtrak to work out the issues that apparently has been ongoing for a while.

LAX

joshwex90

Then what's stopping someone from accessing the platform for free by simply claiming "the kiosk can't find my reservation"?? (Not saying that's the end of the world, or why someone would even care that much..)

LAX

I supposed the gatekeepers can always ask to see the receipt. I was never asked, though. Besides, the conductors always check tickets once onboard, so letting someone onto the platform isn't really letting someone ride for free.

LAX

joshwex90

Well isn't it the same platform for NJ Transit? Someone in theory could ride without paying the fee to access the station (while still paying for the ticket)

marklyon

I tried my first ZFV trip today. I was motivated by the significant cost differential between ZFV and EWR for the same flight, but ran into trouble. Lessons learned:

1) It is not possible to alter your train reservation in any way. Most of the agents I spoke with today, including the PPlat line, didn't know much if anything about the train. One agent said he had no clue CO offered train service.
2) Don't expect the people at Amtrak to help. They gave me a phone number, but refused to do anything to help me (including talking to the person at the CO PPlat line - "we don't get in the middle of stuff"). I checked in at T-24. My reservation was in the computer but not marked as paid. So, Amtrak would not issue the ticket.
3) Everyone at CO tried to indicate that it wasn't paid because my travel agent didn't pay Amtrak. That is not how this works, though. Nobody could promise that Amtrak would be "paid" and able to issue my ticket tomorrow.
4) CO sends one daily update to Amtrak. They can't make changes mid-day.

My original itinerary was ZFV (Sunday @ 10:19) -> EWR (11:23) == EWR (12:3) -> RDU (2:15). The EWR>RDU flight is Colgan. I wanted to change to the 6:30AM ExpressJet flight. To do that, though, I needed to Same Day Change my train to Saturday night, have a short stop at EWR, then change to the early morning CO flight. The ZFV flight was more than $1,000 cheaper than the same flight originating at EWR.

I checked in at 10:19 on Saturday. Then, I called the PPlat line to make the change. They were unable to alter the train, and could not change my second segment until I completed or moved the train. I asked if I could go to the station now and take the train and was told yes.


Philadelphia from the Train by marklyon, on Flickr

I took the 1PM Saturday train from NYP to ZFV. The trip was uneventful and relaxing. Once I arrived, I went up to the quick ticket kiosk and entered my info. It didn't find me by my flight info, but did find me when I selected the train and destination. Only, it demanded I pay up.

I went to the counter. They again looked it up and saw that it was reserved, but unpaid. The counter person said they always have problems with the CO tickets and that I should just pay and demand to be reimbursed at EWR. That sounded like a bad idea.


Philadelphia 30th St Train Station by marklyon, on Flickr

I called CO. I talked to several people, all of whom were unable to do anything with the train. They insisted my travel agent owed Amtrak money (even though CO was fully paid - I checked my card), or that it was against the rules for me to take a different train (I intended to print tomorrow's ticket and take the next train with the same class of service back to EWR (actually, staying on to NYP or getting on NJT at EWR).

I gave up on the phone and went looking for a supervisor at Amtrak. They all basically said nothing could be done, though someone did print out the record of my reservation (showing all the details and that it was unpaid). CO Pays $46 for that route.

I called the PPlat line again and got someone who attempted to be helpful. She got the Amtrak reservation number (not my CO PNR) and I matched it to what they had printed out. She indicated that it might not be settled until the evening, but could not promise that if I did this trip again tomorrow that anything would be different when I went to pick up my ticket.

I stressed the importance of getting to my destination on time, and told her I made a special trip to ZFV for this. She asked why I didn't book from EWR and I explained the cost difference. She then offered - as a one time courtesy - to remove the ZFV>EWR segment from my ticket if I would get myself to the airport. I also lost the extra 500 miles that would have come from that portion of the trip. But, everything is good and I didn't need to stay in Philadelphia (which my wife appreciates).


Philadelphia Regional Train by marklyon, on Flickr

On the way back, instead of buying a last minute $109 Amtrak ticket or waiting until a 5PM train with a $49 fare, I decided to take the SEPTA/NJ Transit route. This requires changing trains at Trenton, but was easy and comfortable. It was also significantly cheaper. There was, however, a significant time impact. Because of all the stops, this route took almost three hours instead of one and a half.

I didn't get a chance to do my SDC, and probably won't. I'm back in NYC and need to run an errand or two before my flight tomorrow (since I didn't get back home in time).

snod08

most useful update!^

mnmag

I am finding that CO doesn't 'buy' the tkt from Amtrak until T-24 (of the train), so can't even call Amtrak to get their PNR/conf. # until then!

snod08

Thats so strange!
How do they get the ticket so cheap for 49$ or whatever.?? (last minute fares for ZFV-EWR can be as high as 100$ plus).

deltame

For me, it was economical to transfer some CO miles into Amtrak points (1:1 ratio) and then redeem Amtrak points for "occasional" last minute travel on Amtrak: 3000 pts on 1-way travel on Northeast Regional (or 8000pts on Acela). This kind of reward travel on Amtrak can be redeemed online, even just a few hours prior to departure time. I've done this between BOS-NYP and separately NYP-WAS, the points price would be the same for BOS-WAS. Do keep in mind it might take days to transfer CO miles into Amtrak points.

mnmag

It's a 'bulk' purchase -- so prob a spec contract deal b/w CO & Amtrak ($46)!