Originally Posted by
jackal
... With Amtrak, there is no such thing as an e-ticket; all tickets are paper. Therefore, until you print your ticket out at a Quik-Trak machine or with a station agent, you technically do not have a ticket--you have a held, paid-for reservation that has not been ticketed. The moment your ticket is printed, your reservation is then ticketed (and then subject to further restrictions on refunds--90% refunds in normal cases or no refunds in the case of the 14-day nonrefundable fares).
I'm not sure how it is affecting refund status, but you should be aware that Amtrak is slowly moving to e-tickets. As of right now, when you book a ticket online, it is "issued" as an electronic ticket as soon as you pay for it, and then when you print out the ticket it is behind the scenes exchanging that e-ticket for a paper ticket that you can use to travel.
So far, only the Auto Train offers ticketless checkin and travel (see
http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/Conten...=1248543222421 ) but as far as I know, every advance paid reservation technically now starts as an e-ticket.
(You'll note on the paper ticket that the date of issue listed on the paper ticket now reflects the date you make the reservation/purchase; before, that date of issue was the date the physical ticket was printed.)
But, like I said, it seems to be people's experience that the issuance of the e-ticked with purchase does not affect the ability to get a refund....