Originally Posted by
jackal
I would not guess it would be a problem. Not only would the conductor not care (certainly not enough to go in and un-lift the ticket--why would he do that, since that would give you the ride for free--or, even more of a hassle, call Amtrak's space control department and have them edit your ticket), he really has no way of finding out that you got off early unless you have a very memorable name and face.
I think the question is more about getting on late, not getting off early. If you get on 20 minutes after your trip is scheduled to start, and don't get your ticket scanned until then, there is some risk of your ticket getting cancelled--but I think this is a low risk. I've only taken two round trips since e-tickets came in, but both returns involved travel out of NYP, where it typically takes at least 20-30 minutes for the conductors to scan everyone's ticket. I had no issues. If the ticket gets cancelled as a no-show, you can give your reservation number and show the printout of your e-ticket--I can't believe you'd get thrown off the train.
So far on this thread no one has reported actual problems resulting from this issue.