Hi,

I tend to be more a flyer, but do take Amtrak about 2-3x a year.

I've noticed that if you make lets say a same day time change to a different train, Amtrak station agents tend to follow the official procedure, and ofr instance will even charge you $.20 extra if that is what the computer shows the new rail fare is for the changed train. I'm also not sure if a passenger presents themself to an Amtrak station agent having missed a train, if they honor any kind of official or unofficial flat tire rule. My sense is they tend not too....?

I'm not surprised that the Amtrak call center is strict (the airlines are too) but I'm a little surprised station agents don't seem to waive fare differences much?

Where as airlines, while not wanting to advertise it, will usually reacccommodate a pax who misses a flight who arrives with in 2 hours of the scheduled departure (can even be longer at the discretion of the ticket or gate agent).

Sometimes an airline particularly at the airport will rebook a pax in Y class (full fare, most expensive) and will just adjust the ticket so that the pax is not charged the applicable fare difference or the change fee. This tends to happen most with elite passengers on the airlines, and or for those passengers who can for whatever reason build a rapport with the airline airport agent. The airport agents seem to have huge and broad discretion and authority to handle any number of unusual situations such as reaccommodating a pax from a different city like changing a BWI pax to DCA, handling date changes, and even (if they want too) reaccommodating a pax on another airline even when the situation or underlying cause is not the airlines "fault." For instance once time I got incorrect subway directions and arrived at ORD late on an airline that was not one of the (AA UA) dominate ORD carriers. The ticket agent would have been able to book me on said airline but with a lengthy connection arriving at my destination at say midnight or later. He asked me if that would be too late, and I said yes that this connection was not optimal, and presto after just a bit of typing, he put me on AA or UA nonstop.

But again, I've found on balance (I'm sure there are exceptions) that Amtrak agents tend to be sticklers for fare rules & procedures. I'm curious if the rest of you have seen differences in this regard between Amtrak and the US air carriers especially for elites in either program?

I have also incidentally found that in Europe, based on my own anecdotal experience and observations, that ticket agents tend to be stricter and do things by the book, instead of being more flexible (waiving things) like their USA counterparts.

In my own Amtrak trip experiences, the fare differences usually have not been that high, for instance $8. However, the principle that they would charge me $.20 or $8 or $25 or $400 doesn't leave me happy, especially when it appears in contrast with just a few taps on their keyboard an airline agent (whether its technically "allowed" or not) can waive hundreds of dollars of supposed additional fare say if you miss your flight and they rebook you in Y.

I psychologically feel better about the company if they waive something like this, and I'm more likely to want to do business (give them money) if they waived something or did me a favor.

For those of you curious like me, how do these airline agents waive all that....? Usually they just do a transaction in their system that would normally be used to accommodate a pax in a weather, maintenance, or other airline caused irregular operation. For instance, often your rebooked ticket will show "INVOL" in the endorsement box, short for Involuntary Reroute. At some airlines electronic ticket coupons can be electronically "revalidated" or "re-synced," which of course is a throwback to paper ticket jargon relating to actual paper revalidation stickers. In the "old days," a ticket agent would often "sticker a ticket," to change it, or just as often just cross out the flight/date, etc. and write in the new one with a pen or magic marker.