Originally Posted by
nerd
Even if there is one room left, that doesn't mean you will be able to book it. I don't know what the situation is called, but it happened to me last summer on the CZ -- I was booking travel a week out and several trains were showing 1 room left, but the reservation agents weren't actually able to book me into the room(s).
There is a "bug" for lack of a better word in ARROW that can occur where it shows a room left, but an unskilled agent can't book the room because they don't understand the error message that comes up.
Basically what can happen is that room #5 is available from say NYP to Greenville, SC. and room #7 is available from Spartenburg, SC. to New Orleans. ARROW misunderstands this scenario and shows that 1 room is available from NYP to NOL. However, when the agent goes to pull the room, the system will balk because its not the same room for the entire ride.
Now a good agent will understand the error message and can offer you a through ticket, provided you want to change rooms mid-journey. Now in my scenario the change happens in the middle of the night and many would probably not want to do that; even if a few are amenable. But the change point could also happen during daylight hours, or even early evening hours, in which case the move would be more palatable.
If one encounters this situation and the agent can't figure it out or won't; ask for a supervisor as suggested by Anthony. Failing that, then the best option is for one to play with the booking engine to see if you can figure out where the room change must occur. Then armed with that knowledge, most agents can figure out how to book the trip with the room swap enroute.
If one gets a good agent, then as Anthony stated, they should be able to book the trip for you assuming that you agree with the change of rooms enroute.