Originally Posted by
jackal
I've also always wondered, but have been able to actually see, what Amtrak's reservation system would do in the event that there is not one single room open for the entire route--but that there is always at least one room of any given room type open on any given segment along the full route. Does Amtrak just shut down and say "No rooms available"? That's my suspicion.
Actually, ARROW will show that a room is available. However, when you actually go to book the room, it will fail and you'll get some goofy error code. I don't remember what it is anymore. But I have hit that very situation.
I was trying to book the EB from Chicago to Portland and ARROW kept showing a room as available, but every time the AGR agent tried to book the room for me, they were unable. Eventually, with the help of a friend who used to work for Amtrak, we figured out that there was a room available from Chicago to Whitefish IIRC. And another room available from like 2 stops before Whitefish to Portland. One was on the upper level, the other on the lower level.
But since it wasn't the same room for the entire trip I wanted, ARROW refused to book the room. Once I understood what the problem was, I called up AGR again and instructed the agent to pull room 14 from CHI to WFH and room 8 from WFH to PDX which they did and I got my trip.
I have subsequently even seen a situation where it required changing the room twice in order to book the trip. In that case however, one of the changes occurred around 3AM so the person I was trying to help decided to pass.