Originally Posted by
XFed2001
My wife and I have tried out the AutoTrain sleepers and found them not worth the extra bucks. We thought we found an answer: buy an extra coach seat so that we could at least try and stretch out over the two seats and their leg rests. It now appears that Amtrak won't allow the purchase of a second seat. My question is: how would Amtrak do if I bought a seat for me and a accompanying companion while my wife did the same. I seriously doubt that anyone would seek to buy a coach seat and a car reservation 2 hours before departure. So, when I check in (2 hours before departure) and the adjoining seat that I paid for is empty (because of a no-show companion), what will Amtrak do? Refund the cost of my companion's seat OR allow me to keep it since I paid for it already? Wouldn't Amtrak want to keep the cost of the seat as opposed to allowing the train to leave the station with an empty seat and no revenue for it? What do you Autotrain riders think?
I can see two potential problems with your idea. The first problem would not have been a problem, pre 9/11. That of course is the photo ID requirement, and they do check everyone at the AT for some reason when you check in. They even make you bring all adults up to the check-in area with their ID's.
Now I can't say what Amtrak would do at that point, but I'm betting that it could set off a few alarm bells unfortunately, that there are two no shows at the last minute yet their traveling companions show up. This could be deemed a terrorist's trick, pretend to be a family, but then leave them behind so that they don't get killed.
I could see Amtrak cancelling your entire reservation and preventing you from traveling. Now if you hit the right person, then would probably understand the logic, laugh it off and give you your two seats.
It's at that point that the second problem could crop up. If you get there early enough, you'll avoid this potential problem, but if you are near the end of check-in, you might find out that they no longer have two seats side by side. So you could find that your extra seat is 20 rows away, and that of course would defeat the purpose. And if the train is sold out and a family is split up, an attendant seeing you with an empty seat could make you move so that he/she can better accomodate the family.
So try this at your own risk......