I went back home for my Thanksgiving Break and was given my ticket at the Providence station where I boarded from, they gave me both my departure and return ticket. While at home my ticket was in my room on my desk and my baby cousin came in without me knowing and ripped up my ticket to shreds. No lies. So I thought I would be able to get a new ticket at the station I'd be leaving from when going back to school. But was told that I had to pay $91 for another ticket since I lost it. I find this to be ridiculous since first of all it's a ticket and I'm sure it's not that hard to reprint it. Second of all, I don't think it's right to give passengers their departure AND return ticket on the same day. I know other's may think of it differently but I saw online that if my ticket wasn't ripped up to shreds and it was just lost then I would be able to file for a refund. However, it said that it would be a $75 service charge PLUS 10% of the ticket fare. So basically 10% of $91 is $9.10+$75=$84.10. Subtract that from $91 and I basically get $6.90 back. This is just plain ridiculous with Amtrak, the only thing I really hate about them now.

Amtrak tickets have cash value, which is why this is an issue. You might consider presenting all the shreds to them.

As soitgoes has already noted, the ticket has cash value. Of course they are not charging you $91 for the little piece of paper the ticket is printed on; they are charging you $91 because you could have easily sold the ticket for $91 to someone else, told Amtrak that your cousin ripped it to shreds, and then tried to bilk the company out of another one. Why should they trust you? Maybe showing them the torn pieces would work.

A little ridiculous. First of all, if you're that bad at keeping track of tickets, you could have booked your trip as two one-ways (same price) and pulled each ticket right before the trip. Secondly, not that long ago, ALL travel tickets were issued on paper, all at the same time for round-trips, and people managed to hang onto them just fine. Finally, it's hardly Amtrak's fault that you let the ticket get destroyed--take some responsibility.

Indeed--the same thing would have happened with AA, UA, DL, and any other carriers just a decade ago--before the advent of electronic ticketing. Basically, what you had in your hand the ticket itself, not just a copy, so it's not a matter of reprinting the ticket.

What I do find odd is the refund policy. I seem to recall there being no service charge (the 10% refund fee did apply), but you had to wait for a year so Amtrak could ensure the ticket was not used in that time (since tickets are valid for travel or exchange for up to a year after the initial travel date).

Also, Amtrak gives passengers both tickets on a round-trip itinerary in part because many times, the return is from an unstaffed station, where you would not have the ability to pick up a ticket.

Seriously??

The current lost ticket refund policy does include a $75 service charge, but does not require a one year wait (indeed, the request must be submitted within one year of ticket issue).
http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/BlobSe...RefundForm.pdf

The 10% fee can be avoided if one chooses to receive a travel voucher in lieu of a cash refund. Also, the 10% applies only to the remainder *after* the $75 fee, so on a $91 ticket, one could get either a $16 voucher or a $14.40 refund.

I actually do take responsibility for my actions. I'm not trying to not take responsibility for the ticket being destroyed. I'm just not fond of their policy regarding the ticket.

(Emphasis mine)

Was it, then, different in the past? Am I misremembering/hallucinating/going senile, or was I right but just haven't kept up on the latest policy change?

The main issue with the paper tickets is that they predate electronic processing so they are intended to have value themselves. The conductor doesn't have to check that the piece of paper is valid or not; that's why they're printed on tamper-resistant paper.

Airlines can do electronic ticketing because every airport has staff and a computer to scan the boarding passes to ensure they reflect a real, unused reservation. Amtrak, unfortunately, doesn't have this. Even if the conductors had some sort of scanner, they'd require a constant data link to Amtrak HQ which would be difficult and/or expensive in many areas.

The ticket that was ripped up by your cousin was valued at $91. It had a value os that much. If your cousin got a hold of your wallet, and ripped a $100 bill to shreds, would you contact the US Treasury and expect them to pay your hotel bill or buy your gas at the gas station?

So why should Amtrak give you another ticket?

As pointed out, only a few years ago, airlines gave you paper tickets, and gave you both tickets at one time! In fact, you may have even gone to a travel agent and got the tickets 6 months even before your outbound flight!

I have to give some sympathy to the original poster. Amtrak should have instituted e-tickets, tickets and check-in by cell phone and the like years ago (airlines wouldn't have done it unless they saved money, and so surely Amtrak will save money with those things)- but it looks like something's in the works though:

http://www.gatewayticketing.com/pr/r...sReleaseID=121

http://www.utu.org/worksite/detail_n...rticleID=33998

Agree wholeheartedly, but as alanh posted, the logistics are actually a bit more difficult with trains, since they are constantly on the move, often through very rural areas with little or no cellular coverage.

There are ways Amtrak could get around that (piggyback on the railroad radio systems which cover those more rural areas, or make sure to do all ticket processing at stations and have wired infrastructure at the stations themselves, although that would impose some potential delays when boarding large numbers of people), but all are costly and not quick to implement.

Looking forward to when it happens, though!

Wirelessly posted (SAMSUNG-SGH-I617/1.0 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.6) UP.Link/6.3.1.20.06.3.1.20.0)

Sorry to quote more than I intend; posting from my phone.

The Treasury will actually reimburse you for your torn-up (or burned-up, or water-damaged) $100...I think it was on the History Channel where I saw a program about the Treasury, FRB, BEP, etc. and there was a short segment about a small department that does nothing but determine the value of mutilated notes, then reimburse the bearer for that full value, without charing any kind of fee. IIRC the rule is that any note at least 51% extant has its full value.

I don't at all intend to defend the OP; the Treasury has the resources for that, as opposed to Amtrak.

Excuses, excuses! (I know, I have the same problem when I'm using the phone.)

It is 51%, but when I read the OP, I took "ripped to shreads" to mean it was destroyed and he/she could only find some small portion.

Even if Amtrak did what the Treasury does, I highly doubt that you could take a bag full of shreads down to your staffed local small town station and get a new ticket for the train departing in 40 minutes! I think they would have to be sent to someplace, and it may take many weeks or months to get a new ticket. That would not help you for today's departure!