Taking a later train?
 

I haven't taken Amtrak in quite a few years, and I have a quick question:

If is ok if i miss my morning train and grab a later one and just use my earlier train ticket? I did this quite a few times while taking Amtrak in undergrad. Or do they use scanner or some policy now that prohibits this now?

Thanks!!

I can't say for every station, but at smaller stations (such as KIN or NLC) WITHOUT GATE AGENTS, I have just boarded and the Conductor took my ticket with no problem. :) However, at large stations (such as NYP, BOS or PHL) WITH GATE AGENTS, they check to be sure your ticket is for #95, #93 or whatever. If not, I have been made to go to the ticket window and get a ticket for that train! :(

The policy is that you must have a ticket for the correct date and time for a reserved train that you want to board. If you try to board with your old ticket, you may be denied and forced to exchange your ticket or you may be allowed to board.

You are taking a risk, but I would bet that many on this board have also taken similar risks before. It's up to you.

Unless it's an unreserved train (these routes are very few and far between), you would need to change your ticket with a ticket agent before boarding the train. When you make the change, you would need to pay the fare difference if there was any - it might be that the two trains are the same price, or you could have to pay more to change, or you might get a refund.

I understand it being a risk, but do they actually scan the tickets on board...or do they still just collect the stubs?

Good point! ^

I think that is all they check is the train number...may make it difficult. I doubt the ticket agen on board would care though.

The conductor doesn't have a scanner, but there's nothing stopping him from just reading the train number off the ticket and insisting you buy a ticket for the actual train.

One strategy you may consider using is booking multiple tickets and only picking up the one you use.

You can always book a ticket and just wait till your ready to board the train to pick it up. You can then call in later, even after the train departed and request a refund. If you haven't picked up your ticket you can get a full refund of regular couch tickets.

What if I print out both tickets? Obviously I will only use one...could I get a refund on the other one, even though I didn't use it?

It is just that time will be at a premium...i only have 10 minutes to get from work to being on board the train.

Thanks!

This isn't legal and I've done it somewhat accidentally a couple times. Once I got a phone call telling me I have to go cancel one. Don't know if they cancel a random one if you don't go do it after the warning.

If you don't print out a ticket you should get automatically refunded. If you print one out and want a refund you'll have to do it at a ticket office.

Well, it's not illegal, at least not in the eyes of the law...

But still, an interesting story. I've done it myself (multiple tickets for the same day) with no problem, and also have never seen anyone reporting getting flagged in this way.

Anything special you were doing, or did you simply get flagged by chance?

This needs some clarification. As for the automatic refund, in the past I have had to call customer service to get a full refund to the original form of payment. That said, things may have changed and refunds may now be processed automatically.

As for printing the ticket, if you print the ticket in advance and want to return if for a refund to the original form of payment, you will have to pay a 10% fee. If you want to apply the value to a future ticket, you can do some without a fee.

I have made multiple bookings a few times in the past and never had any problems. It certainly isn't illegal, but may be it is against the TOS. I read through the TOS here: http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/Conten.../1237748590249

and can't find any reference to it.

I would think it would be pretty easy to get around Amtraks audits for multiple bookings. Just make sure you use seperate accounts if booking online, different credit cards, and maybe throw a shortened or middle name on the ticket. Then if you need to use the second ticket have them change the name so you get your points.

I don't mean illegal from a civil law perspective, I mean against Amtrak rules, or at least I assumed so given the phone call I got. This happened recently so I still have the message on my phone if anybody wants me to post it :p I think the difference between the time I got "caught" and the time I didn't was that when I got caught I was double booked for a trip happening in the next 5-7 days, whereas the other time I remember doing the 2nd booking 1 day out. Theory is that if they have time they'll find it and get you to cancel one. I agree it's probably easy to get around this if you want to not enter your AGR # or morph your name in different ways.