calwatch

Well, my friend missed the Sunset Limited at LA Union Station because he left his jacket somewhere, so I drove him to Pomona and boarded it there. Ticket scanned and he was given the seat check with no problems. Ironically the train left LAUS about 20 minutes late for some unknown reason, so we could have made it there.

tolkiennut

Recently had a conflict come up and couldn't make 2 of my reservations. One had already passed, but another was for later in the day.

The upcoming one was easily changed, and I was able to call and do an equal swap, no charge.

The past reservation I had to call Amtrak about and it took a 20 minute hold followed by another 20 minute hold to get a refund process kicked off...

Interesting to note, they said they had my ticket in the system as "lifted" and that the conductor can do a "lift all" regardless of if you present the ticket or not... this caused all kinds of problems and exceptions in processing the refund... made me long for the days of paper.

Also, neither of my 2 new tickets are showing on the iPhone app, although I have the email tickets showing they are linked to my AGR# and profile... not sure if it had to do with being called in? Anyone else missing tickets on the app?

JugglerDave

So it's been two full months. My biggest frustration is that I have no way of knowing how many segments I have used on any given e-Ticket (I put 4 unreserved one-ways on each barcode). There have been at least two instances where the conductor scanned the barcode presented, yet my points have posted listing an entirely different reservation number! Once the start date of the ticket has passed, there seems to be no way to bring up the reservation on "My Trips" either.

NovaEngr

That "Lift All" option is very interesting. One claim for e-ticketing was that Amtrak would have an accurate manifest of passengers on the train (an Amtrak failing noted by the NTSB in several investigations). If conductors can simply tap a button and have all reservations marked as on board, regardless of whether they are or not, that would seem to degrade the accuracy of the system to say who is actually on the train.

RogerD408

Yes, I find that worrisome too. I hope there is some record that the "Lift All" button was used. I would hate to have a ticket showing as used if it wasn't. I buy unreserved tickets in advance and use them during the year. If the conductor should happen to use that button on my originally ticketed train I could be left trying to use a "used" ticket on a latter train. If they know the "Lift All" was used, then there would be reason to doubt.

I called one time (in band camp) about a missing trip and commented they had my return trip dated before I made my outbound journey. The agents were quite confused until a supervisor pointed out the LD trains record all tickets as of the origin of the train and not your travels. So an overnight to Reno on the CZ returns two days before you depart.

AlanB

I don't believe that's something that a conductor can do; lift all.

That's a management tool I think.

ByeByeDelta

I was talking with my local station agents about eTickets a few days ago. Their main gripe is that some tickets are being automatically lifted instead of canceled after train departure. They've had several passengers come in with "unused" tickets that are marked as lifted. This requires a phone call to have the ticket lift reversed to free the value for an exchange.

Don't know if this has anything to do with the nuclear "Lift All" option by conductors or a broader system function operating contrary to published policy. The agents seemed to indicate it was an automatic system function.

dan1431

My Father's LIRR train had a mechanical issues which delayed his arrival into PENN causing him to miss his ACELA to BOS.

He went to CLUB Acela where the agent first tried to exchange his ticket, but that failed as it had already been lifted, which the agent said is happening a lot and she was unsure as to why.

She then had to call on the phone to some sort of support desk which "un-lifted" the ticket and then she was able to put him on a later departure.

All in all, if tickets can be lifted without being scanned, there is a flaw in the system.

Dan

TakeTheATrain

I'm taking New Haven to Boston on Acela. I was thinking about booking Stamford to Boston in order to qualify for the Acela 500 points city pairs (and x2 due to the promotion). With the new e-ticketing system, I'm thinking that it may be too risky since it's a 40 minute ride between Stamford and New Haven and I don't want my reservation to get cancelled. Any thoughts?

NovaEngr

An article about e-ticketing in this month's Trains magazine says that Amtrak is now allowing two hours between departure from the ticketed station and the scan before the reservation is cancelled. The reason stated was to permit boarding at a station down the line. It is not confirmed (as in someone trying), but it sounds like this problem may be solved.

tickets please

I recently redeemed some of my AGR points for travel by a family member. While the eTicket has my family member's name on it, it lists my AGR number. Until now, I hadn't redeemed an award for travel by someone other than myself. Is this mismatch an idiosyncracy of eTicketing, or has this always been the case?

AlanB

If you booked a ticket for yourself, then your number always appeared on the ticket. Booking for someone else, no I don't 'believe that your number would have appeared.

amamba

Someone on this board has confirmed that they boarded in PVD with a ticket for RTE.

calwatch

I also confirmed boarding in POS for a train originating at LAX, a few weeks ago. So it is possible.

travelmad478

I might need to start a new thread for this one, but will try here. I've got 5 bookings over the next three days (three AGR, two paid). All of them are showing up in the "My Trips" section of the Amtrak iPhone app, but when I go to view them, all five are missing the QR code! I do have the e-mailed reservations for all of them, and the QR codes are included there.

I have gotten very used to using the app as my ticket when the conductors come by, and it has been working great until now. Anyone else seeing this?