bwb6df

My apologies if this has been posted, but Amtrak changed their policy about purchasing tickets on board recently. In the past, if you had a valid reservation that you had not yet paid for, you could pay the quoted fare to the conductor and complete your purchase on the train (paying a nominal fee if a ticket office was open at the originating station).

Today, only full, non-discounted fares are sold on the train, no matter what sort of reservation or fare quote you had. To get any sort of discount, you must pay for your reservation BEFORE you board the train.

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/Conten...=1241267371699

nerd

I've purchased onboard many times, since, previous to etickets, that was the only way to travel from an unstaffed station when receiving tickets in the mail was not an option.

Now that you can e-ticket, this new rule shouldn't affect most pax, right?

DaxOmni

Well, if you're used to paying with cash from a non-staffed location, which is what most Amtrak stops are at this point, you'd be hard pressed to buy an e-ticket prior to boarding. Which means every trip you pay with cash will be full fare from here on out. No early reservation discounts, no on-board upgrades, just full fare for everything.

calwatch

The interesting thing is, however, "full fare" may not necessarily be high bucket. It's just the bucket available at the time the train has departed. I saw the conductor sell fares to a couple of ex-cons that got out of Corcoran State Prison (in California) with cash, and they sold them the fare that was in the current bucket (low bucket) at the time. So for someone who purchased, say, seven days in advance, Amtrak feels it is reasonable for them to have paid for the ticket before boarding. In the old days, fare quotes were valid for only three days before they had to be paid for anyway.

rmadisonwi

My understanding is that full fare is high bucket, not going rate. If you want the going rate, you have to book some way other than paying the conductor.

GoAmtrak

I guess this is now another way it's expensive to be poor (or, perhaps, Amish).

gatelouse

Perhaps, but one can always book over the phone, pay in cash at a staffed station or with a debit/prepaid card over the phone, and show ID to the conductor in lieu of an eTicket printout. No smartphone, computer, or credit card necessary.

The Amish would indeed require an advance trip to a staffed station to book and pay in person!

calwatch

I was sitting next to the ex-cons and heard the fares quoted, and then looked them up online the next day for a date out a few weeks. They were the low bucket rates ($8.50 for Corcoran to Hanford and $39 for Corcoran to San Francisco, with the conductor indicating all the possible stations in SF the ex-con could go to). For the San Francisco trip, high bucket is $71 (i.e. on Wednesday before Thanksgiving) and I know he was not charged that amount. The San Joaquin only reaches the high bucket on holiday weekends - I traveled on a Saturday morning and all of the tickets, even purchased two hours in advance, on my train were low bucket. They were not asked for ID either, although it was obvious where they come from since they had a clear plastic bag of their personal belongings and a wad of cash, presumably saved up from working at the prison industry.

rmadisonwi

How long ago did you see the onboard sale? The policy change is very recent.

calwatch

Just last Saturday.

SkyBuck

Many Amish do now have cell phones, though the rules vary by district. Others have landline phones in an outbuilding, or simply borrow a phone from a friend or neighbor. I'd be surprised if the new policy presents a significant hardship to them.

alanh

I'm still not sure the full, unrestricted, undiscounted fare is the same as high bucket. They may just mean that AAA, AARP, NARP, and any other discount don't apply.

calwatch

Based on my experience seeing the conductor charge the individuals listed above, that is the case. It is the bucket that is charged upon boarding the train, not any higher bucket. Most trains outside the northeast never reach the highest bucket in coach except during holidays and a few days during the summer.