Reserved vs Unreserved
 

Can someone explain this difference between a reserved and an unreserved train?

Friday I had a ticket on a reserved train, but had to search long and hard to find a seat. Yesterday I had a ticket on an unreserved train, and found my seat the same way.

So obviously the seats aren't reserved, just the # sold, right? Does this mean that you could be denied boarding on an unreserved that is too full? Is there anyone out there that this has actually happened to?




[This message has been edited by srodr (edited 09-15-2003).]

When Acela Express was first introduced, they tried to allow passengers to reserve specific seat numbers (just as the airlines do, or European railways), but they gave up.

Currently, a reserved train differs from an unreserved train in that a reserved train sells up to the seated capacity of the train, while the unreserved train can sell in excess of the seated capacity.

As you've discovered, even on reserved trains, you still have to hunt for a seat, and possibly even cajole someone to remove their belonging from an otherwise empty seat.

On an unreserved train, the train can be standing room only, and quite crowded-- and unpleasant for those without seats.

In theory, on a reserved train, Amtrak only sells as many tickets as there are seats, so a seat should be available for you (where that seat may be is another question--as you pointed out, there are no assigned seats, so it's kind of like Southwest Airlines in that regard). Now, a usually reliable source told me that Amtrak does practice overselling with respect to reserved trains, at least within the Northeast Corridor, but I have no positive proof or evidence of that.

For an unreserved train, Amtrak will sell as many tickets as they can. In fact, in the markets that have unreserved trains, you can buy an unreserved ticket that is not linked to any specific train, but merely covers the passage between two points--quite like buying a commuter rail ticket. Indeed, Amtrak actually sells monthly commuter "flash" passes in some of their short-haul markets that allow the holder to board any unreserved train (within the passes validity, of course). There is no denied boarding, as the trains can run over-capacity--in other words, people will be standing (or doing whatever else people do when there are no seats available). This is frequently the case during holiday periods, specifically Thanksgiving weekend.

I should have also added that a ticket on a reserved train usually, but does not absolutely guarantee you a seat. In rare instances, usually because of equipment shortages, a coach might be removed from a consist at the last minute, leaving the reserved train in an oversold situation. However, quite like the unreserved train, Amtrak will operate this train as standing-room only (their official policy, from their web site, "Each passenger paying a fare will be entitled to a seat, to the extent coach seats are available.").

As you might imagine, in cases like this, Amtrak does not always end up with happy customers...

On longer distance reserved trains, the remedy I've seen for an oversold train is to put people into the lounge car until seats free up down the line (usu. a stop or two).

Also, on some of the long distance routes, I've actually been assigned a particular seat by the coach attendant as I board - but this seems to be at the preference of the particular train crew and is the exception rather than the norm.

I loathe and despise this practice, as the train crew will randomly assign you a seat without regard to your seating preference (i.e. window or aisle). Since it is random (though certain trains are more likely to offer this (dis)service), one never knows when one may come across it on long distance trains.

Apparently Amtrak agrees with me that this is a customer unfriendly practice; they issued me a voucher equal to the fare I paid between Miami and Wildwood when I was randomly assigned a seat and the staff made no effort to consider my seating preference.


[This message has been edited by Globehopper (edited 09-15-2003).]

A friend of mine had this happen to her on the Silver Meteor from Rocky Mount. NC at 3:00 AM (2 hours late) and she could not get a REAL coach seat until Washington, DC. She found it practically impossible to sleep in the lounge car seats, but thnkfully was able finally get some sleep from DC to New York.

reserved coach seat
 

I think I see: it is the 'coach' that is reserved, not the 'seat'.

I'd note that there are children who were born in this thread's dormancy who are now licensed to drive. A few things have changed since then.

Reserved vs. unreserved basically boils down to "best effort to ensure a seat is available for every ticket sold" vs. "no such effort".

In the 16+ years since the last posts, nearly all of the unreserved trains have gone away: I believe the only ones left are the Keystones west of Philadelphia and the Springfield Shuttles between New Haven and Springfield. Both of those are in a gray area between commuter rail and Intercity rail.

With the rise of internet purchasing and especially mobile apps, the NEC services seem to be moving toward assigned seating.

On longer distance trains, conductors will often try to assign passengers to coaches by destination. If nothing else, having all passengers who will be reboarding between midnight and 6am in the same coach minimizes the number of passengers who get woken up or jostled by another passenger getting off the train.

Sleeper accomodations are auto-assigned at ticketing. I forget if it's even possible to change the assignment, though in principle the Acela selection system should be applicable.

Indeed.

Going to lock this one up.

Rick welcome to flyertalk please feel free to start a new thread if you would like to discuss this further.

hhdl Thank you for your summary of the changes since the early 2000s.