Xyzzy

Could you elaborate? Did you have a ticket from the Quik-Track machine or just a CO self-printed boarding pass?

haveric

I posted this awhile back. I was travelling ORD-EWR-ZFV late on a Sunday. Due to t-storms @ ORD, we were delayed out out of ORD. When I got to the Amtrak station @ ORD, there was only one train scheduled for at least 90 minutes, which I got on. Although the train was empty, the conductor kicked me off @ Metropark because I had an unreserved ticket for a reserved train.

themicah

In other words CO issued the proper ticket. You just got on a train for which the ticket wasn't valid.

haveric

Well, I thought this might have been a problem, so when I was @ ORD, I asked if I would be able to get on the first train @ ZFV. Otherwise, I asked to be routed ORD-CLE-PHL. I would hope that the CO-Amtrak arrangement would prevent Amtrak from kicking CO passengers off a near empty train in the middle of the night.

themicah

That sounds reasonable to me, but you have to remember that CO employees generally know nothing about Amtrak, so they probably assumed you could get on the first train (not knowing that there are reserved and unreserved trains and unreserved tickets aren't valid on reserved trains). And Amtrak employees don't really care what CO told you. I assume you were able to get an unreserved train eventually?

PT22064

Does this mean that I can pick up my tickets 24-48 hours in advance of the scheduled train departure? Or do I have to wait until a few hours before. If I pick up the ticket 48 hours in advance at the train station of departure, will Continental consider me "checked in" (i.e., not cancel my itinerary)?

themicah

24 hours in advance shouldn't be a problem. At 48 they might not have the ticket loaded in the system yet. I've picked up tickets 24 hours ahead at a different station, so I would assume they'd be available at ZFV proper 24 hours in advance. But I'm not sure exactly when they get loaded.


I don't think anybody know the answer to this for sure. There have been some indications that CO actually knows whether or not you take the train, and not just whether or not you pick up the ticket. But there's no guarantee one way or the other.

PT22064

Can I pick up my ZFV-EWR ticket at the EWR machine? Or do I have to travel to Philadelphia?

craz

without going into any details there are a few ways to get your tkt. BUT I know for sure that if its before the 24th hr (meaning its 24+ hrs before the actual train time) you will not be able or better put I was Not able to get my tkt at A Quik-Trak machine at EWR for the return trip to ZFV, via the CO button on the machine and that was for a EWR-ZFV return trip.
I was connecting at EWR a day before my return flight to EWR on another tkt that I had nested in the ZFV-XXX trip, and thought Id go and print the tkt so as to save time the next day in case I was delayed on arrival and seeing I had 2 hrs before my next flight it gave me something to do. Yes I was able to print the tkt but not via the CO button, so it could be that unless you in fact get it printed via the CO button and on the day of the train trip at the station you are suppose to leave from,that maybe CO will cancel out your flights. Now if its to return to ZFV and you decide not to and there arent any other flights in conjunction with the tkt then maybe you can simply walk away at EWR. I had done the above before the CO and Amtrak computers were talking to each other, or maybe CO just views to see what who has checked in via its button still that means the 2 computers are in contact, something that wasnt happening in Jan but was in Feb.

To be sure Id advise to get your tkt from the Quik-Trak machine at ZFV on the day you have a tkt to travel, anything else may and has caused cancellations and hassles getting everything reinstated till now, with no promise that CO will continue to do so.

I love it if someone can PM me that they have found what I wrote not to be the case and were able to get the tkt and not run into any cancellation of flights. Again that would be for trips after 2/1/05.

Also keep in mind that CO now can tell where you got the tkt and if you took the train from another station other than ZFV.

tonyflysco

i booked ZFV-SNA-ZFV for Mar 17th and returning on the 21st. I did not have a problem with CO cancelling my return ticket for missing the train portion, ZFV-EWR on the 17th. In fact, I picked up my train ticket at the EWR train station on the 17th. I tried to get it at Penn on the 15th but it was not loaded in the system. I picked up the return Amtrak ticket at EWR on the 21st and plan to use it in the future. Both tickets are valid for a year from the issue date.

cerealmarketer

The ZFV bugs continue...

I think this must be because I booked the ticket less than 24 hrs. prior to departure, but was given no warning over the phone...

Bought a ticket ZFV-MIA (with a stop in MCO...try going from a 757 BF to a Beech 1900 some day. Crazy stuff).

At ZFV, tried to use QuikTrak. No luck.

Call CO, and they say "everything is in order."

Get to the Amtrak counter, have a classic "I'm going to take as long as I want" agent who punches around, and has to get CO on the phone to confirm. He spits out the ticket, and it is issued as CO bulk. I make the train by 10 seconds.

I called WE CARE yesterday to report the issue for the sake of awareness. She says "everything's fine in our system."

Try to check in online for my return CO flights. No dice. Co.com support says "your segments were all cancelled because you didn't take the train."

I say, yes, and have the stub to prove. She reworks the record and am set.

Get back to EWR, and when I go to the QuikTrak, no luck again. Ticket doesn't exist. This time, though, the Amtrak agent was able to manually look it up on a list, and found my name. Issued a ticket, but by this time I missed the train.

So...

My hunch is, don't book ZFV tickets last minute unless you want some hassle. Which kind of defeats the purpose of the convenience.

themicah

A friend recently traveled ZFV-EWR-CHI (not sure if it was MDW or CHI). He began the journey in Philly and took the proper train to EWR, but his itin was still cancelled when he went to check in for the return.

The only irregularity in his journey was that he picked up the ZFV-EWR ticket from Amtrak at NY Penn Station the day before rather than from a Quik Trak machine at ZFV. It's not clear whether that was the reason they thought he skipped the train.

Regardless, like others who have reported similar cancellations, he had no problem getting his ticket reinstated when he told them he had taken the train.

themicah

Just got another trip report from a friend on a ZFV-CUN ticket. I don't think he took the train or picked up his Amtrak ticket in either direction. No problems on the outbound, but when he went to check in at CUN for the return (no OLCI for int'l), his itin was cancelled as we've come to expect with ZFV tickets.

He said they never asked him any questions about the train, but it took multiple agents a very long time to sort it out. Eventually they got the ticket reinstated with his original seat assignment, but then they spent another eternity trying to figure out how to check his bags "through to Philadelphia." He tried explaining that EWR-ZFV was a train where they couldn't check the bags. But apparently this was beyond the comprehension of the various CUN agents and supervisors.

He made it home with his bags. But he says he's never messing with ZFV again (even if he actually needs to leave from dowtown Philadelphia). Especially not to Cancun.

vincom

I really think we need to shush up about our ZFV method before they seriously overly start to crack down (as they have already - reported by some).


-Vincent

fly co to see the yanks

yes, yes, yes.