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Julie usually does a good job, but some of her assistants are pretty clueless. On my last trip on the SW Chief I noticed that I had been assigned a lower level roomette and I wanted to change to the upper level. I called Julie and worked my way through the options tree and waited for a res agent to answer (after a few minutes on hold). I explained that I wanted to change my room to the upper level. The agent told me it wouldn't be possible because the Chief is a single level train. After I finally convinced him that the SW Chief uses Superliners and that Superliners have 2 levels, he told me that I would have to pay extra for an upgrade to the upper level. He went on to explain that booking early at the lowest bucket only guarantees lower level roomettes--upper level rooms require an extra charge. I then checked the website and saw that roomettes were still selling for the same price I paid for my room so I asked the agent what room would be assigned if I booked a new reservation and cancelled my old reservation. By this time he was completely confused, so I just (politely) hung up and called Julie back. On my 2nd try, I was much luckier. The 2nd agent fixed my room assignment in about 30 seconds without trying to extort any extra fees and I had a great room and a great trip.
Posts: 831 | From: Seattle | Registered: Jan 2011
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I find that really amazing, Vincent. Well, I guess your perseverance paid off.
I wonder if, with time, Amtrak could book coach seats and sleepers in the same manner as airlines. When I book an Alaska Airlines flight, on line, you get a seating diagram showing all seats and prices and which have been booked and which haven't. Makes it easy. Could not Amtrak do the same with coach, roomette, and bedroom diagrams to show which has been booked and which are still available, as well as cost?
Richard
Posts: 1909 | From: Santa Rosa | Registered: Jan 2004
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On the rare occasion I've used the phone, "Julie" actually understands my British accent... if I concede to dropping a T here and there, or try a pathetic attempt at an American accent for the occasional word she "didn't quite catch".
Mostly I do stuff online, though I had to use a human for an origin change on a round trip, plus dropping one person one-way only on a round trip. It took the agent a few minutes but it was done fairly efficiently and politely.
Richard, I wish we could book seats! Today's technology certainly should allow it. Even when the coach attendants block out pairs or quads of seats for families boarding later, that is certainly not taxing of any half decent computer programmer - though looking at the HTML and Javascript behind Amtrak's current website seems to show that even half decent was beyond Amtrak's budget at the time.
-------------------- Geoff M. Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Geoff Mayo: Richard, I wish we could book seats! Today's technology certainly should allow it. Even when the coach attendants block out pairs or quads of seats for families boarding later, that is certainly not taxing of any half decent computer programmer - though looking at the HTML and Javascript behind Amtrak's current website seems to show that even half decent was beyond Amtrak's budget at the time.
I've not understood that one either. Spent quite a few years in Taiwan, and even from our day 1 there in 1990 you could walk up to the window give a train time or number and destination and be handed a ticket with car number and seat number all but immediately. Or, simply give a time and destination and the man behind the window will take care of the rest. Of course there were some things that would not happen here. Once all the seats were sold they would continue to sell tickets that had no car and seat number with the clear understanding that if you got one of those you would be standing for all or part of your journey. There was a "no more of any kind" limit, but I have no idea how that one was figured. And, oh by the way this was with 3 classes of trains that had reserved seats, plus one more class of all-stops local that had no reservations of any kind.
So far as I know this sell beyond seating capacity does not happen on the High Speed Railway there.
The peak of thoroughness that I saw was on one occasion getting a ticket that gave you a seat for only part of the journey with that designated "beginning here you stand" point shown on the ticket.
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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A "quirk", if you can call it that, of some UK trains is that you can settle yourself into a seat where the digital display says "not reserved" and find at some point later in the journey that the seat has suddenly become reserved. On some trains at some major stations the on-board reservations system gets updated with whatever has been booked while the train is en-route.
(text scrolls; this appears to be a test)
-------------------- Geoff M. Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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