A couple of weeks ago I made online reservations for the Capitol Limited, and received an email confirmation.
For the first time I can remember, the confirmation does not contain car and roomette numbers. Nor does the online copy of the reservation.
Is this something new? If so, why'd Amtrak do it?
I'm going out to Glenview this morning to pick up the ticket and will see if a roomette has been assigned. I hope it was when the reservation was made -- I vastly prefer the mid-car roomettes.
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
Strange....I've never seen that either. I hope it's not the new normal! I also like a mid-car roomette for the smoother ride. Something right around 2 to 4 is what I prefer.
Do you have a way of communicating in real-time with Amtrak, such as a TTY device or something? Or can a friend pick up the phone and call them just to make sure you've got a room in a location you prefer?
Posted by RussM (Member # 3627) on :
I recently booked the Sunset Limited from New Orleans to Los Angeles, traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday. I also noticed that a roomette number did not appear in the e-mail confirmation. There has been discussion on this topic in other Amtrak forums, and everyone is reporting the same thing. So far, Amtrak has not given any explanation.
Posted by Henry Kisor (Member # 4776) on :
Nor did I get an explanation when picking up my tickets this morning. Got Room 13, Car 3001 going, Room 03, Car 2900 returning. I don't mind the lower level rooms at all, but Car 2900? Is that the crew dorm?
In any case, before this happened online reservations didn't let us know the room numbers until after we had booked the tickets with a credit card. Strange that it won't tell us in the confirmations.
Smitty, Amtrak does have a TTY/TDD number and I could have called to ask, but inasmuch as I was picking up the ticket anyway . . .
Posted by MDRR (Member # 2992) on :
Henry, Car 2900/3000 is sleeper closest to the Diner. Car 2901/3001 is second sleeper. Car 2909/3009 is (or at least used to be) the Dorm Car. Hope this helps...
Posted by AHALL (Member # 3515) on :
I booked an Amtrak trip last May (2010) and neither the room nor car number appeared on the e-mail confirmation. I called the 800 number and the person told me the information was on my e-mail confirmation, which it was not. When I told her that, she checked with a supervisor and confirmed that the information no longer appears on the e-mail confirmation, BUT she could verbally tell me, which she did. No reason was given for the change.
Posted by sojourner (Member # 3134) on :
That's weird, the sleeper number is on my confirmation for upcoming trips, and I booked after May.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
I am at a loss to understand why, in view of the "heap big wampum" we're addressing to travel in Sleeper, that Amtrak cannot provide at the website a "Select Your Room' option - even though such appears to be available from "Agent'. It would appear "no biggie", in view of that any airline I have had occasion on which to book travel can do so, to offer the seats at which a passenger could select. Naturally, the Amtrak system should be able to detect that, say, a room had already been booked Kansas City to LA on the Chief, yet even though at the time of booking there were still open rooms Chicago to LA, to only offer to a passenger desiring to book a "day" room Chicago to KC, that room "booked downline". The airlines certainly have their systems perfected to such extent that when I fly, not being a member of any frequent flyer plan and flying at the lowest rate offered, will not be offered the "prime' seats' (aisle, and/or extra legroom - neither of which I want or need - I want a Window way aft so I can "flightsee"), there Amtrak should be able to perfect theirs to such extent that revenue is maximized - and still provide a passenger, if they even choose to make such, a semblance of choice.