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Unsurprising and more inline with hotels than with airlines (thankfully). It's a bit cheeky to retrospectively apply it to already-bought tickets though - surely that's amending the contract without both parties agreeing?
RRRICH Member # 1418
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I thought coach has always been 24-hour cancellation --?????? What was the policy before?
Judy McFarland Member # 4435
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Previously you could turn in a coach ticket less than a year old for a refund (via voucher or apply to another ticket). New policy is more than reasonable .
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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Amtrak is simply taking a page from the rest of the transportation and lodging industry's playbook. Major chain hotels are now all offering a non refundable, prepaid, advance purchase rate. As the economy recovers and demand picks up, look for major chains to toughen up their cancellation policies such as from the prevalent 6PM day of arrival to 24 or even 48 hour notice. Otherwise, 'sorry 'bout that'.
The one segment of the hospitality industry that so far appears 'safe' (or 'vulnerable' depending on how one looks at it) are restaurants. I'm waiting for the day when it will become SOP for when making a reservation, you are asked to provide a credit card, against which if a party is either unreasonably late or a no-show, a charge equal to what the table could expect to generate made against that card. I also think the day is coming when the Menu will be an electronic tablet on which menu prices will adjust with supply and demand.
All told, liberal cancellation policies are simply part of supply and demand; Amtrak now enjoys enough ridership that it can play the same game as the airlines have for the past thirty or so years. I don't like it as much as the next guy around here, but 'c'est la vie'.
Finally, allow me to close constructively; what would be 'groundbreaking' is if Amtrak could develop software that would tighten or liberalize the refund policy based upon supply and demand. The refund/exchange policy for each ticket would be delineated as an integral part of the transportation contract, for Mr. Mayo has a good point above that could result in unfavorable 'blowback' to Amtrak. Only problem; Amtrak would be on their own, rather than I would guess having a wealth of software development expertise honed by the airlines, to draw upon when developing their 'yield management' programs. Also, lest we forget, bureaucracies are there to administrate and not innovate.
Henry Kisor Member # 4776
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Even the local commuter railroads seem to be getting into the act. Yesterday I bought a couple of Chicago Metra round-trip tickets for use this weekend and was surprised that they expire Jan. 1, 2014, rather than being good for a year from issuance.
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