What happens if you miss a connection to the Cardinal?

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As part of the Dream Trip I have planned for next fall, I need to make a connection from the CZ to the Cardinal. It seems like, this fall, the CZ has been missing the Card's 5:45 P.M. departure about half the time. Since it's a three-day-a-week train, what happens in these circumstances? I understand that they may sometimes use a bus to connect from the CZ to the Card, and that inspires two questions:

  1. How long is the bus trip?
  2. Can I hear from someone who has actually been bustituted on this segment?
A bus all the way to CIN is absolutely NOT acceptable to me, partially because I will be reserving coach to continue from CIN to NWK (becuse I will not have enough points available to go the full three zones), and partially because a nighttime bus and my back will absolutely not get along. Also, since I want to continue on the Card from CIN, being dumped in CIN after the Card has long departed (not to return for almost two more days) will simply not do.

If the CZ is so totally late that you completely miss the connection, will they actually put you up for two nights until the next Cardinal?
 
I was on a late CZ a couple years ago and some of the pax missed Cardinal connections; they ended up at bus city from the "luxurious and safe as a Kitten" Chicago Bus Station at 0300 in the morning!
 
More likely that if you miss the connection to the Cardinal, you will be put on the Lake Shore Limited to New York or the Capitol Limited through Washington DC to a Northeast Corridor train.
 
I was on a late CZ a couple years ago and some of the pax missed Cardinal connections; they ended up at bus city from the "luxurious and safe as a Kitten" Chicago Bus Station at 0300 in the morning!
I am a sixty-something LOLITS (Little Old Lady in Tennis Shoes) and that absolutely will NOT do for me! Nor can my back tolerate a bus ride more than a couple of hours. I was bustituted six hours from PDX to SPK on my last trip, and it was torture.

:(

I sincerely hope the CS agents will be understanding and help me make alternate plans, if the worst happens. I'd plan an extra night in CHI with Nephew, but I need to go all the way to CIN on the two zone award from the west coast.
 
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More likely that if you miss the connection to the Cardinal, you will be put on the Lake Shore Limited to New York or the Capitol Limited through Washington DC to a Northeast Corridor train.
That would certainly be my preference, if they're willing to trade a zone city on one train for a zone city on another. The two-zone break at CIN makes it a little awkward (it's going to be a paid rez in coach east of that). I'd be very disappointed to miss the Card, but willing to accept alternate arrangements as long as they don't include a long bus ride...
 
More likely that if you miss the connection to the Cardinal, you will be put on the Lake Shore Limited to New York or the Capitol Limited through Washington DC to a Northeast Corridor train.
That would certainly be my preference, if they're willing to trade a zone city on one train for a zone city on another. The two-zone break at CIN makes it a little awkward (it's going to be a paid rez in coach east of that). I'd be very disappointed to miss the Card, but willing to accept alternate arrangements as long as they don't include a long bus ride...
It depends on how late the particular train is; in my case we arrived after the Cap and LSL left, but since I was connecting to the Texas Eagle via Galesburg, they ran me all the way to Chicago, tossed me in a Holiday Inn and sent me out next day. Considering all the extra train time I got, they gave me a $250 Voucher to boot-needless to say I was most happy.
 
When I was stuck behind a broken down freight on the SWC last week, they initially announced that Cardinal connections would be bussed to Indianapolis to catch up to the Card. Of course that was 2 hours in to a 6 hour delay. Not sure what they ended up doing with the Card passengers from SWC or the Zephyr, which was stuck behind us.
 
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We were bustituted in July of this year... We had connections from the CZ to the Cardinal. We were growing later and later so Amtrak announced we would be bused getting off at Galesburg Il, to Indianapolis. The bus was brand new with TVs and all. Very clean very nice. The ride was 4 hours I think... and the driver stopped at a McDonalds so we can get some food if we liked. Indianapolis station is not the best... it is shared with the bus station. So it is busy and not so clean. The bathrooms are not very well taken care of... bring your own sanitary wipes etc. The train was announced after a wait of about an hour... the conductor was trying to talk to everyone... and sadly was mostly ignored. He passed out seating assignments well in advance of the arrival. There is an elevator to the tracks. If you are carrying your baggage with you... there are quite a few steps up to the platform... so use the elevator!
 
If you were transferred to the Lake Shore, the zone border is Toledo. That is where we usually trade our sleeper for a coach ride to CLE. But if the train is on time you would arrive sometime around 3:30am so hope for a late train so you can sleep in a while before departing to coach. You would arrive in NYP after 6:30pm but could easily get a NER to NWK from there.
 
We were bustituted in July of this year... We had connections from the CZ to the Cardinal. We were growing later and later so Amtrak announced we would be bused getting off at Galesburg Il, to Indianapolis. The bus was brand new with TVs and all. Very clean very nice. The ride was 4 hours I think...

If you were transferred to the Lake Shore, the zone border is Toledo.
Thanks very much for this specific info, just what I needed. Indianapolis is not the most desirable, and would make for a very short night if I am getting up at CIN, but better than an all-nighter!

And it gives me an idea just how much I will accept before asking to change trains, instead. If I changed to the LSL, I think I would skip the visit in Newark, and just go straight to my ultimate destnation, Boston.
 
I'm making the CZ to Cardinal connection in mid-December. Thanks for all the information.
 
So the reason, other than cost, to not just spend a night in CHI is that the points system won't let one?
 
So the reason, other than cost, to not just spend a night in CHI is that the points system won't let one?
Well, if you want to maximize the return for a two-zone award, you can't stop in CHI more than long enough to catch the "next train out" wherever you are going. If you are going to CIN (the zone boundary), you are not allowed to book a CZ into CHI that arrives on any day other than one which the Cardinal leaves. If you want to plan to stop overnight in CHI, that is where your award will end and the continuation next day will be on your own dime (or more points).
 
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If your final destination is NWK, and includes both paid and award trips, MAKE SURE the 2 trips are associated with each other! :excl: Otherwise, they may look at your res and see you are just going to CIN - and you end up on a bus to CIN only. If they were associated, you would probably have the other options given.
 
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Is it possible that the CZ's problems will be fixed by Fall? Up until about 5 years ago, it was the UP that was sabotaging the CZ. Rarely did #6 depart Denver before midnight (scheduled time approximately 7:00PM). Conversely, #5 usually arrived on time in Denver ruling out a liesurely breakfast.

However, in the last 5 years, I've never missed supper in the dining car leaving Denver on #6. Recently, UP has been delivering #6 in DEN about 30 minutes early, while BNSF looses several hours getting it to Chicago. Same with #5 from Chi to Den.

It hasn't been making the AU headlines; but has the BNSF disfunction has migrated south?
 
If your final destination is NWK, and includes both paid and award trips, MAKE SURE the 2 trips are associated with each other! :excl: Otherwise, they may look at your res and see you are just going to CIN - and you end up on a bus to CIN only. If they were associated, you would probably have the other options given.
I really want to do that... but I am not sure how to ask for it. I will be paying for the coach portion of the trip with a voucher that is "on file" by case number (due to my living so very far from a station, that I would not able be able to redeem the paper voucher in person). And I want to use points for the two-zone award to CIN. Seems like I will be talking to two different people to redeem those two different types of credits. Should I talk to Customer Relations about the voucher first, or AGR about the points award? And then what should I say to the second rep to get the reservations tied together?

Thanks so much for any good suggestions how to do that!
 
If your final destination is NWK, and includes both paid and award trips, MAKE SURE the 2 trips are associated with each other! :excl: Otherwise, they may look at your res and see you are just going to CIN - and you end up on a bus to CIN only. If they were associated, you would probably have the other options given.
I really want to do that... but I am not sure how to ask for it. I will be paying for the coach portion of the trip with a voucher that is "on file" by case number (due to my living so very far from a station, that I would not able be able to redeem the paper voucher in person). And I want to use points for the two-zone award to CIN. Seems like I will be talking to two different people to redeem those two different types of credits. Should I talk to Customer Relations about the voucher first, or AGR about the points award? And then what should I say to the second rep to get the reservations tied together?

Thanks so much for any good suggestions how to do that!
Not sure how it will work with the voucher, but you can book both the points and paid trips through AGR. So I would suggest you call AGR first and try to work with them with booking the voucher.
 
If your final destination is NWK, and includes both paid and award trips, MAKE SURE the 2 trips are associated with each other! :excl: Otherwise, they may look at your res and see you are just going to CIN - and you end up on a bus to CIN only. If they were associated, you would probably have the other options given.
I really want to do that... but I am not sure how to ask for it. I will be paying for the coach portion of the trip with a voucher that is "on file" by case number (due to my living so very far from a station, that I would not able be able to redeem the paper voucher in person). And I want to use points for the two-zone award to CIN. Seems like I will be talking to two different people to redeem those two different types of credits. Should I talk to Customer Relations about the voucher first, or AGR about the points award? And then what should I say to the second rep to get the reservations tied together?

Thanks so much for any good suggestions how to do that!
Not sure how it will work with the voucher, but you can book both the points and paid trips through AGR. So I would suggest you call AGR first and try to work with them with booking the voucher.
That's kind of what I was thinking.

:unsure:
 
Call AGR first and book the award trip. Then ask if they can book the voucher trip (which essentially is a paid trip). If they say you need to call Customer Relations, when you speak with CR tell them "I'm booked on an AGR award from DEN to CHI in Car 631 in room 5 (or whatever) on an AGR award and would like to get the same room if possible". They will do their best. Then ask for the 2 reservations to be associated together.
 
Call AGR first and book the award trip. Then ask if they can book the voucher trip (which essentially is a paid trip). If they say you need to call Customer Relations, when you speak with CR tell them "I'm booked on an AGR award from DEN to CHI in Car 631 in room 5 (or whatever) on an AGR award and would like to get the same room if possible". They will do their best. Then ask for the 2 reservations to be associated together.
"Edit" his comment - book the award from DEN to CIN then ask to keep the same room from CIN onward (if you're paying for a room and not moving to coach). I did something similar on the CL - EMY to TOL on points and TOL to WIL paid. I initially booked coach for the paid part but then later called back and upgraded to a roomette and was able to get the same one I had for the points.
 
If they say you need to call Customer Relations, when you speak with CR tell them "I'm booked on an AGR award from DEN to CHI in Car 631 in room 5 (or whatever) on an AGR award and would like to get the same room if possible". They will do their best. Then ask for the 2 reservations to be associated together.
Yup, I've done that, too, when forcing a routing by getting a one- and two-zone award for a three zone trip. The agent was very nice, and we figured out how to keep the same roomette through two awards. But I will be switching to coach at CIN, because I really can't afford the extra couple hundred dollars to stay in the roomette between CIN and NWK (and I expect to be in the lounge drinking hot tea and soaking up the views of the New River Gorge).

I am pretty sure they will tell me I need to speak with CR, though I have had occasions where the agent was willing to get CR on the line and do a little networking from their end (so nice of them!). If I talk with CR myself, I am pretty sure my only choice will be to just book the coach trip. And then I am pretty sure it's up to me to make it work if I have to switch trains. I am aware that I will need to change the paid portion of the reservation before I would have "boarded" in CIN, and I am aware that if I have to change it (and it's not part of the same reservation), I will have to pay the current bucket. A week before Thanksgiving, that could be pretty steep. In fact, this Sunday's Card from CIN (the equivalent of what I would be wanting) is sold out, except for the roomette... so that might be another "switch to the LSL" scenario (or cough up for the roomette).

But really, it's my choice to take the Cardinal (which I've never been on before), and I will just have to take my chances. Perhaps they will fix the CZ's on-time problems before then. Sigh.
 
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