Need some advice please on changing a reservation.

[Compuwriter]

We are traveling in July from Chicago to Newark. Originally we were going to take the Capitol Limited to Pittsburgh and switch to the Pennsylvanian to go to Newark. But our "almost a teenager" grandchild is joining us. But with the changed schedule, I don't think lurking around Pittsburgh at 4:30 in the morning is going to work well, despite all the helpful hints from forum members.

I am planning to call Amtrak this weekend to see if we can cancel the Pennslyvanian leg and just go straight through to Washington and take the Northeast Regional from there. Will this be treated as a "new" reservation and therefore a higher "bucket" than when we made it a few monthes ago?

 

[the_traveler]

I would say it would be considered a new reservation since you are traveling farther. You would be riding on the CL from PHH to WAS (which you would not do otherwise) and you would also be traveling from WAS to PHL on a Regional (which you would not do otherwise either).

 

[AlanB]

My understanding is that the only way to alter a destination is to release the space. And even though your ultimate destination remains Newark, for the Capitol Limited your destination is currently Pittsburgh and not DC. Therefore the agent must release your seats/room to change the destination and then grab a new seats/room. Now if you get a good agent and a nice one, they can override the computer and put you back in the same bucket if indeed the buckets have changed since booking. Get a bad agent or one who doesn't know how to deal with things, you'll pay the current price.

I'm not sure just what the official policy is on such a change, as in I don't know if Amtrak's policy is to allow you to keep the same bucket. I rather suspect that there either is no policy or that you're supposed to pay the current bucket, but again I'm not sure.

 

[Guest]

Since you are changing your routing/itinerary, you MAY be able to retain your current bucket for the Chicago-Pittsburh portion of your trip if you can find an agent that knows how to do that. However, because the Pittsburgh-Washington-Newark part of the reservation is indeed a new booking, you will only have current bucket availability.

Even at the same bucket, I believe that this routing, since it is a longer distance, could be more expensive than the reservation you currently hold.

 

[Compuwriter]

I figured I might be SOL on this. I was halfway thinking of trying to change it on the train with the conductor as I did not think anyone would want to book our room from Pittsburgh to Newark. I don't want unknowns though so I will bite the bullet and change it later on. Hopefully I will get an agent who is both nice and knowledgeable! And if it seems that is not the case, I will do the "never mind" and try again tomorrow!

 

[AlanB]

Make sure going into the conversation that you make it clear to the agent that you're playing a "what if" game. You don't want them thinking you really want this done no matter what and having them redo everything only to tell you that you now owe the a ton of money.

No matter what, I would not expect to get the same exact price, as you are taking different trains by going to DC. So there will have to be some change in fare, the questions are just how much? And did you lose the bucket you currently have on the Capitol.

 

[Compuwriter]

Thanks folks! I am hoping, as Amtrak changed the drop off time into Pittsburgh, they will have mercy on me. I do expect to pay more than I am now, the question is just how much based on my current low bucket.

 

[Compuwriter]

I lucked out and got a nice agent. The cost did go up due to traveling farther on the Capitol Limited, BUT it was less than the fare I paid going out to Chicago on it. When I originally was booking this, the trip back was more expensive than going out . Therefore we decided to get off in Pittsburgh and go see Horseshoe Curve on the Pennslyvanian. We will probably do a long weekend trip to Pittsburgh for that now. Thanks for your suggestions.