Tuesday plans (flying vs train - Florence?)

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glensfallsse

Service Attendant
Joined
Apr 22, 2017
Messages
103
I'd like to hear opinions on this. I'm scheduled to fly from Albany (NY) to Chicago on Tuesday, stay overnight and take the Texas Eagle the next day. I'm flying through Washington, and it looks like I'd be flying right through the remnants of Florence on midday flights, which are prone to getting cancelled if they get backed up. And since I'm using miles to fly, I'd be low on the list of people they re-accommodate.

The option is to dump the flight and instead take the LSL Tuesday night and arrive Wednesday morning. There still seems to be plenty of seats, and some low-end (cost-wise) roommettes. But the train might also be traveling through the leftovers of Florence, though perhaps only on the fringe, and who's to say Amtrak doesn't scrub the train to avoid flooding. Or it comes in too late to catch the Eagle.

I've got to make this decision in the next 24 hours or so or my options disappear on things like canceling the hotel room. Thoughts?
 
Take the LSL. I would say your odds are better that the train runs, and if it does get cancelled, Amtrak will take much better care of you than the airlines, in my experience.
 
I would go for the LSL also.

You never know what the airlines will do. Last year, I flew from Albany to Tampa just after Irma hit. The airlines had a penalty waiver for Tampa. I was connecting thru Newark, but then Maria was heading that way. (You know how delay prone EWR is on a good day.) But they never issued a waiver for EWR. I utilized the waiver for Tampa instead, and flew via ORD.
 
What flight options would you have if a travel waiver is issued for WAS? Depending on the airline, they may re-open booking options for you as well even if you booked it on points.

I'd imagine the LSL would get through fine, but I'm also not sure I'd want to lose airfare costs speculatively either. Getting in the day before leaves quite a bit of time to recover should the airlines start delaying or cancelling some flights (especially since I'd imagine there's be reroute opportunities.)
 
Thanks all. I'd much rather do the LSL, but I couldn't talk the airline out of letting me switch without a hefty fee, so I'll stick with that for now. I can't always change day-of if they cancel me, but who knows how much it'll cost.
 
Keep an eye on where things go. It's possible that the storm blows itself out pretty well, after all.

Bear in mind that with the built-in overnight you can probably get kicked to an early flight the next day in a pinch, and at that point (depending on your CC) things like travel insurance and the like enter into the mix. Just out of curiosity, which airline are you on?
 
The LSL west of Albany practically never floods. While it does travel next to the Erie Canal, the drainage is pretty damn good up there. I would take the LSL; it'll almost certainly be operating regardless of the rainstorm. (Severe freezing snow is more likely to stop it.)

Albany-DC-Chicago sounds like a flight plan which is extremely likely to be disrupted.
 
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I just realized, why not get a Flexible coach ticket on the LSL? That way, if they cancel your flight, you've got your train ticket, and if they don't cancel your flight, you can just get a full refund on your train ticket. And if you do end up on the train and they still have a roomette available at a reasonable price (which is surprisingly common), you can pay the price difference and upgrade with no fee. Just an idea.
 
Thanks for the flexible ticket idea. The value ticket is holding steady at $100, with the flexible costing twice that. I'll probably wait until day-of and hope there's not a lot of late demand. It is a Tuesday in September, after all. I did the sleep-sitting-up thing once before and vowed I'd never do it again, so I might splurge for the roommette regardless.

To answer Anderson's question: American.
 
Thanks for the flexible ticket idea. The value ticket is holding steady at $100, with the flexible costing twice that. I'll probably wait until day-of and hope there's not a lot of late demand. It is a Tuesday in September, after all. I did the sleep-sitting-up thing once before and vowed I'd never do it again, so I might splurge for the roommette regardless.

To answer Anderson's question: American.
Bear in mind that if you get a Flexible ticket and upgrade to a sleeper later, you will end up having paid the same as if you had gotten Value in the first place, since you just pay the price difference.
 
On the off chance that someones keeping score at home, two days ago I elected to go with the train. Waiting to board now. I figured Id lose the miles on American but it spares me a hotel in Chicago.

Turns out the flight would have worked out fine, but they did cancel a flight to Philly, and that could have been the way I connected.

I called the airline to cancel, just to be a good citizen and let them release the seats for resale, and to my great surprise they gave me a voucher on their lowest fare over the same route good for a year.
 
On the off chance that someones keeping score at home, two days ago I elected to go with the train. Waiting to board now. I figured Id lose the miles on American but it spares me a hotel in Chicago.

Turns out the flight would have worked out fine, but they did cancel a flight to Philly, and that could have been the way I connected.

I called the airline to cancel, just to be a good citizen and let them release the seats for resale, and to my great surprise they gave me a voucher on their lowest fare over the same route good for a year.
Enjoy! Why do you think they gave you that voucher?
 
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