blackout dates

[yarrow]

if travel begins before a blackout period but you would transfer to another train, as a continuation of your trip, during a blackout would agr allow the reservation? thanks

 

[the_traveler]

Yes - as long as you begin your trip prior to the blackout period, you can continue to connect to other trains (on that specific trip) during the blackout period.

Example - you are going from SEA to NYP 2 days before the blackout period, staying in NY for 3 days and then want to go NYP-LAX, but within the blackout period. You can travel all the way to NYP - even though you will be traveling within the blackout period - since you began this trip before the period began. But you could not start the NYP-LAX segment, because you would be starting within the blackout period.

You just can not begin travel during the blackout period.

 

[sechs]

Reviving this thread to provide my recent experience.

Tried to book a reward which would require a change of train on a blacked-out day and was shot down. Talked to a supervisor who, after much laboring, read the terms and conditions and found no prohibition on this, as long as travel originated on a non-black-out day. She said that, irrelevant, the computer system would not let anyone book the trip and that "it had always been this way."

 

[darien-l]

Had a similar experience two days ago. Was told "you have to be on your final train at midnight before the blackout date, otherwise the computer won't allow the booking."

 

[the_traveler]

Had a similar experience two days ago. Was told "you have to be on your final train at midnight before the blackout date, otherwise the computer won't allow the booking."

That doesn't make sense! :unsure:

I'm just picking a day at random. Say Oct 27 is blacked out. You travel from NYP-EUG, starting from NYP on Oct 24. You travel NYP-CHI on 10/24, CHI-PDX on 10/25 and PDX-EUG on 10/27. Because you can not board your final train before 10/27, you can not travel? :huh: (Even though you began 3 days before the blackout? )

 

[darien-l]

Had a similar experience two days ago. Was told "you have to be on your final train at midnight before the blackout date, otherwise the computer won't allow the booking."

That doesn't make sense! :unsure:

I'm just picking a day at random. Say Oct 27 is blacked out. You travel from NYP-EUG, starting from NYP on Oct 24. You travel NYP-CHI on 10/24, CHI-PDX on 10/25 and PDX-EUG on 10/27. Because you can not board your final train before 10/27, you can not travel? :huh: (Even though you began 3 days before the blackout? )

Well, you can travel, you would just have to pay for PDX-EUG out of pocket. This rule actually does make sense; without it, the whole blackout date system is wide open for abuse. Say I want to travel SAC-DEN on December 20, a blackout date. So I'd book some convoluted itinerary within one zone like this:

27 Empire Builder

Wolf Point, MT (WPT) 11:41 am 18-DEC-08

Portland, OR (PDX) 10:10 am 19-DEC-08

11 Coast Starlight

Portland, OR (PDX) 2:25 pm 19-DEC-08

Sacramento, CA (SAC) 6:15 am 20-DEC-08

6 California Zephyr

Sacramento, CA (SAC) 10:54 am 20-DEC-08

Denver, CO (DEN)

7:43 pm 21-DEC-08

and then simply throw away the tickets I don't need. I can certainly see why Amtrak wouldn't want that happening.

 

[sechs]

It doesn't matter what their intention was. The terms and conditions do not disallow changing trains on a blacked-out date as long as travel originates on a non-blacked-out date. It's very clear.

I was given the generic AGR address to write a letter, which is largely equivalent to a black hole. Who should I write at Amtrak about this?