Doh! Bedrooms are sold out

[Striker]

So my upcoming Christmas trip on the Texas Eagle had all bedrooms sold out on one leg of my trip. What is the easiest way to determine if someone cancels a bedroom reservation between now and the time of my trip...do I just need to keep checking the schedule every day and hope I luck out? I already booked a full bedroom reservation anyway for my round trip and I can work the it into my schedule no problem, but I would much rather prefer to leave one day later.

 

[sunchaser]

So my upcoming Christmas trip on the Texas Eagle had all bedrooms sold out on one leg of my trip. What is the easiest way to determine if someone cancels a bedroom reservation between now and the time of my trip...do I just need to keep checking the schedule every day and hope I luck out? I already booked a full bedroom reservation anyway for my round trip and I can work the it into my schedule no problem, but I would much rather prefer to leave one day later.

Have you booked the trip?

Call Amtrak and speak to an agent & ask them to put you on a wait list for that train/day, continue to check 2xs a day too. Sometimes people cancel!!

 

[the_traveler]

You can keep checking each day. Or, although I've never done it, I've heard people say that they called, SPOKE TO AN AGENT and ASKED TO BE PUT ON A WAIT LIST!

Sunchaser beat me to it!

 

[Striker]

So my upcoming Christmas trip on the Texas Eagle had all bedrooms sold out on one leg of my trip. What is the easiest way to determine if someone cancels a bedroom reservation between now and the time of my trip...do I just need to keep checking the schedule every day and hope I luck out? I already booked a full bedroom reservation anyway for my round trip and I can work the it into my schedule no problem, but I would much rather prefer to leave one day later.

Have you booked the trip?

Call Amtrak and speak to an agent & ask them to put you on a wait list for that train/day, continue to check 2xs a day too. Sometimes people cancel!!

Great, I'll call them up and give it a shot.

You can keep checking each day. Or, although I've never done it, I've heard people say that they called, SPOKE TO AN AGENT and ASKED TO BE PUT ON A WAIT LIST!
Sunchaser beat me to it!

You know, you don't have to both capitalize AND bold the part about a wait list, especially since I didn't know such a device existed. <_<

 

[TransitRider]

You can keep checking each day. Or, although I've never done it, I've heard people say that they called, SPOKE TO AN AGENT and ASKED TO BE PUT ON A WAIT LIST!
Sunchaser beat me to it!

As far I know, Amtrak cannot put you on wait list, you have to purchase it at the time.

Thanks

 

[ThayerATM]

You can keep checking each day. Or, although I've never done it, I've heard people say that they called, SPOKE TO AN AGENT and ASKED TO BE PUT ON A WAIT LIST!
Sunchaser beat me to it!

As far I know, Amtrak cannot put you on wait list, you have to purchase it at the time.

Thanks

When I booked our reservations last November, the only bedroom available on the Empire Builder (train 7) was the family bedroom for Sept. 21-23, 2009. I booked it. I asked to be put on the waiting list, as I wanted a regular bedroom upstairs. In early August Amtrak called me on my cell phone (at 8:45 PM ) to give me the good news. They had the upgrade, and we were set up for bedroom D on the Empire builder for those dates. Since I had already paid for the old tickets, and had the printed tickets at home, I did have to trot down to the local station and get new tickets printed. That took an hour of my time. The bottom line was that I then had new tickets, and a refund of $500+ dollars.

I honestly think that it's better to book through an Amtrak agent, rather than try it on-line. The agents really are more helpful, and suggest things like getting on a waiting list.

 

[AlanB]

You can keep checking each day. Or, although I've never done it, I've heard people say that they called, SPOKE TO AN AGENT and ASKED TO BE PUT ON A WAIT LIST!
Sunchaser beat me to it!

As far I know, Amtrak cannot put you on wait list, you have to purchase it at the time.

Thanks

All agents have the power to put you on a wait list, but not all know how to do it. I suspect that there are also a few who do know how, but say that there is no list, since they don't want the extra work that is required in order to do it.

Note: They can only put you on the wait list when the room category that you want is sold out. If you want a roomette, and there are two left, then they cannot put you on the wait list as it doesn't yet exist. In other words, one cannot use the wait list as a way to avoid paying for a room right away. One can only use the wait list option, when all rooms in that category, for that date and train are sold out.