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Acela150

Acela150

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In this months issue of Trains Magazine there is a small 1 and a Half page bit about Amtrak and eTickets. Which brought to my mind has anyone on AU tried the eTickets and if so what do they look like? Are AGR points instantly put into your account or is it still the 2-3 weeks? And do you think crews like eTickets if you've used your eTicket already?

What brought up the AGR question is I've been told once your boarding pass is scanned (something to that effect) your frequant flyer miles are automatically put into your account. Just a question.

In the article it mentions that next to be introduced will be, Thruways, Capitol Corridor??, and CONO. Funding Pending. (Of Course)

Last question.. Who's ready for eTickets!!??
 
I think e-tickets for Amtrak is great. They have worked well for airlines for years. I love being able to scan the bar code confirmation on my phone to go through security and board a plane. I can't wait to do that for Acela and other Amtrak trains.
 
Acela150 said:
Which brought to my mind has anyone on AU tried the eTickets and if so what do they look like?
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In the beginning airline etickets didn't look like anything. Your driver's license was your "ticket." Then the folks who eventually gave us the glorious TSA got involved and demanded that airlines go back to printing out old fashioned paperwork again. So then etickets became printed boarding passes everyone is familiar with. The newest etickets look like a barcode displayed on a smartphone. Better hope your battery lasts long enough to get through TSA.

Acela150 said:
Are AGR points instantly put into your account or is it still the 2-3 weeks? And do you think crews like eTickets if you've used your eTicket already?
Click to expand...
Can't speak to AGR specifically, but with airlines the points typically post between a couple hours and a couple days. If it still takes weeks then something is seriously wrong.

Acela150 said:
Last question.. Who's ready for eTickets!!??
Click to expand...
I've been ready for etickets for at least a decade. As for all the changes to refunds and other rules I couldn't say until I've seen them.
 
Texas Sunset said:
In the beginning airline etickets didn't look like anything. Your driver's license was your "ticket." Then the folks who eventually gave us the glorious TSA got involved and demanded that airlines go back to printing out old fashioned paperwork again. So then etickets became printed boarding passes everyone is familiar with. The newest etickets look like a barcode displayed on a smartphone. Better hope your battery lasts long enough to get through TSA.
Click to expand...
From what I remember, you always had a paper boarding pass (except for Southwest Airlines, which had a plastic boarding card that they handed out at the gate). I've certainly never boarded a plane with just a drivers license.
 
Trogdor said:
Texas Sunset said:
In the beginning airline etickets didn't look like anything. Your driver's license was your "ticket." Then the folks who eventually gave us the glorious TSA got involved and demanded that airlines go back to printing out old fashioned paperwork again. So then etickets became printed boarding passes everyone is familiar with. The newest etickets look like a barcode displayed on a smartphone. Better hope your battery lasts long enough to get through TSA.
Click to expand...
From what I remember, you always had a paper boarding pass (except for Southwest Airlines, which had a plastic boarding card that they handed out at the gate). I've certainly never boarded a plane with just a drivers license.
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Yes, I was referring to Southwest. As I recall your government ID got you a generic plastic card with no information about your flight or about you. It was only used for purposes of boarding order. Recently I've been able to pass through security and board a flight with nothing but a smartphone in my pocket, so I guess in a way we've finally come full circle back to the original paperless concept over a decade later. And all it takes to work is for everyone to purchase a $600 barcode display device and keep it fully charged. :lol:
 
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Southwest would have converted to paper even without the TSA. Being able to offer priority boarding positions to higher-fare passengers and frequent travelers is a big revenue source for them, and there's no easy way to do that with plastic cards at the gate.

Still, I think Southwest is one of the few airlines that hasn't gone to electronic/smartphone boarding passes, and it will certainly be nice when they finally do.
 
Acela150 said:
In this months issue of Trains Magazine there is a small 1 and a Half page bit about Amtrak and eTickets. Which brought to my mind has anyone on AU tried the eTickets and if so what do they look like? Are AGR points instantly put into your account or is it still the 2-3 weeks? And do you think crews like eTickets if you've used your eTicket already?

...
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The e-Ticket roll-out should be moving ahead regardless of any budget issues. Amtrak has to roll-out E-ticketing system wide in order to compete. Can't postpone it much longer provided that the pilot roll-outs have not encountered major technical problems. E-ticketing has to get budget priority in the FY12 spending. The PRIIA report from September had the Capitol Corridor as part of the FY11 pilot program along with the AT and Downeaster. February 2012 was the expected system wide launch date, but given the challenges of rolling it out to the NEC, doing a incremental roll-out on corridors and LD trains that don't operate on any part of the NEC connected system would not be surprising.

As for AGR, once e-Ticketing is rolled out system wide, I would expect AGR points to be put into the accounts much more quickly. Processing of the paper tickets goes away - and should cut costs to boot.

I think almost everybody on this forum is ready for eTickets. The biggest beneficiaries though will be those who get on the trains at the rural, small or medium sized stations that don't have Quik-Trak machines. Make your reservation on-line, print out your bar-code, and you are ready to go. Could result in an increase in ridership getting on at the small stations on the LD train routes.
 
What happens with Amtrak long standing "rule" that paper tickets are like cash? Loose them, and you lost their value.

If you lost your e-ticket, can you reprint them yourself? Do you get a new bar-code number, and the old number is voided?

Do conductors have a live database, to know what bar codes are still valid instantly, when they go to scan a passenger's e-ticket?
 
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Cho Cho Charlie said:
What happens with Amtrak long standing "rule" that paper tickets are like cash? Loose them, and you lost their value.

If you lost your e-ticket, can you reprint them yourself? Do you get a new bar-code number, and the old number is voided?

Do conductors have a live database, to know what bar codes are still valid instantly, when they go to scan a passenger's e-ticket?
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That's one of the biggest benefits of etickets (besides the benefits for people boarding at unstaffed stations), there is no value tied to the piece of paper. It's just a piece of paper (or an image on a cell phone screen).

Lose it, and print another one. The conductor's device will validate and cancel tickets electronically.
 
VentureForth said:
They need to try e-billing in the diner! Those checks are monsterous!
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They are, the LSL improvement plan calls for cashless dining to roll out in 2012. That means they won't need all those monstrous checks in dining for inventory anymore.
 
Acela150 said:
In this months issue of Trains Magazine there is a small 1 and a Half page bit about Amtrak and eTickets. Which brought to my mind has anyone on AU tried the eTickets and if so what do they look like? Are AGR points instantly put into your account or is it still the 2-3 weeks? And do you think crews like eTickets if you've used your eTicket already?

What brought up the AGR question is I've been told once your boarding pass is scanned (something to that effect) your frequant flyer miles are automatically put into your account. Just a question.

In the article it mentions that next to be introduced will be, Thruways, Capitol Corridor??, and CONO. Funding Pending. (Of Course)

Last question.. Who's ready for eTickets!!??
Click to expand...
I do like the eTicket concept; it certainly eliminates the chances of losing cash tickets. But I'm also old-fashioned and like to keep copies of my ticket stubs in a folder here at home. Why, I don't know. Maybe because I hate to fly and I would hate to be reminded of any of my previous airline trips. :lol: But it's kinda cool to see all the places you have been with the ticket stub physically punched.

Anyways, I haven't seen the Trains article yet but Amtrak.com says the QT machines still print out some sort of boarding document for those of us that are old fashioned and want a souvenir. Silly I know but it's still kinda nice (even without it being punched).

Also, with the current ticketing system if you have a conjunction ticket (multi-city) and if you don't use the 2nd leg of that reservation I believe it can still be applied towards a future ticket (I think?). That's how I upgraded the portion of my WAS-BOS reservation to Business Class while the first segment ATL-WAS was in coach. Will that situation change with eTickets? In other words, will it be like the airlines in that if you skip one segment of your journey the entire reservation is cancelled and your money is forfeited? I can't imagine Amtrak would do that but you never know. It doesn't sound like it (at least for now) as shown on Amtrak's eVoucher web page

Also with paper tickets you can exchange printed tickets for 100% of the value to a future trip if they are not used. It sounds like the same rules appy for eTickets.

Sometimes I like the way things are just because you know what you have...be careful what you wish for. :lol:

But if no additional fees or rules regarding changing tickets are imposed then I'm all aboard with this new system.
 
I'll be trying it out in a few weeks courtesy of the January Downeaster sale.So far I can report that the booking process is the same, but one receives two emails upon booking. The first is the standard "THIS IS NOT A TICKET" email with the reservation number as well as a paragraph describing the E-ticket process. Highlights include:

- You may print the ticket as many times as you wish prior to boarding.

- If you can't print it, or if you change it at the last minute, either and agent or a Quik Trak kiosk can print your ticket for you.

You then get a second (and simultaneous) email containing the ticket attached as a pdf. This pdf ticket looks very much like an airline boarding pass, complete with a barcode. One difference, however, is that a round trip itinerary, at least in my case (and in my case it's a same-day round trip), prints as a single ticket. I would imagine that the conductor scans the same ticket twice, once outbound and once on the return.
 
bretton88 said:
VentureForth said:
They need to try e-billing in the diner! Those checks are monsterous!
Click to expand...
They are, the LSL improvement plan calls for cashless dining to roll out in 2012. That means they won't need all those monstrous checks in dining for inventory anymore.
Click to expand...
Well now, I didn't say that either. They can't box out cash paying customers. They just need to figure out a more efficient way to track orders. I can't tell you how many times I've been done eating, ready to give the table to the next set of diners, and all we are waiting for is the check.
 
Well, I'm back from my E-ticket equipped trip on the Downeaster. Here's what I can say about E-ticketing:

- The conductor simply scans your ticket (that you most likely printed at home) with a handheld scanner that looks about like the sort of thing UPS would use to track packages. This takes a second or so, and that's it! Ticket collection is much, much faster this way.

- For a round trip, you can use the same boarding document for each leg, as it will print as a single ticket.

- If you do not print it yourself (and for my return trip I pretended I hadn't, since you can print the ticket as many times as you wish), the Quik-Trak kiosks will print you a standard size ticket, but it lacks most information found on a standard ticket. Instead, it has little more than the date, trip times and stations, train number, reservation number, and name/AGR info. There's a lot of white space on this thing. Like the home printed variety, the conduction scans this ticket and ticket "collection" is done ("collection" in quotes since the conductor takes no physical ticket from you).

Overall, this system appeared to me to be running without a hitch and made the ticketing process a lot smoother, at least on the passenger end of things.
 
I saw the article in Trains as well. I can't wait to try it out when they introduce it to the CONO!
 
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TCRT said:
Well, I'm back from my E-ticket equipped trip on the Downeaster. Here's what I can say about E-ticketing:

- The conductor simply scans your ticket (that you most likely printed at home) with a handheld scanner that looks about like the sort of thing UPS would use to track packages. This takes a second or so, and that's it! Ticket collection is much, much faster this way.

- For a round trip, you can use the same boarding document for each leg, as it will print as a single ticket.

- If you do not print it yourself (and for my return trip I pretended I hadn't, since you can print the ticket as many times as you wish), the Quik-Trak kiosks will print you a standard size ticket, but it lacks most information found on a standard ticket. Instead, it has little more than the date, trip times and stations, train number, reservation number, and name/AGR info. There's a lot of white space on this thing. Like the home printed variety, the conduction scans this ticket and ticket "collection" is done ("collection" in quotes since the conductor takes no physical ticket from you).

Overall, this system appeared to me to be running without a hitch and made the ticketing process a lot smoother, at least on the passenger end of things.
Click to expand...
Do you have any photos of the eTickets??
 
bretton88 said:
VentureForth said:
They need to try e-billing in the diner! Those checks are monsterous!
Click to expand...
They are, the LSL improvement plan calls for cashless dining to roll out in 2012. That means they won't need all those monstrous checks in dining for inventory anymore.
Click to expand...
I can understand cashless cabins on airlines, but cashless dining on Amtrak I don't like the sound of that if its what I think you mean.
 
Perhaps you could expound on why you don't like the sound of it; it sounds like a great way to save time, money, and effort.

If you consider the number of diners who aren't in a sleeper, and don't pay with credit or debit card, it can't be a whole lot of people.
 
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