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I've got a trip starting today that I originally purchased a few months ago. I went to the website and requested the e-docs to be sent and printed them out so I don't have to fiddle with the QT machine. I also looked on the iPhone app and noticed that I now have QR codes on the iPhone app for my trip as well.

Here's the thing: The codes on the iPhone app are different from the codes on the printout of the PDF. If I scan the PDF printout with a code reader app, it decodes into just a combination of res number and booking date, like this: 1234B5-31MAY12. That's all the information the conductor's scanner will need to pull up my reservation and mark it in. If I scan the barcode on the iPhone (using another iPhone), I can't get it to decode at all. Using three different code reader apps, none of them would recognize it as a valid QR code. It's not an issue of not being able to read the screen, either, because I could successfully read the code on the PDF when it was displayed on the iPhone screen.

So, I don't know if there's something broken with the iPhone app where it's generating unreadable codes, or if for some reason it's using a completely different code than the PDF and it's not fully QR compliant. Maybe scanning from a screen is a little harder so they developed some more simplified modification of the code standard for that situation?

Does anyone else have different codes in the app than they do in their PDF printouts?

Either way, I'll find out tonight when I present my iPhone to the conductor if he/she will be able to read it. I'll keep the paper printout in my pocket as a backup so as not to hold up the line too much if it's causing trouble.
 
Here's another e-ticketing related question:

In two weeks, I am ticketed from NYP-ESX. I may get on at NYP, but there's a chance that I will board at STM (next stop, about 50 min later). If I do choose to board at STM, I assume I need to change the ticket with Amtrak, correct?

However, will changing the ticket increase the price? I bucket has undoubtably increased since I bought the ticket. Would I really have to pay Amtrak more for a shorter journey?

Also, I used a promotion code that requires a minimum of a three day advance purchase. Would this cause me any problems?

Or is there some mechanism in this new system that will allow Amtrak to let me board down-line while preserving the fare I paid?
 
Here's another e-ticketing related question:

In two weeks, I am ticketed from NYP-ESX. I may get on at NYP, but there's a chance that I will board at STM (next stop, about 50 min later). If I do choose to board at STM, I assume I need to change the ticket with Amtrak, correct?

However, will changing the ticket increase the price? I bucket has undoubtably increased since I bought the ticket. Would I really have to pay Amtrak more for a shorter journey?

Also, I used a promotion code that requires a minimum of a three day advance purchase. Would this cause me any problems?

Or is there some mechanism in this new system that will allow Amtrak to let me board down-line while preserving the fare I paid?
I think you need to call Amtrak to see what the agent is willing to do. Your ticket or barcode printout should be good for getting on at STM if it costs extra to change it because of the bucket prices. I may be wrong, but I don't see why Amtrak would implement an immediate cancellation policy if the reservation or eticket is not scanned in after the stop. That would only lead to problems for overlooked passengers. There has to be flexibility in the system. The odds of the Vermonter being both sold out north of NYP and the seat resold in the short window from the conductor completing the ticket pickup out of NYP and the time it reaches STM are nil.
 
Okay, the QR on the PDF scanned as my reservation number and the date the reservation was made. The QR code in the app also scanned with no problem but it has only my reservation number. No date.
 
Okay, the QR on the PDF scanned as my reservation number and the date the reservation was made. The QR code in the app also scanned with no problem but it has only my reservation number. No date.
Interesting. What app are you using to scan? Maybe it's just that none of the three apps I was trying are all that good?
 
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Here's another e-ticketing related question:

In two weeks, I am ticketed from NYP-ESX. I may get on at NYP, but there's a chance that I will board at STM (next stop, about 50 min later). If I do choose to board at STM, I assume I need to change the ticket with Amtrak, correct?

However, will changing the ticket increase the price? I bucket has undoubtably increased since I bought the ticket. Would I really have to pay Amtrak more for a shorter journey?

Also, I used a promotion code that requires a minimum of a three day advance purchase. Would this cause me any problems?

Or is there some mechanism in this new system that will allow Amtrak to let me board down-line while preserving the fare I paid?
This is the million dollar question. In the past, you would have just kept your original ticket and boarded at STM. No harm, no foul. I am just hoping that they don't require you to actually change your reservation and pay an increased fare to make the change. But no one seems to know. The terms at the bottom of the e-tickets (on the webpage) do say that if you do not board at your originally ticketed station that your reservation will be cancelled. The bonus is that enables amtrak to sell tickets down the line for sold out trains. The thing that sucks is for corridor service and situations like you posted about, where making a change requires you to pay a higher fare. It is unclear what will actually happen.

My suggestion is to see if you can get a paper ticket printed at the window - then I would think you would be OK.
 
My suggestion is to see if you can get a paper ticket printed at the window - then I would think you would be OK.
Paper tickets are no longer an option for any eticket-eligible itinerary.
Interesting. So what is the deal with the hidden city ticketing, then? Are we SOL on that?
Likely, although I wish SOL would continue to give paper tix! :D I like the feeling of them, and will always continue to.
 
Likely, although I wish SOL would continue to give paper tix! :D I like the feeling of them, and will always continue to.
They will still feel the same. The paper stock being used in QuikTrak machines and at ticket counters is the same, they're just being printed differently.
 
I just really don't want to have to drive my ass up to RTE to actually board there, but I guess I have been technically cheating for a while. Some folks on flyer talk are saying that if you get a free upgrade coupon you get paper tickets, so in that case, maybe the ticketed from RTE but board in PVD thing will still work. I just don't know.
 
I just really don't want to have to drive my ass up to RTE
Then take the train! :giggle: :giggle: Sorry couldn't resist!!

Truthfully RTE is a nice station.. It has a nice little newspaper stand I have traveled out of this station many times in my years of traveling. It's truly a great example of George Warrington's Acela Brand idea. It used to be all low level platforms and was built with the current station and the high level platforms. I love using it. Great station!
 
Okay, the QR on the PDF scanned as my reservation number and the date the reservation was made. The QR code in the app also scanned with no problem but it has only my reservation number. No date.
Interesting. What app are you using to scan? Maybe it's just that none of the three apps I was trying are all that good?
pic2shop
Thanks. I'll try that. In the meantime, however, I'm on a train. The conductor was not actually able to scan the code on my iPhone app, but was able to scan the PDF code on the iPhone. So, at least in my case, the iPhone app appears to be generating/ displaying unusable QR codes.
 
By the way, you have to have an Internet connection to pull up the QR code in the iPhone app. Seems that could be problematic at rural stations with no data service.
 
How does e-ticket work for 2 people on one reservation traveling together? Do they each get a e-ticket or is one e-ticket printed with both passengers names on it?
 
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Unless they changed things, two e-ticket documents print when you print at a Quik-Trak (my CHI-CDL round trip in April had its return on the CONO).
 
I booked an eticket today for both me and H - only one doc was emailed to us with both of our names on it.
 
I'm hoping they do not cancel reservations after one stop, especially after last night when the assistant conductor said she would have to come back with her iPhone. Then she tore off the end segment (formerly the passenger receipt and with one of the two barcodes) saying it was OK and not to worry. This left me with the larger part of the ticket, formerly the part the crew took.
 
I'm hoping they do not cancel reservations after one stop, especially after last night when the assistant conductor said she would have to come back with her iPhone. Then she tore off the end segment (formerly the passenger receipt and with one of the two barcodes) saying it was OK and not to worry. This left me with the larger part of the ticket, formerly the part the crew took.
Afterall it is Amtrak. You should not expect anyone to necessarily follow procedures and certainly not be able to make any sense of what they do instead :p Why didn't she have her iPhone if she was checking tickets? This is the equivalent of "Oh gee I need to go and get my ticket punch. Meanwhile give me half your ticket just in case. :)

Of course since you can print yourself as many copies of the thing as you want it really does not matter if she takes this or that part, provided of course you have the time to print yourself another copy before the next segment.
 
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