EB to CONO

[dan72]

Greetings

I'm curious as to how others may handle this situation. I am taking the Empire Builder from St. Paul to Chicago on 9/26 and connecting with the City of New Orleans to New Orleans that evening. Given the current OTP situation with the EB, I don't have much confidence right now that I would make the connection--especially since there are reports that it could be up to a year before things are straightened out in North Dakota.

While I realize that this is a guaranteed connection and if it was missed I would put up in a motel, meals, rebooked, etc., I don't want to lose having a roomette on the CONO. I'm thinking of making a back-up reservation for 9/27 for CHI to NOL and monitor things over the next 6 weeks (the bucket looks pretty low yet). If it looks like OTP on the EB is the same, then I'll probably drop my CHI-NOL for 9/26, plan an overnight stay in Chicago and board the CONO the next evening. If the EB's OTP improves drastically, then I'd drop the back-up reservation.

Anyway, I'm curious as to what others would do and if there are any other ideas to consider. Thanks!

Dan

 

[Rail Freak]

Greetings

I'm curious as to how others may handle this situation. I am taking the Empire Builder from St. Paul to Chicago on 9/26 and connecting with the City of New Orleans to New Orleans that evening. Given the current OTP situation with the EB, I don't have much confidence right now that I would make the connection--especially since there are reports that it could be up to a year before things are straightened out in North Dakota.

While I realize that this is a guaranteed connection and if it was missed I would put up in a motel, meals, rebooked, etc., I don't want to lose having a roomette on the CONO. I'm thinking of making a back-up reservation for 9/27 for CHI to NOL and monitor things over the next 6 weeks (the bucket looks pretty low yet). If it looks like OTP on the EB is the same, then I'll probably drop my CHI-NOL for 9/26, plan an overnight stay in Chicago and board the CONO the next evening. If the EB's OTP improves drastically, then I'd drop the back-up reservation.

Anyway, I'm curious as to what others would do and if there are any other ideas to consider. Thanks!

Dan

Sounds like a plan to me, especially if it's AGR!

Good Luck & Have Fun

 

[wkaemena]

Greetings

I'm curious as to how others may handle this situation. I am taking the Empire Builder from St. Paul to Chicago on 9/26 and connecting with the City of New Orleans to New Orleans that evening. Given the current OTP situation with the EB, I don't have much confidence right now that I would make the connection--especially since there are reports that it could be up to a year before things are straightened out in North Dakota.

While I realize that this is a guaranteed connection and if it was missed I would put up in a motel, meals, rebooked, etc., I don't want to lose having a roomette on the CONO. I'm thinking of making a back-up reservation for 9/27 for CHI to NOL and monitor things over the next 6 weeks (the bucket looks pretty low yet). If it looks like OTP on the EB is the same, then I'll probably drop my CHI-NOL for 9/26, plan an overnight stay in Chicago and board the CONO the next evening. If the EB's OTP improves drastically, then I'd drop the back-up reservation.

Anyway, I'm curious as to what others would do and if there are any other ideas to consider. Thanks!

Dan

I would keep the next day booking until I reached Chicago. If you are late and missed the connection Amtrak will book you on the next day.... and you know there is a bed ;-) reserved for you. I think you can cancel it even one day before. That should work if Amtrak cannot accommodate you on next day... then let them cancel your reservation and put you in. Hope you got my idea. If you are ON time then YOU cancel the next day reservation and all is set.

 

[Trogdor]

1) Sleeper reservations have to be canceled 7 days in advance.

2) If the train is late, they generally do run an on-time bus out of St. Paul, in order to protect connections in Chicago.

 

[saxman]

This can certainly be done but remember that sleeper reservations must be cancelled at least 7 days in advance to get a full refund. This is so people don't make a "just in case" reservation on Amtrak's premium services, just as you are doing. However, if you still want to hold the reservation and you need to cancel within 7 days, you can use to credit toward a future Amtrak trip. If you take Amtrak often, this is not a bad deal, and even if you don't ride often, they money is usually good for one year.