MSP to STL

[dan72]

I'm traveling to St. Louis at the end of September for a conference from St. Paul. When I plugged the city pairing into Arrow, this is how my reservation came up:

Depart:

7:50 am, Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Arrive:

3:55 pm, Tuesday, September 28, 2010

305 Lincoln Service (CHI - STL)

Depart:

5:15 pm, Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Arrive:

10:45 pm, Tuesday, September 28, 2010

That seems like a really tight window in CHI. I know there is a later train that departs at around 7:00 and I would feel a lot more comfortable with that. I know that it is a guaranteed connection, but I am debating a phone call to a ticket agent to see if I can get the 307 train. When I run it on multi-city, I get that option, but I realize I then lose the guarantee. Anybody had experiences like this with a tight connection or had the worst case scenario play out where it was missed? Thanks for your thoughts!

Dan

 

[Trogdor]

Just book it as you see it. If the Empire Builder is late, they'll put you on 307. If it's on time, or less than an hour and 15 minutes late, you get home earlier.

 

[AlanB]

I'll second that!

Just for the record though, using the multi-city doesn't mean that a connection isn't guaranteed. Many of the connections available via multi-city are still guaranteed. But multi-city will also present connections that aren't guaranteed and you have no way of knowing which ones are guaranteed and which ones aren't. That is the problem with using multi-city to book a trip.

However, again in this case just book 305 and let Amtrak worry about it. As Trogdor said, if things go well you'll get there earlier. If not, Amtrak will reticket you on 307 and you'll still be covered.

 

[dan72]

Thanks for the thoughts on this! That's what I'm planning on doing, but just wanted to check if there might be a better option out there. Thanks!