Multi-City or separate tickets

[Lazy Z]

It is getting close to time for me to start buying our train tickets! I am confused if it is better to order the whole thing, round trip, multi city trip, or to purchase "legs".

We will be going from LAX to CHI to WAS to ORL to SAV to NYP and back to LAX. or maybe LAX to ORL to SAV to WAS to NYP and back to LAX. What are the advantages/disadvantages to buying the tickets together or separate? I feel like if I do them somewhat separate, it will be easier to change parts of the trip if I need/want to. I can start checking for costs, but some samples I have tried have not changed the price if it was round trip or one way. Also, if I book LAX to ORL, do I have to re-check in with my bags for each train, or does Amtrak do it for me? That could be one reason to book it all at once.

The longest part is at the beginning...I was thinking of going LAX to ORL and not stopping off anywhere, but then thought it might be good to go ahead and spend a couples of days in DC to break up the trip.

If we book the whole thing, does it help secure our reservations better? I am concerned with being bumped or losing our room (the room is really important to me because I will be traveling with a child).

Any tips or ideas are appreciated!

 

[Ryan]

Here's now I do it (for no good reason, really). Segments that I'm going to make a direct connection on, I will ticket together. This way it's easier to check baggage all the way through, although it isn't necessary for each leg to be on the same reservation You can usually just show the clerk your ticket to your final destination, but if that involves several different reservations, I could see it causing a problem. It also ensures that you have a guaranteed connection in the event that a train gets late. Supposedly you have call and have the 2 reservations linked (although every agent I've spoken to has insisted that it's unnecessary). If you end up missing a connection, sorting things out will be much easier if all the way to your final destination is all on the same reservation. For example, if you're late getting into Chicago enough that they're going to put you on the next days Capitol Limited, and your WAS-ORL leg is on a separate reservation, I can see you getting stuck in WAS. If all of that is on one reservation, Amtrak will get you all the way to your final destination.

If I'm going to be spending any amount of time in a location, I'll make that a breakpoint in my reservations. This way, when I go to print my tickets I minimize the number of tickets that I have to keep track of, and it gives a little more flexibility in changing reservations. Yes, you can call and get individual legs worked on, but if I'm going to make a change it's just easier to be able to cancel an entire reservation and rebook, and know that the rest of your trip is safely untouched.

Anyhow, that's kind of my thought process. There isn't any "right" way to do it, it kind of depends on exactly how you're going to break your trip up.

 

[gswager]

One of several biggest factors- treat your ticket(s) as CASH! If you lose one or more tickets, it/they cannot be replaced!

 

[RRrich]

Pricing

Usually 2 one ways are the same price as round trip, but usually prices go up as the trip date approaches. So buy sooner rather than later. If you don't print out your tickets they are fully refundable especially in the unlikely event that the prices go down

 

[stntylr]

I would look into getting a USA Railpass. You can get 8 segments over 15 days for 389 dollars. For a long trip like that it's probably a lot cheaper.

 

[Acela150]

I would ticket together. Simply for the same reasons as Ryan said. The biggest being the guaranteed connection!

 

[Trogdor]

If the trip is continuous (no stopovers), definitely ticket in one reservation. There's no reason not to.

The guaranteed connection applies whether or not they're on one reservation, but having everything on one reservation puts your name/reservation on the connection list so the station knows to expect you if the train is running late.

You also may get better fares by putting things on one reservation than on two. You'll have to price that out to see. I don't think there would be any case where you'd get a worse fare by putting everything on one.