New Cancellation Policy at Amtrak (August 2023)

[dlagrua]

Booked some tickets today and was advised that a new cancellation policy is now in effect. If I understood it correctly if you cancel before 120 days of your reservation you get a full refund. Within the 120 days you will receive a voucher. If you cancel within two weeks there is a $250 cancellation fee or 10% of your fare. There was a lot going on with the phone call in a noisy location so please feel free to clarify details

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

Looks like the same punitive policy that Anderson instituted is on the website at least as far as sleepers go. With sleepers in such high demand you’d think they could adjust the policies to something less draconian.
https://www.amtrak.com/refund-and-exchange-policy

 

[Palmland]

But if you don’t cancel, just change to a later date there is no penalty (other than a possible fare difference)?

 

[trimetbusfan]

But if you don’t cancel, just change to a later date there is no penalty (other than a possible fare difference)?

Yep. No change frees through the end of the year!

 

[PatchesC]

Booked some tickets today and was advised that a new cancellation policy is now in effect. If I understood it correctly if you cancel before 120 days of your reservation you get a full refund. Within the 120 days you will receive a voucher. If you cancel within two weeks there is a $250 cancellation fee or 10% of your fare. There was a lot going on with the phone call in a noisy location so please feel free to clarify details

I just bought today and policy is showed as 120-15 days refundable in original payment with 25% fee, but $250 is the maximum fee as well. 14-departure is voucher with 25%

 

[lordsigma]

Yep. No change frees through the end of the year!

There are no change fees on sleepers period.

 

[dlagrua]

There are no change fees on sleepers period.

Does this mean that we can follow the fares and rebook if we find a lower price? The agent told me this was possible but if we cancel and rebook we could end up in another room or in a different sleeper car. With the price of sleeper fares today it's probably worth looking at it.

 

[trimetbusfan]

Does this mean that we can follow the fares and rebook if we find a lower price? The agent told me this was possible but if we cancel and rebook we could end up in another room or in a different sleeper car. With the price of sleeper fares today it's probably worth looking at it.

Yes

 

[lordsigma]

Yes

Exactly - you would have to pay a fare difference if it costs more but no penalty if you do it as a change.

 

[TwoBells]

Help me understand this, please.

If my Crescent trip ATL to DC runs late (as much as 7 hrs recently), I'm likely to miss my connections heading west. If Amtrak puts me on a later or next-day train, that's ok, but I probably won't get a sleeping room, they're already nearly sold out.

Unless I've missed something, my choices at that point would be:
1. Ride for about 60 hrs in a coach seat. (not going to happen)
2. Get a voucher for some later date (and pay my way back to ATL?)
3. Cancel the trip completely, and lose 25% (~$400), and find my own way back home ($130)?

If #2, will the voucher include a repeat of the ATL to DC leg, or have I just lost another $400, since that portion of the trip was "used"?

Thanks.

 

[Old MM]

If you misconnect and choose the cancellation option, I THINK there’s no penalty. But I would call or text them to be sure.

 

[Sidney]

If I have to cancel a trip,Amtrak tacks on a 25% cancellation fee. Taking a page from Southwest, if you cancel and aren’t sure of when you will be traveling, but you will, they give you a voucher, with no penalty, Unless you change your reservation on Amtrak at the time, you are penalized. I know I’ll be traveling on Amtrak at a future date, so a voucher is fine. Why can’t Amtrak do this? Rhetorical question I am sure. They could easily do this,but won’t. Another sore point.

 

[dlagrua]

Looking at the options at least on the NER trains it now appears that they now give you three choices. Sale at 50% cancellation fee if cancelled before departure, no changes permitted, Value at a 25% cancellation fee if cancelled before departure, no changes permitted and Flex full refund if cancelled before departure, changes permitted.
Of course they are at different price points; the higher the fare, the more options offered,

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Looking at the options at least on the NER trains it now appears that they now give you three choices. Sale at 50% cancellation fee if cancelled before departure, no changes permitted, Value at a 25% cancellation fee if cancelled before departure, no changes permitted and Flex full refund if cancelled before departure, changes permitted.
Of course they are at different price points; the higher the fare, the more options offered,

And as mentioned in the thread about the changes to fare options, the price difference between the 3 fares is not that much, at least if you book 14+ days out. In the sample shown below it’s only $4 more for a fully refundable ticket.

 

[Hytec]

The cancellation policy changed as of 10/24/2023. Now, if cancelled more than 24 hours after purchase, a 25% cancellation fee will be charged. In other words, if you used your credit card, you will receive only 75% of the original debit back to your credit card.

 

[daybeers]

For the Value fares, yes. This was discussed previously. Flex fares have no cancellation or change fee and are usually a very modest increase in price over the Value fare.

 

[Sidney]

Southwest will give you a voucher if you cancel. No cancellation fee. I wish Amtrak would do that. There are times I have to cancel and don’t have any immediate plans to rebook. A voucher would be ideal for future travel, yet Amtrak doesn’t do that.WHY?

 

[Amtrak25]

I booked a NEC trip for September. There is no Flex fare offered, neither on Acela nor Regional, only Value fare with its 25% penalty.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I booked a NEC trip for September. There is no Flex fare offered, neither on Acela nor Regional, only Value fare with its 25% penalty.

Did you click on coach for NER and Business Class on Acela to see the options

 

[Amtrak25]

The Value box appeared; the Flex box that was supposed to be right next to it did not.

 

[trimetbusfan]

The Value box appeared; the Flex box that was supposed to be right next to it did not.

Keep in mind Acela first and NER business fares are automatically flex fares and thus are the only option shown.

I’m pretty sure the value fare price is based on the flex fare price. Never seen a value fare exist when a flex fare didn’t exist, but I have seen the other way around.