Roomette and coach seat?

[That Guy]

Hello all. Rookie train passenger here, planning our first trip. Great forum, btw- already a big help.

So my wife and I are planning a trip with The Son. He's 15 months old, so we're thinking a Roomette would be the best idea. My wife is, however, pretty nervous about feeling claustrophobic in a 3' by 6' room. Our thought was to book the Roomette for myself and The Son, and she would get a coach seat. That way if she felt uncomfortable in the room, she could head to her seat. So I called, and was told this was not possible. I then asked if we could book the Roomette for us both, and buy an additional coach seat, and was told that wasn't possible either. I was told passage from the two separate cars may not be possible due to how the train was arranged. The agent did, however say we could meet in the dining or lounge car. She was extremely friendly, and even checked with her support staff to find a solution, but the best thing they could suggest was meeting in the middle.

Now, my wife will attest that I'm not real quick. And it wasn't until I got off the phone I did the math, and figured, if I can get to the dining car, and she can get to the dining car, why couldn't she get from her seat to the Roomette? We're willing to buy the extra ticket if need be, we just want the warm fuzzy feeling knowing that if she can't handle the confines of the roomette she has a seat she can use.

So is this possible? Am I asking too much? Any other suggestions are gladly considered, but this is what we (she ) would really like.

We're heading from NYC to Savannah, so this will be on the Silver Meteor.

Any other advice for travelling with an active toddler appreciated, too. And I mean active.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Trogdor]

There is no problem passing through the train. What you are proposing to do is entirely possible. I'm not sure why the agent would have suggested otherwise.

That said, you may find it cheaper/easier to not buy the coach ticket, and if your wife feels claustrophobic, just take a walk through the train for a while, and maybe have a seat in the cafe car (large tables, open seating). If the dining car isn't in use (i.e. it's not meal time), the crew may let you sit there for a little while anyway.

 

[buck1108]

When I've traveled, I've had no problem going from one area to the other.

The room car attendants are usually understanding about this and try to accomodate the guests accordingly.

If you paid for both, I would think you could commute back and forth, ticket stubs in hand, unless part of the train was detached and reconfigured (and the car with the seat vamoosed) somewhere along the way....not sure. Good question!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I really don't know why Amtrak is being so stubborn about this, but that's just how they are some times. Here would be my solution.

1. Buy three tickets for the roomette that include you, your wife, and your toddler. This should be allowed. If it's not then call back and try again.

2. In a separate transaction on a separate call buy one coach ticket for your wife. Your wife should be in possession of two tickets for the same train on the same day at this point.

3. When you board the train you and your toddler should board the sleeper and your wife should board in the coach car.

4. After your wife has placed the end-point marker (a small rectangular slip of paper) above the seat of her choice she can move about the train and join you in your car so long as she has her roomette ticket on her. She can also go back to her coach seat so long as she has her coach ticket with her.

5. In this situation you can probably swap whoever you want (except the toddler) between the coach and roomette so long as you act like you know what you're doing and don't make a big deal about it. If you're challenged just show them the tickets and they'll probably understand once they realize you're not trying to enjoy a free lunch.

So my wife and I are planning a trip with The Son. He's 15 months old, so we're thinking a Roomette would be the best idea. My wife is, however, pretty nervous about feeling claustrophobic in a 3' by 6' room. Our thought was to book the Roomette for myself and The Son, and she would get a coach seat. That way if she felt uncomfortable in the room, she could head to her seat. So I called, and was told this was not possible. I then asked if we could book the Roomette for us both, and buy an additional coach seat, and was told that wasn't possible either. I was told passage from the two separate cars may not be possible due to how the train was arranged. The agent did, however say we could meet in the dining or lounge car. She was extremely friendly, and even checked with her support staff to find a solution, but the best thing they could suggest was meeting in the middle.

Now, my wife will attest that I'm not real quick. And it wasn't until I got off the phone I did the math, and figured, if I can get to the dining car, and she can get to the dining car, why couldn't she get from her seat to the Roomette? We're willing to buy the extra ticket if need be, we just want the warm fuzzy feeling knowing that if she can't handle the confines of the roomette she has a seat she can use.

So is this possible? Am I asking too much? Any other suggestions are gladly considered, but this is what we (she ) would really like.

We're heading from NYC to Savannah, so this will be on the Silver Meteor.

Any other advice for travelling with an active toddler appreciated, too. And I mean active.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Tony]

... , and figured, if I can get to the dining car, and she can get to the dining car, why couldn't she get from her seat to the Roomette?

Basically, the dining car crew should not be allowing anyone with only a coach ticket, to exit from the diner into the sleeping car(s).

If your wife has a sleeper ticket with her name on it, then sure. Just show that to the crew member asking (challenging), and they will let her proceed.

 

[RRrich]

Only 2 pax can be ticketed for a Roomette. Unless one of them is a little one, then we can do three

As Trogdor suggested, I wouldn't bother with a coach ticket, just get the roomette.

 

[Pastor Dave]

We had the same scenario many years ago on a Silver Service train. My mom wanted to be able to sit in coach during the day because the seats were more to her liking than the Roomette. She was told no and didn't challenge. Is this an Amtrak policy? Or does it have something to do with the FRA (although I can't imagine what?)

 

[the_traveler]

I don't see why any agent would question having a roomette with 2 parents and a 15 MONTH old child?

(I'm almost sure the 15 MONTH old would sleep in the same berth as one of the parents!) I could see them question 2 parents and a 15 YEAR old child!

And the child's fare would be -0- (since he or she is under 2 years old), so Amtrak is not even losing any revenue! So I don't see why they would not allow it!

Since you're going from New York to Savannah, have you considered the Palmetto instead?

It's an all day run and no overnights. If you do, I'd suggest going Business Class!

 

[me_little_me]

As Trogdor suggested, I wouldn't bother with a coach ticket, just get the roomette.

I'll also agree with that. I have spent hours in the lounge car. If she has a problem with that, talk to the conductor about letting her sit in an unoccupied seat.

When we get a roomette, we open the curtains and the door during the day. We close them only to use the toilet or while out of the room. Then you don't feel claustrophobic. There is light from both sides unless the person across the hall leaves their curtains closed but even then, it makes the room feel open.

Good luck and enjoy your trip.

 

[That Guy]

Thanks for the input. To clarify...

I really don't know why Amtrak is being so stubborn about this, but that's just how they are some times. Here would be my solution.

1. Buy three tickets for the roomette that include you, your wife, and your toddler. This should be allowed. If it's not then call back and try again.

Not a problem. I've already made this reservation.

2. In a separate transaction on a separate call buy one coach ticket for your wife. Your wife should be in possession of two tickets for the same train on the same day at this point.

This is the plan- I was calling to do this, and confirm this was possible.

3. When you board the train you and your toddler should board the sleeper and your wife should board in the coach car.

4. After your wife has placed the end-point marker (a small rectangular slip of paper) above the seat of her choice she can move about the train and join you in your car so long as she has her roomette ticket on her. She can also go back to her coach seat so long as she has her coach ticket with her.

5. In this situation you can probably swap whoever you want (except the toddler) between the coach and roomette so long as you act like you know what you're doing and don't make a big deal about it. If you're challenged just show them the tickets and they'll probably understand once they realize you're not trying to enjoy a free lunch.

Know what's funny? The agent said that was ok... since our boy wasn't a fare buying passenger, we could swap him off no problem. Somehow he can move freely about cars, yet my wife cannot. Amtrak physics?

I'm going to take some advice from the tips & tricks thread and ask another agent today.

 

[Guest]

Know what's funny? The agent said that was ok... since our boy wasn't a fare buying passenger, we could swap him off no problem. Somehow he can move freely about cars, yet my wife cannot. Amtrak physics?

Again, your wife can't because of her ticket. If her ticket is for a coach seat, then her seat is in the coach cars. If her ticket is for a sleeper roomette, then she belongs in the sleeper cars. I mean, there is no reserved coach seat on the train for sleeper ticketed passengers. And coach ticketed passengers have no right to "enjoy" the first class sleeper accommodations.

Sorry, but people have no problem understanding this when it comes to airplanes. I mean, few ask if they buy a coach ticket, can they sit up in first class (and visa versa).

 

[Gray]

Know what's funny? The agent said that was ok... since our boy wasn't a fare buying passenger, we could swap him off no problem. Somehow he can move freely about cars, yet my wife cannot. Amtrak physics?

Again, your wife can't because of her ticket. If her ticket is for a coach seat, then her seat is in the coach cars. If her ticket is for a sleeper roomette, then she belongs in the sleeper cars. I mean, there is no reserved coach seat on the train for sleeper ticketed passengers. And coach ticketed passengers have no right to "enjoy" the first class sleeper accommodations.

Sorry, but people have no problem understanding this when it comes to airplanes. I mean, few ask if they buy a coach ticket, can they sit up in first class (and visa versa).

So you're saying that on an airplane, passengers would expect that if they buy both tickets, they'd only be allowed to sit in one?

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Know what's funny? The agent said that was ok... since our boy wasn't a fare buying passenger, we could swap him off no problem. Somehow he can move freely about cars, yet my wife cannot. Amtrak physics?

Again, your wife can't because of her ticket. If her ticket is for a coach seat, then her seat is in the coach cars. If her ticket is for a sleeper roomette, then she belongs in the sleeper cars. I mean, there is no reserved coach seat on the train for sleeper ticketed passengers. And coach ticketed passengers have no right to "enjoy" the first class sleeper accommodations. Sorry, but people have no problem understanding this when it comes to airplanes. I mean, few ask if they buy a coach ticket, can they sit up in first class (and visa versa).

Amtrak is not a commercial airline. There is no multiple-person accommodations on commercial aircraft that would equate to the current situation. Not to mention you ignored purchasing two tickets for one person. Check-in would be confusing but again, it's not equivalent to airline accommodations in the first place. I thought guest responses were moderated, so why did this pointless straw man argument make it into the thread?

 

[That Guy]

Amtrak is not a commercial airline. There is no multiple-person accommodations on commercial aircraft that would equate to the current situation. Not to mention you ignored purchasing two tickets for one person. Check-in would be confusing but again, it's not equivalent to airline accommodations in the first place. I thought guest responses were moderated, so why did this pointless straw man argument make it into the thread?

He he. Thanks. In case anyone else missed it...

We're willing to buy the extra ticket

So I called back, and was told again it is not possible. This time the agent said they will not double book a passenger. Which I think is odd; if I have a customer that wants to pay me twice to fix his car once, I'll take it.

I guess our choice is to:

- do as you suggested, daxomni, and take the chance she'll be allowed onto the roomette car after departure. My main concern here is the car attendant will not have seen her board, and give us problem.

- hope she likes the roomette, and if not hang out in the lounge car for 18 hrs. My main concern here is my wife hanging out in the lounge for 18 hrs.

Can you guys tell I think too much? Makes up for being slow.

 

[amamba]

How does the agent know you are double booking a passenger? Just buy a coach ticket online for her. No agent necessary!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I guess our choice is to:
- do as you suggested, daxomni, and take the chance she'll be allowed onto the roomette car after departure. My main concern here is the car attendant will not have seen her board, and give us problem.

- hope she likes the roomette, and if not hang out in the lounge car for 18 hrs. My main concern here is my wife hanging out in the lounge for 18 hrs.

Your wife's valid sleeper ticket is enough to get past the dining car crew from the coach car into the sleeper cars. Sleeper passengers are allowed in all passenger accessible areas of the train so no problems on the return to coach for either of you. In addition, the SCA should have all three of your names on his or her paperwork, so no problems there either. The only complication right now is the reservations desk, which as Amamba notes can be easily bypassed by purchasing online. The website will sell you another ticket without worrying if the same name is already on the manifest for that train. Hope that helps clear up any remaining concerns. Amtrak is a different way to travel that takes a little while to get used to, but so long as you're not trying to finagle a free lunch or cause any trouble the on-board staff are generally reasonable. Enjoy your ride.

 

[Bob Dylan]

:hi: the_traveler is right, consider the Palmeto in Business Class or, as others have said, book the Roomette for You and your Wife, the Rail Fare will be low bucket for both of you, your child will be free since they are under two! I would NOT buy a seperate Coach ticket, no need to waste the money! The roomette on the Viewliners has a sink and toliet, plenty of room for luggage, and since there are windows up top and on the bottom plenty of light! Your choice, just call and book the two of you, let your wife read some of the trip reports, tips, look at pics etc. She'll Love it! :wub:

 

[That Guy]

How does the agent know you are double booking a passenger? Just buy a coach ticket online for her. No agent necessary!

They won't. I'm just worried that when she goes to board the sleeper car (after we're under way), and the attendant didn't see her board at departure, the attendant may give her a hard time.

I've never traveled by train, so I'm not sure the specifics in boarding various parts of the train. I'm sure it also comes down to the specific attendant as well.

 

[Palmland]

Why not buy a bedroom. It's certainly larger than a roomette so everyone can spread out. If she still feels claustrophobic she can sit in the lounge car for a while.

 

[AlanB]

That Guy,

First, while I suspect that it won't be as cheap as what you'd like to do, you should certainly double check prices with an eye towards Palmland's suggestion of getting a Bedroom. The Bedroom is much larger and would give you far more room to spread out.

Now, turning to the coach/sleeper booking issues. First, keep in mind the fact that you'll be having dinner on the train. That should take all of you out of your room for at least 1.5 hours while you partake of your meals in the dining car. Next, assuming that she doesn't buy coach ticket, your wife is still free to get up and walk the train at any point in time. Additionally, she can actually get off the train and walk on the platform at DC & Richmond. She should not go into the stations, only walk on the platform near the train and be ready to reboard at a moments notice.

Regarding the double booking issue, the rule stems from the fact that some people will make multiple bookings on trains to hedge their bets. It tends to happen far more on the corridor trains, where people would book the 4PM, 5PM, & 6PM trains. Then once they got to the station, whatever train was closest to that time would be the one that they'd board and they'd then cancel the other reservations and get a full refund. This locked up a lot of seats that Amtrak couldn't sell, yet ultimately would not get any revenue for.

I realize that is not what you're trying to do, but this is why the rule exists. And to that end, Amtrak does have a way of sweeping reservations and deleting duplicate/conflicting reservations. By that I mean, if one is booked on the 4PM train from DC to NY, then clearly one also cannot be on the 5PM train from DC to NY. To a lesser extent Amtrak has also had people do something similar with the long distance trains, booking the same train 2 days in a row to lock in a low fare, and then canceling the one they don't need. And again, you can't be a train departing NY tomorrow, if you're already on the one that left today.

So to combat this problem, Amtrak not only instituted the rule, but also has developed a computer procedure to weed out duplicated reservations. I'm not sure just how this works, meaning I don't know if it's an automatic housekeeping procedure or if someone at Amtrak has to trigger the program to run. But if it does run, there is certainly a good chance that it could kick out your wife's duplicated reservation. There is also a chance that if your name is listed first on the reservation, that it will miss a coach reservation in her name totally.

The danger however if it does catch the duplicate is that it doesn't cancel the coach reservation and instead cancels the sleeper reservation. Again, I don't know the specifics of just how it works, what it checks for, and how the computer decides which reservation to cancel. For that matter, I'm not sure if the computer doesn't spit out a list of duplicates and then some human picks which to cancel. But I do know that people with double bookings have reported Amtrak canceling reservations on them, and many times the one cancelled was the reservation that they really wanted to be able to use, and not the backup/safety reservation.

So if you choose to follow the advice of others above, and just book a coach ticket without saying anything about the sleeper reservation or going online, proceed with caution! You could be in for a nasty surprise.

And all of the above is of course why the phone agents will not book that coach seat for you.

My advice is to stick with the reservation that you have and then talk with the crew once on board. If the train isn't sold out, then they might well allow her to occupy a seat in coach, should you find that the walking around, dinner in the diner, etc., aren't enough to keep her anxiety at bay.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I do know that people with double bookings have reported Amtrak canceling reservations on them, and many times the one cancelled was the reservation that they really wanted to be able to use, and not the backup/safety reservation.

What people? I've purchased both coach and sleeper tickets on the exact same train under identical names on the same credit card multiple times, from a few hours to a few months in advance of my trip. I've also purchased tickets on identical trains on successive days. Never once have I suffered any ill effect of this rule or the "computer procedure" that supposedly enforces it. Everything I booked was always ready and waiting for me when I arrived at the station. To be frank Amtrak doesn't typically have enough information to go around arbitrarily canceling anyone's tickets just because they happen to have the same name. The more I think about it the more this sounds like Amtrak lore than Amtrak fact.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

It's not amtrak lore. At least one member of this forum had it happen to him. I forgot who.

 

[Ryan]

To be frank Amtrak doesn't typically have enough information to go around arbitrarily canceling anyone's tickets just because they happen to have the same name. The more I think about it the more this sounds like Amtrak lore than Amtrak fact.

They most certainly do, and it most certainly has happened. I'll see if I can't dig out a link, but I can't remember who it happened to either.
Edit: That was easy: http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/30352-yikes-amtrak-can-cancel-reservations-without-notice/page__p__205254__hl__%2Bcancel+%2Bduplicate__fromsearch__1#entry205254

 

[Devil's Advocate]

It sounds like it's mostly an NEC policy. I'm still curious how Amtrak avoids problems with this though. Two people have the same name but are unrelated, how does Amtrak avoid cancelling one of them in that case? Maybe they are related but they're Jr./Sr. so how does Amtrak handle that? Supposedly Amtrak attempts a phone call and then simply cancels one of the tickets if that one single call doesn't reach you for any reason. Seems like Amtrak is shooting themselves in the foot with this rule. If they don't want people refunding tickets so easily then maybe they should change the refund rules instead of arbitrarily canceling tickets as they please. Thankfully this rule doesn't seem to be in effect for the LD network as of yet. I try not to double-book but occasionally it happens. If Amtrak decides to start canceling my tickets I'll be sure to write about it. I know I'd never win my case in some lopsided arbitration process, but just outside the door are hundreds of media sources more than willing to post negative stories about Amtrak customer service. You'd think Amtrak would be walking on eggshells these days, but I guess not. Anyway, thanks for the link. Sounds like the NEC doesn't mess around.

 

[AlanB]

It sounds like it's mostly an NEC policy.

As I said, the NEC is where they have/had the biggest problem, but it can and has been enforced on trains outside of the NEC.

I'm still curious how Amtrak avoids problems with this though. Two people have the same name but are unrelated, how does Amtrak avoid cancelling one of them in that case?

Address & telephone.

Maybe they are related but they're Jr./Sr. so how does Amtrak handle that?

Jr./Sr. makes it different names, therefore no problem.

Supposedly Amtrak attempts a phone call and then simply cancels one of the tickets if that one single call doesn't reach you for any reason. Seems like Amtrak is shooting themselves in the foot with this rule. If they don't want people refunding tickets so easily then maybe they should change the refund rules instead of arbitrarily canceling tickets as they please.

Amtrak doesn't want to change the refund rules. They just want people to stop abusing the rather generous system. Tying up 3 or 4 seats on different trains just to hedge your bets on when you get out of a meeting and depriving Amtrak of revenue for those seats isn't exactly fair.

Thankfully this rule doesn't seem to be in effect for the LD network as of yet. I try not to double-book but occasionally it happens. If Amtrak decides to start canceling my tickets I'll be sure to write about it.

And again, the rule is in effect for all trains. The thing that I'm usure about is when & how is the routine run. Observation seems to suggest that it's not an automated housekeeping chore, that someone at Amtrak must push the button as it were to make it happen. But just what makes someone push the button or when they decide to push it is unknown to me.