Round Trip Reservations (what will happen if arrival so late that I miss departure)?

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Rail Freak

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I have a round trip (same day connection) reservation next week (CHI-LAX/LAX-CHI) on the TE/ SWC. I booked this trip entirely as a train adventure with no destinations. Now, if for some FAR OUT REASON I should miss my connection back to CHI, would Amtrak treat this as all guaranteed connections are treated (Hotel, Food $ etc)?
 
They should.

Call and ask, if you get an affirmative note the date, time and agents name at least you’ll have good ammunition if things go south and you need to call or email customer relations after (or during) your trip for credit or reimbursement.
 
I have a round trip (same day connection) reservation next week (CHI-LAX/LAX-CHI) on the TE/ SWC. I booked this trip entirely as a train adventure with no destinations. Now, if for some FAR OUT REASON I should miss my connection back to CHI, would Amtrak treat this as all guaranteed connections are treated (Hotel, Food $ etc)?
It looks like you're using #421 CHI-LAX which is scheduled to arrive into LAX @ 5:30AM and #4 LAX-CHI which is Carded for a 6PM Departure .

You will gain 2 Hours heading West on 421(CDT/MDT/PDT)so should have plenty of time during your LAX Layover even if #421 runs Late.
 
If 1/421 is running super late, they will take any passengers for the Coast Starlight off in Palm Springs, most likely, to bus them to Bakersfield in order to catch the San Joaquin for San Francisco and points north. It would be easy for them to put you on that bus and just drop you off in Riverside or San Bernardino.
 
If 1/421 is running super late, they will take any passengers for the Coast Starlight off in Palm Springs, most likely, to bus them to Bakersfield in order to catch the San Joaquin for San Francisco and points north. It would be easy for them to put you on that bus and just drop you off in Riverside or San Bernardino.

He’s connecting to the SWC from the TE.
 
That's right. The Texas Eagle operates combined with the Sunset Limited, and when the Sunset Limited is very late, connecting passengers for San Francisco and points north are (often) taken off in Palm Springs and bused to Bakersfield to catch the San Joaquin. The quickest bus route from Palm Springs to Bakersfield runs very close to the SW Chief stations in San Bernardino and Riverside. It would be very simple for Amtrak to drop him off there to await his train if a timely arrival in Los Angeles was unlikely.
 
That's right. The Texas Eagle operates combined with the Sunset Limited, and when the Sunset Limited is very late, connecting passengers for San Francisco and points north are (often) taken off in Palm Springs and bused to Bakersfield to catch the San Joaquin. The quickest bus route from Palm Springs to Bakersfield runs very close to the SW Chief stations in San Bernardino and Riverside. It would be very simple for Amtrak to drop him off there to await his train if a timely arrival in Los Angeles was unlikely.
If the westbound SL was late enough to miss the eastbound SWC in LAX, it would also be too late to make a bus connection to the last northbound San Joaquin from Palm Springs.
 
That would be really safe, over 12 hours, unless something spectacular happened. However, just for fun, i ran a dummy reservation between points only served by the Sunset/Eagle and the SWC (Yuma and Flagstaff to be precise) and the routing is offered as a through ticket, so a connection between 1/421 and 4 is guaranteed.
 
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