Seat assignments (Acela pilot Feb 2018)

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The next phase of assigned seats in Acela First Class is coming. Reservations with seat assignments have already begun for service beginning on the following dates and trains:

WAS - NYP

Apr 28 - 2208

Apr 29 - 2228

Apr 30 - 2128

NYP-WAS

May 19 - 2203

May 20 - 2205

May 21 - 2103
 
Lonestar648 said:
Any feedback about issues Amtrak is encountering? With any project as complex as this, I am sure they are resolving a long list of "pop up" issues.
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The usual issues that were encountered the last time this was tried. However, more people are accepting. Hell, even movie theaters have seat selection. Besides, the Acela's aren't the real test. When it hits phase III in a few months, we'll see what we're up against.
 
I just made a reservation for Acela 2155 First Class NYP to WAS and was not offered the opportunity to select a seat nor was there an assigned seat on my e-ticket. So is the test still going only for the NYP to BOS one or two Acela First Class. The AGR agent who made my reservation allowed me to choose my roomette number on the connecting Capitol Limited WAS to CHI.
 
Since trains are not quite like airplanes and have many intermediate stops where a few people get on and off at each stop, seat assignments should be tweaked to allow for that.

One idea would be give people the opportunity to pay extra to select a seat before hand (similar to how it's done in Europe). If you don't pay extra, the system automatically assigns an optimal seat based on your origin/destination to maximize capacity.
 
There are quite a few what ifs that have to be programmed into the logic code. Blocking a certain number seats for end to end travel, focus seat selection for mid-route boarding and departure so seats can be filled as much as possible. How will seat changing by the passengers without the Conductor be handled? Special Needs customers seating. I am sure the Project Manager for this has had many brain stoirming sessions with various departments to determine as many scenarios as possible. Only multiple levels of live testing will reveal the issues no one has thought of. I have been through many new software products coming to the field, (in house field testing, Alpha field test, Beta field test, and First out delivery testing). It appears Amtrak is still running Beta tests. Next I would expect all Acelas, then another train, maybe limited testing with sleepers.
 
There is a marketing "challenge" The people who (generally) pay the highest fares have the least to choose from in a strictly "choose at time of ticketing/reservation" system. Also, accommodations for couples, parents with children and special needs will need to be dealt with. It is not as simple as many make it out as.
 
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What I don't get is why you can't see what seats are available or choose one before you commit to paying! As of now, you can only choose a seat after the reservation has been paid and confirmed.
 
Remember this Application is in the testing phase. Though some airlines will display a non active screen of the available seats, they caution that between viewing this screen and purchasing your ticket and then selecting your seats, the availability can change.

Right now I am sure they want to limit the number of accesses to only those people who have purchased a ticket on a qualified train, this way when or if there are database issues, this keeps the number of attempts on the database limited.

Once the coding is determined to be correct, having access to available seats on a view only query, is not complicated to set up.
 
This is not an unheard of concept... red coach in florida (a regional bus line) offers passenger selected, reserved seating. They have passengers getting on and off en route. And they have 2 different types of busses... A 1st class bus with 2x1 seating, and a more traditional 2x2 seating. They seem to have been able to make it work.
 
I'm not a Mega Bus rider but does it typically make 25+ stops on a single journey? Along a route with a high number of stops, a few well placed intermediate stop to intermediate stop selections can seriously curtail through ridership to selected points.

That was one of the problems with passenger selected seat assignments last time and something they've noticed this time. You have to make sure you do this in a way that does not impact through ridership and revenue and doesn't require anyone to move at some point during the trip. Currently, the reservations system controls this function automatically. If it see a room being reserved for a portion of the trip, when it see another reservation for another portion of the trip, it will assign the same room to leave as much through space as possible. The same goes for coach seating. It calculates the space based upon maximums along the route between each pair. Without assigned seating, it calculates the "pure space." With assigned seating, you can only hope that intermediate trips come later or you can sell space to that intermediate pair...unless you only set aside certain seats for certain pairs. If that is the case, I don't really consider that "genuine seat selection." You are merely letting the passengers select from a pool of seats that has been offered to them.

That is why I'm betting all eyes are on 2103.
 
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daybeers said:
What I don't get is why you can't see what seats are available or choose one before you commit to paying! As of now, you can only choose a seat after the reservation has been paid and confirmed.
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I'm guessing that it is to prevent the following scenario: passenger X books room A CHI-DEN and passenger Y books room B DEN-EMY. Now two rooms are not available for CHI-EMY, or Fort Morgan to Fraser for that matter.

The computer would assign room A to passenger Y, making room B available.
 
I would expect Amtrak is trying to measure revenue and overall trip capacity comparing this to non online seat assignment measurements. It doesn't make good business sense to loose money by having a seat selection application for customers. Also, Conductors have tried to group passengers on LD trains by city or over night stops.so it is easier to make sure people get off at the right stop. Does the system ignore this or limit selection to a certain car on say a three Coach LD train.
 
sitzplatz17 said:
I really hope this works out not only for the Acela, but gets expanded to the system as a whole.

A couple days ago I had to make a number of ticket bookings for train travel through Germany and was pleasantly surprised that I could now select not only which seat I wanted to sit in, but even which coach.

Which is nice, because I was actually able to select "seat 17" in the first coach on one of the InterCity Express trains (my screen name and favorite seat on any train).

jis said:
Actually I have a pretty good idea what it takes to do this sort of stuff since I have been peripherally involved in similar projects, most closely with the system used by United Airlines (SHARES). Also have followed the work of the folks who did the system used by Indian Railways, which by the way has assigned accommodation for all reserved accommodation, which if anything is way more complex and massive compared to anything that Amtrak could conceivably dream of, in terms of number of stations served, number of trains operated, number of seats/berths per train and number of passengers carried in reserved accommodation. It really is not as spectacularly difficult as is made out by folks here, and is not really rocket science either.
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I agree with jis that if a country like Germany or India with much more complex routes and diverse rolling stock can figure it out, then it shouldn't be all that hard for Amtrak to do.

Perhaps a good way to go about funding this would be to do as the Deutsche Bahn (German railways) does, where you have to pay 4.50EUR (about $5.75) to reserve a seat?
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When did the opportunity to pick your actual seat(s) on the ICE (not just to guarantee a certain type of seats) start? Any idea if that is just first class, or does it apply to second class, too? It has been several years since I rode an ICE far enough to make reserved seating worthwhile.
 
cocojacoby said:
Thirdrail7 said:
I'm not a Mega Bus rider but does it typically make 25+ stops on a single journey?
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My wife and I took it a few years ago from Boston to New York. Non stop and $1 each! Yes $2 total for both of us.
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So if Amtrak gets rid off all their services and amenities, will they still be 60 times as good as Megabus, as their pricing indicates?
 

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