What Happens With Delays and AMTRAK Rail Passes

Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
P

PJRACER

Service Attendant
Joined
Sep 20, 2010
Messages
200
Location
Dunedin, FL
OK, this would be the "what if".........we will be scheduled to leave MSP on 16th of August on the #8 to CHI.....however because of lateness (which seems to be the pattern) of the #8, we miss our connection to the #30 from CHI to Washington where we are scheduled to again connect to the #97 to Orl. The final day of travel is the 18th of August and that also is the last day of our RAILPASS. What happens if we are exceeding our 15-day RailPass because of the delay and having to layover in CHI. I know I have spoken about this in another posting....but I failed to get a concrete answer. RailFreak mentioned something about treating the same as an AGR blackout ??? which I know absolutely nothing about.
 
PJRACER said:
OK, this would be the "what if".........we will be scheduled to leave MSP on 16th of August on the #8 to CHI.....however because of lateness (which seems to be the pattern) of the #8, we miss our connection to the #30 from CHI to Washington where we are scheduled to again connect to the #97 to Orl. The final day of travel is the 18th of August and that also is the last day of our RAILPASS. What happens if we are exceeding our 15-day RailPass because of the delay and having to layover in CHI. I know I have spoken about this in another posting....but I failed to get a concrete answer. RailFreak mentioned something about treating the same as an AGR blackout ??? which I know absolutely nothing about.
Click to expand...
If Amtrak misses a garaunteed connection, I believe they will allow you to extend your pass!!! Someone, in the know, please help this Guy!!! :lol: Don't mean to laugh as I remember my 1st trip, & every other since!!! Nerves DO GET FRAYED!!!!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Have you called Amtrak and asked? That is what I would do. I would bet that Rail Freak is right, though, that they would extend it since the delay was not your fault but theirs.
 
If the OP's son is holding valid paper ticket for reserved space on each leg of the journey, and each connection is guaranteed, then the fact that a Rail Pass was used to purchase the tix would be irrelevant. Now if he was planning to book the next leg only at the conclusion of the prior, I'd be concerned.
 
OK, I called Amtrak for ya & talked to a supervisor.

If you are ticketed then you are COOL, Home Free, Safe, & a Worry Free Man!!!

Have Fun :)
 
Rail Freak said:
OK, I called Amtrak for ya & talked to a supervisor.

If you are ticketed then you are COOL, Home Free, Safe, & a Worry Free Man!!!

Have Fun :)
Click to expand...
What a great neighbor....thank you so much. I do feel much better, because of your efforts. :rolleyes:
 
What exactly is a guaranteed connection? We are doing a 15-day USA Rail Pass trip starting next week and nowhere on my reservation does it specify that. Are the connections automatically guaranteed if they are all booked at once as part of a large trip?

Unfortunately for us, we will probably make all our connections as we allowed a minimum of 24 hours in each city to tour. These train delays could mean that we eat up our touring time but arrive in time to catch the next train. Kind of a drag.

How about this "what if" scenario: We are arriving in Salt Lake City on the CZ (supposedly) at 11:05 PM. We plan to leave the next night at 11:30 PM, catching the next day's CZ. Let's say that the CZ is late the second day and won't arrive until 8AM the next morning (rather than 11:05 PM). Would Amtrak put us up in a hotel for the night since we are not in our home city?
 
Since you've "broken up" your trip, then there would not be "guaranteed connections" where you plan to stay longer than the time between the arriving train and the departing train.

As for my trip later this year, I'm pretty sure my connections are guaranteed as I'm changing trains in WAS and CHI w/o breaking up my trip. When I booked my trip, I did it from WIL to PRO (not using multi-city).
 
TrulyTracy said:
What exactly is a guaranteed connection? We are doing a 15-day USA Rail Pass trip starting next week and nowhere on my reservation does it specify that. Are the connections automatically guaranteed if they are all booked at once as part of a large trip?

Unfortunately for us, we will probably make all our connections as we allowed a minimum of 24 hours in each city to tour. These train delays could mean that we eat up our touring time but arrive in time to catch the next train. Kind of a drag.

How about this "what if" scenario: We are arriving in Salt Lake City on the CZ (supposedly) at 11:05 PM. We plan to leave the next night at 11:30 PM, catching the next day's CZ. Let's say that the CZ is late the second day and won't arrive until 8AM the next morning (rather than 11:05 PM). Would Amtrak put us up in a hotel for the night since we are not in our home city?
Click to expand...
A guaranteed connection means that if you have a trip between two cities and have to change trains in a third city to get there, Amtrak will guarantee that you get to your final city if the first train is late if it means putting you up overnight or finding an alternate train busing you or a taxi to catch your original train or holding your second train or ... So if you are going from Chicago to Miami and have to change trains in DC and your train to DC is late so you miss your Miami train, they will figure out how to get you to Miami even if it means they put you up overnight in DC to catch the next day's train.

If you have a planned stop in Washington to see the sites, then the train to Miami is not a guaranteed connection and if you arrive too late to see any sights before catching the Miami train, that's your problem.

In your example, you do not have a guaranteed connection. Sorry, you have to put yourself up.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top