You CAN recover a "lost" reservation!

[MARC Rider]

I'm trying to be proactive on my 2 NER #188 trips every week, reserving them far enough in advance to get low bucket, and also even get a AA discount on top of that. This week, I thought I'd be real efficient and print both e-tickets so I'd have them handy. Well, on my Monday Nov 3 trip, i apparently gave the conductor my Wednesday Nov 5 e-ticket. I thought it was funny the way the conductor scowled as she scanned my ticket, but the scanner beeped and I thought nothing more about it.

Well, this evening, when I went to my bag to check for my Wednesday e-ticket, all I could find was the Monday Nov 3 eticket! So I went to the desk at the club Acela to get the right ticket printed out. That's when I found that my Nov 5 ticket had already been lifted, tow days before the train even left the station! For a brief second, I thought that my Nov 3 reservation had gone into the ether and my $17 was lost, but after some keyboard work by the agent,, I was issued a new Nov 5 ticket, and I am now on the train. By the way, this ride should give me the points to qualify for Select Plus next year.

So it seems that it IS possible to get your ticket value back, even if you "miss" your train. Ah, the brave new world of e-ticketing.

 

[Barciur]

What's the point of the reservations if your future ticket was lifted with no problems on the wrong train though?

 

[caravanman]

Don't get me started on ticketing... I got issued a reserved seat ticket for a train that had departed 24hrs before I even purchased my ticket!

Ed

 

[the_traveler]

I'm trying to be proactive on my 2 NER #188 trips every week, reserving them far enough in advance to get low bucket, and also even get a AA discount on top of that.

By "far enough in advance" I assume you mean it's over 14 days in advance. If so, you're losing money!

On the NEC, if you book more than 14 days in advance and low bucket is available, you get 25% off full fare. But you MUST request "Adult" (full fare), if you request "AAA" you only get 10% off full fare - meaning you pay more! You do not get 10% off the 25% off fare!

 

[Guest]

I'm trying to be proactive on my 2 NER #188 trips every week, reserving them far enough in advance to get low bucket, and also even get a AA discount on top of that. This week, I thought I'd be real efficient and print both e-tickets so I'd have them handy. Well, on my Monday Nov 3 trip, i apparently gave the conductor my Wednesday Nov 5 e-ticket. I thought it was funny the way the conductor scowled as she scanned my ticket, but the scanner beeped and I thought nothing more about it.

Well, this evening, when I went to my bag to check for my Wednesday e-ticket, all I could find was the Monday Nov 3 eticket! So I went to the desk at the club Acela to get the right ticket printed out. That's when I found that my Nov 5 ticket had already been lifted, tow days before the train even left the station! For a brief second, I thought that my Nov 3 reservation had gone into the ether and my $17 was lost, but after some keyboard work by the agent,, I was issued a new Nov 5 ticket, and I am now on the train. By the way, this ride should give me the points to qualify for Select Plus next year.

So it seems that it IS possible to get your ticket value back, even if you "miss" your train. Ah, the brave new world of e-ticketing.

She should have asked if you had a November 3 ticket and not have scanned the Nov 5 ticket. She probably assumed you had made a mistake and bought for the wrong date and thought she was doing you a favor. You are lucky that you discovered the mistake before you handed the November 3 ticket to a conductor on the November 5 train because it would likely have shown canceled as a no show and you would have lost your $17 as the conductor on a train can't do what they did at the desk.

 

[Guest]

What's the point of the reservations if your future ticket was lifted with no problems on the wrong train though?

She should have asked if he had another ticket. If he did not she should have had him call up reservations and have the date changed. In other words she was not doing her job.

 

[Guest]

Don't get me started on ticketing... I got issued a reserved seat ticket for a train that had departed 24hrs before I even purchased my ticket!

Ed

If you buy from the ticket agent make sure to check your ticket document. They have been known to make mistakes.

When you buy your own ticket online or at a ticket office and it is for multiple trips make sure you check the date on your return segment. It is pretty common to make a mistake on the return date.

 

[oldtimer]

Don't get me started on ticketing... I got issued a reserved seat ticket for a train that had departed 24hrs before I even purchased my ticket!

Ed

I was also issued a ticket for a train that left before I made my call to Amtrak reservations, I only found out the next day at the station prior to my attempt to board.