Comments on: Help, I’ve lost my train tickets!

By: John

John — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 05:20:34 +0000

I think it is time for the customer to take a little bit of responsibility for their actions. You buy merchandise ( a train ticket ) and loose it ;then it becomes how mean the company is that won’t just give me another one for free. Please.

By: Greg Fischer

Greg Fischer — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:11:54 +0000

Amtrak uses a system called “Advance Payment” for credit or debit card payment. If you book directly with Amtrak (on-line or at their call center which, by the way, does NOT charge an additional fee for human help), and if you are boarding either at a station that is staffed (or an unstaffed station with an automated Quik-Trak machine) you can pick up your tickets on the day you’re traveling and thus not have to worry about losing them. It also make it very easy to cancel paid-for reservations since there are no paper tickets to return to Amtrak.

So the “advance payment” process works very much like airline e-tickets however one difference is that tickets for all travel segments will be issued, not just the one(s) for that day.

Currently travel agents are not able to use this system and have to physically issue tickets. And Amtrak issued tickets for passengers boarding in smaller unstaffed stations without Quik-Trak machines, such as Osceola, also must be physically issued and mailed.

By: DCTA

DCTA — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:57:33 +0000

Amy – you are still picking up a ticket at the kiosk. There is no true e-ticket system for checking in – you must hand the conductor a piece of paper on the train – and an email confirmation will not work. It is either the ticket itself on good old fashioned airline stock or the ticket on flimsy paper that comes out of the kiosk.

By: John M

John M — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:16:29 +0000

If you have a paper ticket on an airline and you lose it, you will get to pay a Lost Ticket Application, buy a new ticket and then wait for a refund in a year or so. And yes, airlines still have paper tickets due to their inability to interline electronically with all of the other airlines.

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:03:30 +0000

I traveled from Portland to Los Angeles on Amtrak last week and this week, and both times I had e-confirmations that I could print out and use to pick up my tickets at the station kiosks. So they are also using the e-ticket system. Luckily you found your mistake before you boarded the train. The on-board staff was clear that if you didn’t have a ticket, you’d have to pay for one right away at a much higher price.

By: DCTA

DCTA — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:01:22 +0000

No Aldenroff, Amtrak does not refund based on any receipt you may have received, regardless – the ticket is actually your only receipt.

There is a good reason for this. Amtrak tickets are used by handing them to a Conductor who most often does not check any ID to make sure the ticket is actually being used by the person whose name is on it. ANYONE can use those lost tickets and if Amtrak issues you a replacement set and then someone else uses the original, Amtrak is then out that money through your fault, not theirs.

It is unfortunate that Amtrak has not found a way to switch to electronic tickets, but that’s the way it is.

By: Aldenrolf

Aldenrolf — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:28:54 +0000

I would a nice experience for to you and everyone of not loosing the tickets for the other time. Anyway you can get back the tickets by the reciept you have got at the time while purchasing tickets.

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