All about the Autotrain

[cherylp3]

Just a note that the comfort inn is occasionally used for troop deployment send offs. I had reserved a room and they gave away my room.

 

[lindap1]

Just wanted everyone tonknow that we are on our way! We checked in at exactly 11:30. And we got 5:00 dinner,they had 3 times (since they have 400 riding today). Hubby decided to upgrade to a deluxe, no problem ther. Will try checking in later

 

[pwdebbie]

Just wanted everyone tonknow that we are on our way! We checked in at exactly 11:30. And we got 5:00 dinner,they had 3 times (since they have 400 riding today). Hubby decided to upgrade to a deluxe, no problem ther. Will try checking in later

I'll be watching for your updates. Have a great trip.

 

[kats1mom]

You can also try for Springfield, VA. Several hotels/motels and nice restaurants.

 

[lpizzuro123]

Not sure how many on here are Amtrak Rewards members but both my DH and I are. We got an offering a while ago if you open their credit card after your first purchase you get 32,000 points. We already had about 6,500 points so all our points were put together.

One way on the autotrain uses:
10,000 for the car
5,500 per person

We were able to get our car and 4 adults one way free. We are working on getting extra points to see if we can also get our return trip home free - there are only 3 of of us coming home - one is flying because he needs to get home for school.

Not sure if anyone on here has done this or not but it has worked out great for us.

Linda

 

[PEANUT1]

Not sure how many on here are Amtrak Rewards members but both my DH and I are. We got an offering a while ago if you open their credit card after your first purchase you get 32,000 points. We already had about 6,500 points so all our points were put together.

One way on the autotrain uses:
10,000 for the car
5,500 per person

We were able to get our car and 4 adults one way free. We are working on getting extra points to see if we can also get our return trip home free - there are only 3 of of us coming home - one is flying because he needs to get home for school.

Not sure if anyone on here has done this or not but it has worked out great for us.

Linda

We transfered airline miles to amtrak miles. I think it was 40k for roundtrip in a family bedroom for the 4 of us

 

[lpizzuro123]

Great idea - I didn't know you could do that. My DH and I really do not like to fly so we never tried to get air miles. I do have Discover card dollars so I think I will cash these in for food for our Disney trip.

Linda

 

[bdcp]

You can't do it with all airline plans. You could do it with Continental, but since the merge with United, I'm not sure what you can do. My DH has several hundred thousand ff miles on United, but we can't use them on Amtrak.

 

[jad215]

You can't do it with all airline plans. You could do it with Continental, but since the merge with United, I'm not sure what you can do. My DH has several hundred thousand ff miles on United, but we can't use them on Amtrak.

I contacted Continental OnePass recently about this:

Hello,****I'm currently a One-Pass member with Continental and know that starting in 2012 the programs are going to combine under Mileage Plus. I can currently transfer my One-Pass miles to Amtrak points since they are partners. Will Mileage Plus be a partner with Amtrak starting in 2012?

response (no concrete answer though):

Yes, Amtrak and Continental Airlines are teaming up to provide the ultimate in seamless travel.

However, as of now, United and Continental continue to operate independently in 2011 until our system have been fully integrated. The new frequent flyer program will combine valuable features of each program. We will keep you updated thoughout the year as we have more program information to share.

Hopefully, the more people ask about this the better the chance they will offer conversion to Amtrak points.

 

[kittylady1972]

I contacted Continental OnePass recently about this:

Hello,****I'm currently a One-Pass member with Continental and know that starting in 2012 the programs are going to combine under Mileage Plus. I can currently transfer my One-Pass miles to Amtrak points since they are partners. Will Mileage Plus be a partner with Amtrak starting in 2012?

response (no concrete answer though):

Yes, Amtrak and Continental Airlines are teaming up to provide the ultimate in seamless travel.

However, as of now, United and Continental continue to operate independently in 2011 until our system have been fully integrated. The new frequent flyer program will combine valuable features of each program. We will keep you updated thoughout the year as we have more program information to share.

Hopefully, the more people ask about this the better the chance they will offer conversion to Amtrak points.

Can't wait to hear more about this. I have some Continental Miles thanks to a Chase Visa card that I would like to transfer to use on Amtrak. My DH has the United miles that we'd like to combine somehow in order to book another Autotrain trip next November. However I *THOUGHT* I read you could transfer your United miles to Continental somewhere....I thought maybe we could do it that way. Get him a Continental account, transfer his United miles into that one, and then somehow combine the two Continental miles by a transfer from one of us to the other. I guess not? Probably need to get this worked out soon as I am hoping Amtrak releases some November 2012 travel dates for booking sometime in the next few weeks!

 

[labdogs42]

I just booked our next Auto Train trip for March 2012! I can't wait!

 

[Marshay]

I just booked our next Auto Train trip for March 2012! I can't wait!

Awesome!! It feels so good to have a Disney and AT trip booked!!

 

[PEANUT1]

2 weeks from right now I will be checkin in at the train station in Lorton

 

[bdcp]

We check in at Lorton in 6 days.

 

[disneymarie]

The rates were so high going south this time of the year, we are coming back north AT on Oct 12. That will cut a huge chunk of the drive for us and the boys are real trainaholic's. The cost was less then half coming North.

About the Rewards, I had a post card that there are double miles from now through Nov. if you call and register. Staying at a Wydham also gives you points when you register on their site so I am thinking about stopping overnight there on the way down.

 

[bdcp]

The rates were so high going south this time of the year, we are coming back north AT on Oct 12. That will cut a huge chunk of the drive for us and the boys are real trainaholic's. The cost was less then half coming North.

About the Rewards, I had a post card that there are double miles from now through Nov. if you call and register. Staying at a Wydham also gives you points when you register on their site so I am thinking about stopping overnight there on the way down.

Another reason we always book at least 6 months out (sometimes 10). Our rate is a lot lower for our upcoming trip than it would be if we booked just a couple of months ago. We got our bedroom going south for under $300 and they're currently going for $800. Our seats were the same price going both ways ($189 each way for 2 of us) If we booked today, it would cost us $630 more than it did booking earlier this year (March). We're doing a bedroom down and coach back. We figured we'd try a bedroom (tried roomette a few years ago and hated it) going down since we'll want to be more rested for our weekend in Orlando and coach returning home since we live 40 min from Lorton and can just go home and shower and nap.

 

[Marshay]

We figured we'd try a bedroom (tried roomette a few years ago and hated it) going down since we'll want to be more rested for our weekend in Orlando and coach returning home since we live 40 min from Lorton and can just go home and shower and nap.

Just curious ... why did you hate the roomette?

We did coach once and it was ok...then did a family bedroom and love it every since!

However, I'm trying to convince my parents to get a roomette since they tried coach and hated that.

Thanks!

 

[lindap1]

Hello All! We are home from our trip
I'll start out by saying that we enjoyed the auto train and will do it again!
First off, we decided to drive down the night before and OMG I am so glad we did. That traffic at Washington Spur was pure HELL! Thanks so much to the peeps on here who warned me If we would have driven down on Saturday we would never had gotten to the train on time. We ended up staying at Comfort Inn in Lorton ( right around the corner from the auto train) and it was a nice with free wi- fi in rooms! The only downfall with this place was the free continental breakfast. I get that it's "continental" but it should be better than flat flavorless egg disk and rubberized sausage patties . The biggest turnoff was the guy taking care of the food. He stood there leaning in the doorway scratching his hairy arm with his gloved hand and then walking over and turning the eggs and sausage with that same gloved hand Sooo, i grabbed a couple bananas and went to my room. We got to the station at 11:20, at 11:30 on the dot they started checking people in! We left to get some snacks and such for the train. Oh, by the way, DH had decided while in line to upgrade to deluxe sleeperSo $607 later we had a sleeper! Train left a few minutes late, there were a lot of people on board! We met a wonderful couple and their daughter while waiting to board. He works for amtrak and drives the auto train occasionally, so he put me at ease about some of my concerns.. The food on auto train is "ok" I think its precooked and then they just nuke it. DD had an episode at dinner because her new friend from the station wasn't there, so she cried and ended up throwing up. Too bad for our server, Linda, hehe...with her attitude she deserved that clean up I'll continue in a few!

 

[MinnieGi]

Just curious ... why did you hate the roomette?

We did coach once and it was ok...then did a family bedroom and love it every since!

However, I'm trying to convince my parents to get a roomette since they tried coach and hated that.

Thanks!

Not who you put the question too, but just wanted to say we loved the roomettes!! Actually we liked two roomettes across from each other better than the family bedroom. We didn't feel as "closed in" and the windows are bigger to see outside. Also having two full beds has become a necessity. Our 10yo DD is too tall now for the child beds in family bedroom. And our 6yo DS called his roomette a "space capsule" and had a ball playing such for quite a while.

 

[Marshay]

Not who you put the question too, but just wanted to say we loved the roomettes!! Actually we liked two roomettes across from each other better than the family bedroom. We didn't feel as "closed in" and the windows are bigger to see outside. Also having two full beds has become a necessity. Our 10yo DD is too tall now for the child beds in family bedroom. And our 6yo DS called his roomette a "space capsule" and had a ball playing such for quite a while.

yeah, when I looked at those wonderful picture windows in the roomette, I was captivated! However, I know my dad won't spend the $$ to get two roomettes so I'm thinking the bunk beds probably won't work with my parents ... and not sure if they could both sleep on the bottom together. (They sleep in separate beds while on vacation anyway).