All about the Autotrain

[Maryrn11168]

Hi everyone!!||

Thanks to this thread, I learned about the $19 summer kids fare...so THANK YOU for that !!!.....JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW......the promo starts TODAY !!!!!! I thought it was April 15th, but the EXTREMELY nice employee JIM told me it started TODAY !!!!!! So I booked roundtrip for end of August and saved 82.00 each way on my 3 boys !! Hope that helps someone out !!! Oh, by the way, AAA dscount cannot be used in conjunction with this offer, but the $19 kids fare promo. is wayyyy better !!!

Lisa

THANK YOU!! We are traveling in August as well and I just modified our reservation and we are now saving $100 more than with the AAA discount!

My husband is always teasing me about surfing these boards, but he is very glad that I do!!!

 

[Marshay]

So glad you guys are able to get the $19/kid fare.

I used that last year for our July trip -- sure helped with the costs and also a great way to "test out" the train to see if it's right for you or not.

 

[Minniemouse07]

So can the existing reservation be modified or does the entire trip need to be rebooked at today's prices (which are currently $500 MORE than when we booked!)?

 

[Maryrn11168]

So can the existing reservation be modified or does the entire trip need to be rebooked at today's prices (which are currently $500 MORE than when we booked!)?

They just modified my previous reservation. I would call and not try to do it on the computer.

 

[Henlady]

So can the existing reservation be modified or does the entire trip need to be rebooked at today's prices (which are currently $500 MORE than when we booked!)?

As long as you did not have "paper" tickets issued and you have an e-mail "voucher" that you turn in at the station, you should be able to adjust your current reservation to the new fees. However, if you did have "paper" tickets issued, you most likely will not be able to modify your existing reservation to add the discount.

 

[Minniemouse07]

I just called. The customer service person said that it wasn't currently available?

Does anyone have a code that I can give them?

 

[Minniemouse07]

As long as you did not have "paper" tickets issued and you have an e-mail "voucher" that you turn in at the station, you should be able to adjust your current reservation to the new fees. However, if you did have "paper" tickets issued, you most likely will not be able to modify your existing reservation to add the discount.

Yup, still have the email voucher... looking for the code now though since the person I talked to said it wasn't listed as a deal yet.

 

[Maryrn11168]

The code it H853. it was posted a few pages back. I did it today so it is definately available.

 

[Minniemouse07]

On the phone with them now.. they are saying they would have to rebook the entire trip to apply the $19 fare for the kids.

I'm pushing back...nicely but firmly!

Well that didn't work.

Told me in no uncertain terms that the deal was only good for NEW bookings and cannot be applied to existing bookings.

When I pointed out that others have had it applied to their existing bookings earlier today... he told me that "if" that is the case it was in error and that he wouldn't be able to help me.

He kept saying "I apologize, but..." and at one point I said that it didn't sound like his apology was genuine.

sigh...

I also pointed out that apparently their customer service training was lacking if they are applying promotions unevenly and if some of their agents didn't know about the current promotions even when researching them (the first person I talked to went and asked their promotions person and was told that there wasn't a $19 child fare this summer).

I am currently quite disgruntled.

 

[kittylady1972]

Wow, sad that so many people are not able to take advantage of this.

I got our new Continental Mastercard over the weekend...and could not WAIT to try it out. I'm supposed to get a $50 credit the first time I use it. I was able to book ONLINE our same trip down for June with the new code of kids for $19 and it saved me about $50 on the trip over the AAA rate. I just booked a new reservation and cancelled our old one which was fully refundable since we did not do paper tickets. Thankfully the costs have NOT increased for our travel date. So this means about a $100 savings for us now.

Still debating what to do about rooms on the train. I think I've decided we WILL book rooms...but I can't decide which ones. I am considering doing a bedroom and a roomette. Hopefully at least we'll be near each other on the train like that. It would be nice to be able to check out both kinds of accomodations and I think it will be easier to get two kids and an adult in the bedroom and then put another adult and child in the roomette.

Just SO excited about this train experience...almost more excited than the trip to Walt Disney World itself! ALMOST!

 

[Marshay]

Wow, sad that so many people are not able to take advantage of this.

I got our new Continental Mastercard over the weekend...and could not WAIT to try it out. I'm supposed to get a $50 credit the first time I use it. I was able to book ONLINE our same trip down for June with the new code of kids for $19 and it saved me about $50 on the trip over the AAA rate. I just booked a new reservation and cancelled our old one which was fully refundable since we did not do paper tickets. Thankfully the costs have NOT increased for our travel date. So this means about a $100 savings for us now.

Still debating what to do about rooms on the train. I think I've decided we WILL book rooms...but I can't decide which ones. I am considering doing a bedroom and a roomette. Hopefully at least we'll be near each other on the train like that. It would be nice to be able to check out both kinds of accomodations and I think it will be easier to get two kids and an adult in the bedroom and then put another adult and child in the roomette.

Just SO excited about this train experience...almost more excited than the trip to Walt Disney World itself! ALMOST!

Your kids are going to love it! And you guys, too!

It really is exciting as it definitely extends the vacation!

 

[kittylady1972]

Your kids are going to love it! And you guys, too!

It really is exciting as it definitely extends the vacation!

Thanks! I'm even more excited about the thought that we are leaving pretty much as early as possible for vacation. My oldest DS graduates from 5th grade in the morning around 9am. We will attend the ceremony of course, then get the other two kids out of school right after it ends (they have no idea about this) and then head home briefly to drop off any school-related stuff they don't need and then hit the road for the train station hopefully by noon or earlier! It should only take us about an hour to get to Lorton, but we want to make sure we are there well before the 2pm deadline and you can't trust NoVa traffic EVER!

The kids still think we are leaving at 3:30am the next morning...but little do they know that by that time we should be nearly in Florida!

 

[chartle]

It should only take us about an hour to get to Lorton, but we want to make sure we are there well before the 2pm deadline and you can't trust NoVa traffic EVER!

You definitely want to get there early.

We shot for 1:30 because we wanted to add a cushion because we were coming from western PA. We got there at 1:35 with no line for cars.

Checked in inside with maybe 2 or 3 people in front of us.

Well once checked in we turned around and there was a huge mass of cars pulling in. We later found out we as close to a 100% full train as possible.

 

[kittylady1972]

So today when I checked Amtrak, I noticed the roomettes had increased in price. It was only a $23 increase, but it scared me enough that I figured I should play it safe and call and book rooms for us.

Big mistake.

Now it appears that the overall price increase is much more...and I may end up backing out of it before all is said and done.

The issue started with the fact that I wanted to book both a bedroom and a roomette...not a major issue but she did have to verify that we could still be in the same car...and we could. Then I was put on hold for a LONG time...due to another issue with pricing.

It seems earlier this month when I rebooked our trip, right after they announced the $19 kid fare, I managed to do so because of a glitch in the system. I was supposed to only be allowed to book one $19 fare per adult...but they let me book all three kids at the $19 fare. So now that I was adding rooms, this meant rebooking the entire reservation (of course) and I'd lose out on that pricing for one kid.

No big deal I decided...it meant another $30 or so over and above what I had planned to pay and I could handle that.

However the total for my trip is actually $82.50 more for the rail fare. Which means there must have been an additional price increase in fare which was not mentioned to me.

AMTRAK's booking system is now down, so I can't double-check the rates. Unfortunately the receipt that was emailed to me only shows fare totals and does NOT break down individual fares...so I'm not sure where the additional fare increase came into play. It's definitely in the rail fare and not the rooms though.

Guess I'll have to call Amtrak back and ask about it. I know it's not a HUGE difference overall...but still I'd like to know what happened.

At this point I may have been better off just waiting and booking the rooms on arrival so we would not lose our rail fare huh? However I am concerned that the room rates might keep going up. Anyone know if there's a chance they will go back DOWN again?

 

[lindap1]

Hi everyone! We are going to WDW in september and are planning on taking the AT. Havent' booked yet just waiting for hubby to give the go...
Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated...it will be three of us: my, my hubby and our 4 1/2 year old daughter. I'm hoping that I don't get motion sickness from the train movement. Should I request up or down for coach? Like I said any tips or suggestions are welcome.

 

[lindap1]

where did you see pics of the coach seats?

 

[chartle]

where did you see pics of the coach seats?

This is the best picture I could find.

 

[lindap1]

How comfortable are the coach seats?

 

[chartle]

How comfortable are the coach seats?

pretty comfy

 

[lindap1]

Thank You! We'll be driving 7 hours from Ohio to Lorton then boarding the train. Want to have something comfy to relax on for 17 hours...lol