New Cancellation Policy at Amtrak (August 2023)

dlagrua · Aug 112023

Booked some tickets today and was advised that a new cancellation policy is now in effect. If I understood it correctly if you cancel before 120 days of your reservation you get a full refund. Within the 120 days you will receive a voucher. If you cancel within two weeks there is a $250 cancellation fee or 10% of your fare. There was a lot going on with the phone call in a noisy location so please feel free to clarify details

Amtrakfflyer · Aug 112023

Looks like the same punitive policy that Anderson instituted is on the website at least as far as sleepers go. With sleepers in such high demand you’d think they could adjust the policies to something less draconian.
https://www.amtrak.com/refund-and-exchange-policy

Palmland · Aug 112023

But if you don’t canceljust change to a later date there is no penalty (other than a possible fare difference)?

trimetbusfan · Aug 112023

Palmland said:
But if you don’t canceljust change to a later date there is no penalty (other than a possible fare difference)?

Yep. No change frees through the end of the year!

PatchesC · Aug 112023

dlagrua said:
Booked some tickets today and was advised that a new cancellation policy is now in effect. If I understood it correctly if you cancel before 120 days of your reservation you get a full refund. Within the 120 days you will receive a voucher. If you cancel within two weeks there is a $250 cancellation fee or 10% of your fare. There was a lot going on with the phone call in a noisy location so please feel free to clarify details

I just bought today and policy is showed as 120-15 days refundable in original payment with 25% feebut $250 is the maximum fee as well. 14-departure is voucher with 25%

lordsigma · Aug 122023

trimetbusfan said:
Yep. No change frees through the end of the year!

There are no change fees on sleepers period.

dlagrua · Aug 122023

lordsigma said:
There are no change fees on sleepers period.

Does this mean that we can follow the fares and rebook if we find a lower price? The agent told me this was possible but if we cancel and rebook we could end up in another room or in a different sleeper car. With the price of sleeper fares today it's probably worth looking at it.

trimetbusfan · Aug 122023

dlagrua said:
Does this mean that we can follow the fares and rebook if we find a lower price? The agent told me this was possible but if we cancel and rebook we could end up in another room or in a different sleeper car. With the price of sleeper fares today it's probably worth looking at it.

Yes

lordsigma · Aug 122023

trimetbusfan said:
Yes

Exactly - you would have to pay a fare difference if it costs more but no penalty if you do it as a change.

TwoBells · Sep 142023

Help me understand thisplease.

If my Crescent trip ATL to DC runs late (as much as 7 hrs recently)I'm likely to miss my connections heading west. If Amtrak puts me on a later or next-day trainthat's okbut I probably won't get a sleeping roomthey're already nearly sold out.

Unless I've missed somethingmy choices at that point would be:
1. Ride for about 60 hrs in a coach seat. (not going to happen)
2. Get a voucher for some later date (and pay my way back to ATL?)
3. Cancel the trip completelyand lose 25% (~$400)and find my own way back home ($130)?

If #2will the voucher include a repeat of the ATL to DC legor have I just lost another $400since that portion of the trip was "used"?

Thanks.

Old MM · Sep 152023

If you misconnect and choose the cancellation optionI THINK there’s no penalty. But I would call or text them to be sure.

Sidney · Nov 112023

If I have to cancel a trip,Amtrak tacks on a 25% cancellation fee. Taking a page from Southwestif you cancel and aren’t sure of when you will be travelingbut you willthey give you a voucherwith no penaltyUnless you change your reservation on Amtrak at the timeyou are penalized. I know I’ll be traveling on Amtrak at a future dateso a voucher is fine. Why can’t Amtrak do this? Rhetorical question I am sure. They could easily do this,but won’t. Another sore point.

dlagrua · Nov 152023

Looking at the options at least on the NER trains it now appears that they now give you three choices. Sale at 50% cancellation fee if cancelled before departureno changes permitted Value at a 25% cancellation fee if cancelled before departureno changes permitted and Flex full refund if cancelled before departurechanges permitted.
Of course they are at different price points; the higher the farethe more options offered,

AmtrakBlue · Nov 152023

dlagrua said:
Looking at the options at least on the NER trains it now appears that they now give you three choices. Sale at 50% cancellation fee if cancelled before departureno changes permitted Value at a 25% cancellation fee if cancelled before departureno changes permitted and Flex full refund if cancelled before departurechanges permitted.
Of course they are at different price points; the higher the farethe more options offered,

And as mentioned in the thread about the changes to fare optionsthe price difference between the 3 fares is not that muchat least if you book 14+ days out. In the sample shown below it’s only $4 more for a fully refundable ticket.

Hytec · Feb 32024

The cancellation policy changed as of 10/24/2023. Nowif cancelled more than 24 hours after purchase, a 25% cancellation fee will be charged. In other wordsif you used your credit cardyou will receive only 75% of the original debit back to your credit card.

daybeers · Feb 32024

For the Value faresyes. This was discussed previously. Flex fares have no cancellation or change fee and are usually a very modest increase in price over the Value fare.

Sidney · Feb 32024

Southwest will give you a voucher if you cancel. No cancellation fee. I wish Amtrak would do that. There are times I have to cancel and don’t have any immediate plans to rebook. A voucher would be ideal for future travelyet Amtrak doesn’t do that.WHY?

Amtrak25 · Feb 52024

I booked a NEC trip for September. There is no Flex fare offeredneither on Acela nor Regionalonly Value fare with its 25% penalty.

AmtrakBlue · Feb 52024

Amtrak25 said:
I booked a NEC trip for September. There is no Flex fare offeredneither on Acela nor Regionalonly Value fare with its 25% penalty.

Did you click on coach for NER and Business Class on Acela to see the options

Amtrak25 · Feb 52024

The Value box appeared; the Flex box that was supposed to be right next to it did not.

trimetbusfan · Feb 52024

Amtrak25 said:
The Value box appeared; the Flex box that was supposed to be right next to it did not.

Keep in mind Acela first and NER business fares are automatically flex fares and thus are the only option shown.

I’m pretty sure the value fare price is based on the flex fare price. Never seen a value fare exist when a flex fare didn’t existbut I have seen the other way around.

New Cancellation Policy at Amtrak (August 2023)

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