Amtrak's site has always been the worst example of a national rail website

I use the app frequently and I actually love it. Pick two stations, pick a train, apple pay, done. It’s not flashy, but I appreciate the simplicity.

	▲	saalweachter 4 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I use the app daily and I ~hate it. If you have a month pass it frequently forgets at the end of the month, and you have to repeatedly look it up. When you look a ticket, it doesn't remember it in the app, so you have to look it up again for your return trip. It also periodically forgets all of your tickets locally and needs to resync from the network. It doesn't matter if you were just looking at the ticket three minutes ago. This ie especially annoying if your train is underground after leaving the station, and they are collecting tickets while you have no Internet access.
	▲	petcat 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Yeah the mobile app is excellent

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dpc94 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Renfe in Spain is awful

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SoftTalker 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Even with the delays to air travel today, Amtrak would still be slower. Amtrak is not a service you use if you need to be somewhere at a particular time.

	▲	biophysboy 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Not true for dc to nyc

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romanhn 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I don't know. Last year I was trying to buy bullet train tickets for an upcoming trip to Japan, only to find that the booking website operated only during daytime work hours (Japanese, of course). Then there was me trying to buy train tickets from Mt Fuji area to Tokyo. I could buy them, but they could only be picked up in Tokyo, not Mt Fuji! That was a pretty major wtf, given Tokyo was our final destination.

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cyberrock 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

If you mean the Fuji Excursion it's because the Kawaguchiko side isn't the same agency so it's not like JR has machines there. JR's intended solution is digital tickets but I think this doesn't quite work with JR Pass.

	▲	romanhn 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That was the one. I get the reasons sort of, but as a traveler it sure was strange that I could buy the one-way ticket, but could only retrieve it at the destination and so couldn't board. Anyways, we ended up taking a bus instead.

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OhMeadhbh 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

ofuku-kippu is your friend.

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markgall 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Spoken like someone who has never tried to book on IRCTC.

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ericmay 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Are you sure??? Because some of the ones I’ve used in Europe and Asia are god awful

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dijit 5 hours ago | parent [-]

We should compare.

Not because I doubt you but Europe is pretty disparate.

Amtrak from NYC to Philadelphia cost as much as a flight to continental Europe, and the experience was abysmal, truly awful I couldn’t even get the tickets for hours and took a bus instead.

Perhaps I’m “spoiled” by UK and Swedish trains but UK is pretty terible

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ghaff 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It depends hugely on when you book--both time in advance and time of year--as well as any sales going on. Which can vary a TON in Europe as well. I almost always take trains within Europe but they're no bargain.

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saalweachter 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Re: when you book, for the East Coast trains time of day matters greatly.

If you book a train from NYC to Philadelphia on Dec 9, there are four trains leaving before 6am with coach tickets for $10.

NYC to Boston has similar early morning prices.

	▲	ghaff 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Right. I'm not going to NYC for now but I saw the end-of-year sale in my inbox recently. Pricing varies a lot. (And I usually don't book Acela on my own dime absent a bargain; the transit time isn't much different from the regional.)

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ericmay 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

We were talking about the websites, and the OP was saying it’s the “worst example”. Cost and experience weren’t being discussed.

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dijit 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Yes, I meant I had a bad experience with the website, as in, it didn't work at all and I had to go to a service counter.

They acted like I was committing a crime at the service desk too tbh. I’m not sure how they are in business.

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ericmay 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Yea and in France when the only train for the day broke down I couldn’t get a refund because “you might come back to France one day”.

Sorry, as an American Amtrack’s website isn’t even in my top 5 of worst train websites.

	▲	dijit 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		not getting a refund is a lot different than not even getting a ticket imo. Fair point about refunds for delays in general, its so awful I normally don’t do it. Not with trains, busses nor airlines.