Does anyone have information on how or if it is possible to refuse giving ID to Amtrak and still get tickets?
This was a big problem for me a few years ago... my drivers license expired. While I waited for the new one in the mail, I decided to take the train instead. They gave me a lot of shit, and I'd rather have told them that what they were asking was illegal.
> Does anyone have information on how or if it is possible to refuse giving ID to Amtrak and still get tickets?
Oddly, I can't remember anyone ever asking me for my ID on the train - just the ticket. And if you purchase the ticket online, you can print it out either at home or at a kiosk with just the credit card or confirmation number.
> what they were asking was illegal.
Are you sure it is? They're a private company - on what basis is it illegal?
They are structured as a for-profit corporation, but they are a creation of a specific federal law, funded by the federal government as its sole active investor, and created as a federalization of the failing passenger rail industry.
It might be different between the Northeast Corridor and other Amtrak routes; I remember when they introduced the ID requirement a few years ago it was somehow rolled out more thoroughly on the Northeast Corridor. (I think I may have been asked for ID on the Lake Shore Limited and not on the Capitol Corridor.)
I don't recollect being asked for my ID while riding Amtrak on the Northeast Corridor in the last 2 years. I don't even print the stubs anymore - I just use the Amtrak app / Passbook on my phone to display my ticket.
Once in the South, I was fine just with an online receipt. Another time, going from LA to SF, I had to buy another ticket because my name was misspelled(seriously).
As recently as 2012, I was riding no the Northeast Corridor, usually out of Philadelphia, without showing ID. I just get the tickets from the kiosks, as far as I can remember they just needed a credit card.
I think maybe the tickets said something about "you may need to show ID to the ticket guy on the train", but I never had that happen.
Never asked for my ID. I did have to sign my ticket once, which is perhaps the most theatrical of all security theater.
I have flown with expired ID. They tell me it's expired, I say sorry I was busy, then they say ok. They don't seem to make a big deal of it if you don't.
This was a big problem for me a few years ago... my drivers license expired. While I waited for the new one in the mail, I decided to take the train instead. They gave me a lot of shit, and I'd rather have told them that what they were asking was illegal.