16 replies to this topic

[PaulM]

Snag it here

Edited by PaulM, 29 November 2010 - 08:56 PM.

[dlagrua]

Thanks for sharing an excellent resource with the forum. I have used it and it seems to work fine but in some cases a very low bucket bedroom price pops up corresponding to a coach fare that is high bucket. Try it on a trip from CLP to NOL in June 2011 and see what I mean. I'm not sure how to interpret it.

[saxman]

Thanks for sharing an excellent resource with the forum. I have used it and it seems to work fine but in some cases a very low bucket bedroom price pops up corresponding to a coach fare that is high bucket. Try it on a trip from CLP to NOL in June 2011 and see what I mean. I'm not sure how to interpret it.

Whenever you get a sleeper, your coach fair always reverts back to low bucket. So don't always look at the coach fare for the same day that you might get your sleeper. Simply look elsewhere on a different date you'll find the lowest bucket for the coach fare. Then add that to your sleeper charge.

It looks like the lowest bucket for coach between CLP and NOL is $130. So if you plan on taking a sleeper add $130 to whatever the sleeper fare is for that day.

[PaulM]

Thanks for sharing an excellent resource with the forum. I have used it and it seems to work fine but in some cases a very low bucket bedroom price pops up corresponding to a coach fare that is high bucket. Try it on a trip from CLP to NOL in June 2011 and see what I mean. I'm not sure how to interpret it.

I'm thought you might be looking at a date when the coach fare shows up as not in the low bucket; but when you added a sleeper on Amtrak.com, it dropped to low the bucket of 130 as Saxman mentioned.

But when I tried CLP to NOL from June 1 to Jun 30, coach was 130 every day. So unless you are entering a discount, the rail fare portion shouldn't drop below that. I compared it with Amtrak.com on 5 random days in June; and 130 was correct.

[Tracktwentynine]

Awesome! Thanks for posting this.

[Hanno]

This is a great resource. I've used it several times and have shared it with others. I would have thought Amtrak would have developed such a tool long ago but, thanks to PaulM, I'm happy to have it now.

[Dovecote]

Snag it here

As others have stated, this is a great program. I have been on the AmSnag site for the past week or so watching for available dates on the Auto Train (AT) with roomette availability. I have a AGR reservation on the AT for 1/12 and have been trying to change the reservation to an earlier date. The AmSnag site hit paydirt just a few minutes ago when it revealed that a roomette was available for 1/5. I quickly called AGR and was lucky enough to snag that roomette. Thanks again, Paul.

[Train2104]

How about adding business/first class? Also, amsnag.com is available if you want to register it.

[Alice]

Amsnag made TrainWeb; Congratulations, Paul! Article also gives good description of how buckets work.

[Dovecote]

Amsnag made TrainWeb; Congratulations, Paul! Article also gives good description of how buckets work.

Kudos to you Paul. Your program paid dividends to me again today. I have a AGR two zone bedroom reservation for this Sunday, 2/27 from ABQ>ATL. On the WAS>ATL portion of the trip the bedrooms were sold out and was provided a roomette instead. I have been watching the Amsnag website multiple times each day in hopes that it shows a bedroom is available. Sure enough the website indicated a bedroom was available earlier today. Appropriately, I "snagged" by calling AGR and changing the roomette to a bedroom on my reservation. Thanks again Paul.

[PaulM]

How about adding business/first class? Also, amsnag.com is available if you want to register it.

I didn't bother with business class because as far as I know, it doesn't change day to day. With respect to first class, you must be referring to the Acela Express. Being from fly-over country, I forgot all about it. To me first class is what sleeping car accommodations used to be called. When I get some time, I'll see what I can do about both.

As far as the domain name is concerned, I already have one called biketrain.net. It sort of shows where my priorities lie.

[AlanB]

First class prices on Acela are fixed. It doesn't change as the train fills up.

[Train2104]

First class prices on Acela are fixed. It doesn't change as the train fills up.

What about Business?

[PaulM]

How about adding business/first class?

Done

Note that Acela Business Class is in the coach column; and the 1st Class supplement is in the BC/FC column. Non Acella Business class supplement is in BC/FC column (NA if no business class offered).

First class prices on Acela are fixed. It doesn't change as the train fills up.

After testing a lot of trains on a lot of days, I came to that conclusion.

What about Business?

It varies train to train.

[Train2104]

Just tested NYP-BOS, 05/15/11, 5 days. Those entries mentioned above don't show up.

[PaulM]

You can now click through to Amtrak's reservation page. Once Ansnag results appear, click on the date you want to travel; and Amtrak's "Select Departing Train" page will open in a separate window. You will still have to "Add to Cart", etc.

Of course, I can't guarantee someone else won't have already snagged it.

[PaulM]

I just noticed the URL in post #1 is long obsolete.  Currently, it is

 

amsnag.net

 

or a slightly different version that lets you filter the results at

 

http://biketrain.net/amsnag/amSnag.php