4 replies to this topic

[AmtrakBlue]

I'm not looking for an exact number (since the numbers are changing everyday anyway).

I may be booking a last minute trip from WIL to SLC in the next few weeks. I plan to book just coach and then maybe see about doing an onboard upgrade on the CZ somwhere between CHI and LNK.

Here's my calculations based on what I've read here but don't know how close they may be to what I might expect.

Based on WIL to SLC:
Low bucket coach $212 / Roomette $319 - based on 2/6/13 rates

Rates for 7/18/12 - Coach only $415 / Roomette $403 - with rail fare of $311

So, if I booked coach at $415 then upgraded onboard, would I pay:
What I paid - $415
Rail Fare of $311 + low bucket roomette of $319 = $630

$630 - $415 = $215 for the upgrade???

Thanks for any help with this.

Edited by AmtrakBlue, 12 July 2012 - 03:03 PM.

[VentureForth]

If low bucket roomette is available, you'd pay a total of $531. If you paid $212 for the coach fare, you'd pay $319 for the room. If you paid $414 for the room, you'd pay $117. That's my understanding. I could be way off, but I think that whenever you pay for a roomette, you pay lowest rail fare. When you upgrade on board, you pay the combination lowest rail fare and upgrade fare.

I just don't know.... But that's my guess.

Then again, I don't recall if the conductor saw what I paid for my rail portion before offering me a rate, so it could just be the $319 period - if it's available - no matter what you paid for your coach fare.

Edited by VentureForth, 12 July 2012 - 03:21 PM.

[AmtrakBlue]

If low bucket roomette is available, you'd pay a total of $531. If you paid $212 for the coach fare, you'd pay $319 for the room. If you paid $414 for the room, you'd pay $117. That's my understanding. I could be way off, but I think that whenever you pay for a roomette, you pay lowest rail fare. When you upgrade on board, you pay the combination lowest rail fare and upgrade fare.

I just don't know.... But that's my guess.

Then again, I don't recall if the conductor saw what I paid for my rail portion before offering me a rate, so it could just be the $319 period - if it's available - no matter what you paid for your coach fare.

So you think I'd even get the low bucket rail fare in addition to the low bucket room fare? That would be nice. Wonder if the fact that I'm booking a total of 3 trains (NER-CL-CZ) or maybe 4 (NER-Pennsy-CL-CZ) will skew the numbers.

Me thinks me thinks too much. I don't even know if I'll be able to get a coach seat seeing how the CL and CZ have some sold outs for coach seats (and some completely sold outs).

[the_traveler]

Well, the onboard upgrade fare is low bucket FROM THAT POINT forward. Thus, it would not be from WIL-SLC, but wherever you upgrade from. (Say you upgrade in GBB, it will be the fare from GBB-SLC only. I may be wrong, but I don't think they'll do an onboard upgrade midpoint to midpoint - like GBB-DEN.) And this is only if you upgrade onboard. If you upgrade in the station, the agent has to charge the current bucket, but once your toe touches the car step, the price drops to the lowest bucket!

[AlanB]

To my knowledge, one only gets the lowest bucket price for the coach seat (aka rail fare) when one books a sleeper at the time of the reservation.

When you do an onboard upgrade, you do get the low bucket price for the sleeper at that point, but there is no consideration for the rail fare. If you paid $415 for the coach fare, and low bucket for a sleeper is $319, then you'll pay the conductor $319 for that upgrade for a grand total of $734 paid to Amtrak for that leg.

Someone who already has a roomette looking to upgrade to a Bedroom however does get consideration for the amount that they had paid for the roomette.