Is there a discount for roundtrip tickets on Amtrak?

The title says it all. Particularly interested in NEC travel. Thanks.

Nope, no discount for roundtrip tickets. If you plan to ride the NEC alot, then you might want to look at 10 trip tickets.

This blog is now a ghost site on the internet. The blogger packed it in, and moved to NYC from the Philly area.

Might give you some insight, though.

Hmmm. How do tentrips work when a train is sold? Do they hold some tickets for tentrip users? Or do you have to stand? Or do you not get to ride? THanks for your help.

Nngo11 said:

Hmmm. How do tentrips work when a train is sold? Do they hold some tickets for tentrip users? Or do you have to stand? Or do you not get to ride? THanks for your help.

Click to expand...

You just board like you have a reservation. This is the fallacy of the "all reserved" NEC service. Both ten trip ticket holders and monthly pass holders can ride almost any non-Acela train without advance reservations. Whether Amtrak tries to factor that into the reservation inventory is anyone's guess.

I believe they do estimate the number of "unreserved" (multi-ride ticket) riders on reserved trains, and block out a certain number of seats to accommodate those passengers.

It's not a perfect system, but it probably works much of the time.

I'm sure over time they start to realize tendancies in load numbers and can plan accordingly.

I suppose the logical next question is: why not? Wouldn't giving a small discount (say, five dollars) on the return ticket encourage people to buy the tickets in advance, thus locking them into taking Amtrak and not, say, getting a ride home or taking the bus or finding a cheap airplane ticket? It would also encourage people to both tickets at once, thus counting down on (by consolidating) the amount of payment processing and ticket issuing etc. that Amtrak has to do.

No one really seems to offer discounts on tickets, even if you look at the airlines if you were to price two individual one way trips, it's the same as booking a round trip. The big advantage for the consumer is if they cancel or change their trip plans they only have to pay one change fee (for the airlines). As far as Amtrak is concerned it really doesn't make a difference if someone makes one or two reservations (since there is no refund or change fee) because it's all just data in the computer system. The transaction fees Amtrak pays to the credit card companies are a percentage base, not a per transaction fee. Also, most consumers want things to be simple and on one reservation (less for them to keep up with), most aren't going to book trips into separate segments. So there's no real reason for Amtrak to cut into its revenue to lower the number of reservations made, when it's not really an issue to begin with.

Nngo11 said:

I suppose the logical next question is: why not? Wouldn't giving a small discount (say, five dollars) on the return ticket encourage people to buy the tickets in advance, thus locking them into taking Amtrak and not, say, getting a ride home or taking the bus or finding a cheap airplane ticket? It would also encourage people to both tickets at once, thus counting down on (by consolidating) the amount of payment processing and ticket issuing etc. that Amtrak has to do.

Click to expand...

Amtrak already discounts the return leg of a trip (as well as the outbound leg) with their bucket system. It doesn't really matter where you are going. It is almost always cheaper to purchase the ticket in advance than at the window.

I guess the airlines have found their way to the bottom of the dicount slippery slope. Notwistanding Low Cost Carriers or airline with simple pricing structures (like Delta), airlines deeply discount the round trip advanced purchase ticket in order to lure the average leisure traveler off Amtrak and out of his/her car and onto the plane. It is well known that a one way ticket is much more expensive than a round trip ticket, so many people wanting to go one way will buy a round trip ticket and throw away the return half of the ticket. the prepurchased and empty seats from the thrown away tickets causes the airlines to attempt to maximize their revenue and oversell their flights.

By keeping it simple, Amtrak does itself and the travling public a service.

Rick