Specials or sales on Amtrak travel?

Hello!

I recently completed my first-ever train trip: I traveled with my family on the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to Portland. Stayed with family in Portland a few days, then back home on the train. We had two bedrooms on the train for the four of us, and I found it very nice.

We took the train because I am terrified to fly. I really, really enjoyed the train trip, however, and now I'm excited by the possibility of traveling all over the country by train. And many of the Amtrak vacation packages look fantastic.

Anyway, the vacations are not cheap. I do get the AAA discount, and my hubby gets a senior discount, but still. For those of you who travel on the train frequently, are there ever any sales or discounts, or ways to get a good deal on the Amtrak vacations?

Thanks!

Michelle

Michelle said:

Hello!

I recently completed my first-ever train trip: I traveled with my family on the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to Portland. Stayed with family in Portland a few days, then back home on the train. We had two bedrooms on the train for the four of us, and I found it very nice.

We took the train because I am terrified to fly. I really, really enjoyed the train trip, however, and now I'm excited by the possibility of traveling all over the country by train. And many of the Amtrak vacation packages look fantastic.

Anyway, the vacations are not cheap. I do get the AAA discount, and my hubby gets a senior discount, but still. For those of you who travel on the train frequently, are there ever any sales or discounts, or ways to get a good deal on the Amtrak vacations?

Thanks!

Michelle

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If your dates are flexible, there is a fan built utility called Amsnag that lists all of the fares for all accommodations for all book able combinations of trains for the specified city pair for the set time period. It can help to find the best date to travel for the money.

There are sometimes sales, however most every time (like 99.9%) it is only for coach travel. And then discounts for AAA and Senior would not apply to them. (You can't apply a discount on a discount.)

I think most of us here skip Amtrak Vacations and book our own trains, hotels & cars.

Someone gave you a link to a site that can show your prices over a range of dates.

I think the best deal out there is to join Amtrak Quest Rewards & get An Amtrak Credit Card thru Bank Of America. Earn Amtrak points on everyday spending!!! I'm over half way to taking a cross country trip just by my AGR points alone.

Rail Freak said:

I think the best deal out there is to join Amtrak Quest Rewards & get An Amtrak Credit Card thru Bank Of America. Earn Amtrak points on everyday spending!!! I'm over half way to taking a cross country trip just by my AGR points alone.

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Amtrak Guest Rewards

Welcome to the site, glad you have discovered rail travel!

As Amtrak Blue says, most here just make our own bookings... can be cheaper! That Amsnag site compares fares for different days, but can be a bit tricky to grasp the first visit. You can play around on the Amtrak.com website and make trial bookings to get an idea of fares around your desired dates too. The cheapest fares are "saver" coach fares. Not always available, but a good saving over "value" coach seats. As mentioned, you can often bring the value seat price down anyway with the discounts available to seniors, etc. Flexible coach seat prices seem very high, and I don't see why anyone would buy that at such price! Premium fares on the Amtrak website are for sleeping accommodation, or business class, where that is available. You cycle through the options by clicking the "change" button.

My impression is that the Amtrak fares vary quite a lot, according to popularity/amount sold, where as the Vacations will be more a fixed price item.

Ed.

AmtrakBlue said:

Rail Freak said:

I think the best deal out there is to join Amtrak Quest Rewards & get An Amtrak Credit Card thru Bank Of America. Earn Amtrak points on everyday spending!!! I'm over half way to taking a cross country trip just by my AGR points alone.

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Amtrak Guest Rewards

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OOOPS :hi:

I also recommend the Bank of America credit cards, particularly for their sign-up bonuses. There are two versions of the card, one with a 20K bonus and one with a 12K bonus. (The former card does have an annual fee, but it's much less than the value of the bonus.) You can apply for both and get both bonuses, which together are worth close to $1000 for Amtrak travel.