Roomette 02 is in a lower bucket?

As I am pricing the Texas Eagle from CHI to LAX, I see that if I take the 321 in coach to STL and then move to a roomette on 421, I can save $150. I called in for the first time to speak with an Amtrak agent and sure enough, it was correct. So I said go ahead and book the reservation. The reservation would have put me in Roomette 2, which is fine, as I have traveled several times in Roomette 2 with no problems. I asked if 3 or 4 was available and I was told yes, however, it would cost more!!! So I politely said thank you and hung up and called back immediately. The second agent told me the exact same thing!

I did not think that the location of the Roomette had to do with which price bucket, rather when the reservation was made. Roomette 2 is fine, however, as many of you know it is near the toilet, the coffee and the stairwell and somewhat of a high traffic area. This is the only reason I can think of as to why Roomette 2 is in a lower bucket than other roomettes. Would someone with more experience and knowledge in this please enlighten me and help me understand what is going through the bean counters minds???

That's just how the computer is set up, the rooms are assigned to buckets.

If you ask, and get an agent that knows what they are doing, they can manually reprice the room of your choice.

Roomette 02 is the default first-assigned -AND- there is only one roomette at low bucket. So, as soon as the computer assigns roomette #2, the NEXT one to be assigned is at the next bucket up. If the agent cancels the first assignment, s/he will be able to put a reservation in for a specific roomette number at low bucket (any roomette number).

I found this out only a few months ago when making my reservation for a trip next winter. The agent said "that isn't right" when my requested roomette number came up at a higher bucket than the original assignment (and I questioned it). She cancelled out of the original reservation, and *started out* a new reservation by requesting a specific number (instead of a change in roomette number). It worked, and I got low bucket on all my choices.

Knowing this now, I should be able to call and modify my reservation to a different roomette if I wish?

Medic981 said:

Knowing this now, I should be able to call and modify my reservation to a different roomette if I wish?

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Yes. If the agent doesn't know how to do it ask for a supervisor. Once I had to ask the agent to check with a supervisor when I wanted to upgrade from coach to the room I was already at the start of the trip and she was giving me a higher price than what was online. The agent came back and said something like "I never knew I could do that. I'm happy I learned how." Thanks to AU, I knew she could.

Remember you can use the Metro Lounge in Chicago since you're in a same day Sleeper starting in STL.

And you should talk to the SCA on your Sleeping Car as you board, to see if you can put your Luggage in the Sleeper since the chances of someone booking it from CHI-STL are slim and none.

It wouldnt hurt to ask if you could occupy it from CHI-STL since this often happens if you have a good SCA.

You would not be able to eat Dinner in the Diner between CHI and STL , but since STL is Last Call, that is not a problem. Ask your SCA to make you a Rez for the last setting leaving STL.

Bob Dylan said:

Remember you can use the Metro Lounge in Chicago since you're in a same day Sleeper starting in STL.

And you should talk to the SCA on your Sleeping Car as you board, to see if you can put your Luggage in the Sleeper since the chances of someone booking it from CHI-STL are slim and none.

It wouldnt hurt to ask if you could occupy it from CHI-STL since this often happens if you have a good SCA.

You would not be able to eat Dinner in the Diner between CHI and STL , but since STL is Last Call, that is not a problem. Ask your SCA to make you a Rez for the last setting leaving STL.

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Bob, get out of my mind!!!

I was thinking about each and every one of the points you brought up.

Thanks for pointing these out to me!

I wouldn't put an employee in an awkward spot by asking them to let me steal from the company, but that's just my personal opinion. If I wanted to occupy the room for the CHI-STL leg, I'd pay the $150 to do it. But that's just a personal opinion as well. Plenty of people have to problem with doing so, and that's their business.

Ryan,

After I posted I got to thinking about if I did occupy the roomette in CHI, how would I get the conductor to scan my ticket to STL so as to not loose my entire reservation. You make a valid point about "stealing" however, I am not sure if I see the difference between riding from CHI to STL whether it is in 421 coach, 321 roomette, or the SSL. If I have a ticket to be in the roomette after STL and no one is occupying before STL I don't see the injury done to Amtrak. This is probably not a good analogy, however, would I be "stealing" from the airline if I paid a coach fare and for whatever reason, the flight purser offered to upgrade me to business or first class after take off? This happens all the time on airlines for various reasons. Again, Ryan, I see your point, I just don't know what Amtrak's policies are regarding this matter.

The difference for me is in your example the purser freely offers the upgrade, whereas on the train, you're reaching out to the employee and asking for something you haven't paid for. Asking the employee puts them in something of a tight spot between you and their employer.

In your case, the injury done to Amtrak would be the $150 missing from their bank account. It's one of those things that isn't a big deal if one or two people do it, but once word gets out and then "everybody does it, so it's OK" that the harm becomes more real. That's usually also the point where the company decides to crack down and "close the loophole", usually in a way that isn't beneficial to employees or customers.

Just to be clear, I wasn't advocating stealing or cheating Amtrak out of revenue.

Since the room will almost certainly be empty from CHI-STL, and the OP wouldn't be eating Dinner in the Diner until leaving STL, I see no harm in asking the SCA/Conductor about occupying the Room early. At the least using the Metro Lounge in CHI ( same day Sleeper Rez) and storing your stuff in the Sleeper seems to be OK to me! YMMV

Bob Dylan said:

Since the room will almost certainly be empty from CHI-STL,

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I think this is a bad assumption, I have purchased a bedroom for shorter segments than this, including BMI-STL

The only time I would think it appropriate to ask to occupy a room early (when I deliberately booked partly in coach to save money) would be if the train was running late, because at that point it's an accommodation so I can get a decent sleep or scheduled meal. To get on a train expecting to occupy a room you didn't pay for goes, IMHO, beyond cheapness into rudeness.

I agree that one should see if the conductor offers the earlier move into the roomette when the coach ticket is lifted. Happened for me on the Westbound CZ many, many years ago when my young sons and I were coach from Denver to SLC and sleeper thereafter (due to sleeper sellout). The conductor came to us and moved us into the sleeper roon after departing Grand Junction.

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Twice when heading west in a roomette on the CZ from Mt . Pleasant, I had to make a last minute change, departing from Galesburg, two stops earlier. To add the GBB to MTP roomette segment was outrageously expensive, so I booked coach,

My strategy when boarding was to ask the conductor whether he would prefer that I drag my luggage threw the train or along the platform at MTP. Both times he directed me to the sleeper.

Of course GBB to MTP is not the same as CHI to STL.

When I remember Amtrak dumping me at Boston station at 3.30 am, instead of 9pm, the number of times sleeper attendants "robbed" me of their services by simply being absent, the hours I have been "robbed" of on dozens of delayed trains over the years, I would not feel too guilty about getting a little recompense by occupying an otherwise empty roomette before time...

Your view might vary, but then, I am a sneaky old geezer

Ed.

If offered the opportunity, then I would accept, but I would not try to have an employee put their job in jeopardy.

What's even more peculiar is that on a day when only 1 Roomette is shown available at the low bucket of $333 from STL to LAX (and if it's low bucket, Arrow always shows 1 Roomette available at that price), if the passenger quantity is changed to 4 adults, the two Roomettes assigned by Arrow are both at the next higher bucket of $422!

This leads me to believe there is $ to be saved when booking a trip for 4 if two separate bookings are made, each for 2 people. Maybe the first two get the low bucket Roomette.

But if a train has, say, three sleepers with three #2 Roomettes and none are sold, does the first Roomette sold drive all the others up a bucket?

The SWC has two sleepers year round. I've not totally followed all of this topic but do want to caution that #2 Roomettes are not always low bucket. Several of the other roomettes may sell before the #2 roomette since many make reservations by phone requesting specific roomettes or two side by side, etc. #2 is side by side with #1 roomette which is the SCA's room and not salable. I, for instance, always call some time out and request roomette #3 and at the time I make my reservations I usually get the low bucket price since I use Amsnag and verify via Amtrak.com before calling AGR phone for reservations.

I use AMSNAG to monitor pricing, usually get low bucket on my roomettes, generally rooms 3 - 8.

oregon pioneer said:

Roomette 02 is the default first-assigned -AND- there is only one roomette at low bucket.

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That may well be true for train 421, but not for every other train - either the entire route or a partial route.

One example is the EB to SEA from either CHI, MKE or MSP. On those travel dates when the low bucket Roomette upcharge of $260 from CHI is offered, Arrow shows no "Only 1 room available at this price" caveat whether the booking is for 1 adult (1 Roomette) or 8 adults (4 Roomettes) and the upcharge for 4 Roomettes remains the low bucket $260 for each Roomette from CHI.

FWIW, Amsnag turned up no travel dates in the 11 months hence for the TE (421) with a low bucket Roomette of $358 offered from CHI to LAX - but many low bucket dates from STL to LAX..

What's so different about train 421?

Train #421 is the Cutout Sleeper and Coach that runs 3 times a week between CHI and LAX. The cars run on #21 from CHI-SAS, are cutout and switched to the back of #1 when it arrives into SAS from NOL.

One doesn't have to detrain in SAS, but can sleep or can detrain to visit the Riverwalk/Dennys during the 4 Hour or so layover @ the SAS Amshak. Hence #421 usually costs more than #21/#1 for The trip that has mandatory detraining/deboarding in SAS. ( not a pleasant expirence!)

FWIW one can ride the #421 to LAX in a Sleeper from Dallas,Ft Worth,Temple or Austin for the same price, but it does go down from SAS-LAX!!

Bob Dylan said:

Train #421 is the Cutout Sleeper and Coach that runs 3 times a week between CHI and LAX

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So ". . .there is only one roomette at low bucket." applies only to trains with a single sleeper?

Don't know how many sleepers are on the SPK to PDX leg of the EB, but Arrow shows no caveat about the number of rooms available on 8 Nov 2017 for SPK to PDX yet shows "only 3 rooms at this price" on 6 Nov 2017 from CHI.

There is only One Sleeper on the Portland Section of the EB (#27/#28) and it is on the end of the consist between CHI and SPK

and between SPK and PDX it is on a stub train with the 2 Coaches and the SSL.

This means fewer rooms than on the,SEA Section,hence Higher Buckets on the PDX Section.

Bob Dylan said:

There is only One Sleeper on the Portland Section of the EB (#27/#28) and it is on the end of the consist between CHI and SPK

and between SPK and PDX it is on a stub train with the 2 Coaches and the SSL.

This means fewer rooms than on the,SEA Section,hence Higher Buckets on the PDX Section.

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Ahah! That's why I never see more than "one at this price". I go from PDX and I tend to go to BOS, therefore a stub train with only one sleeper at BOTH ends! I stand corrected, many trains may have more than one low-bucket roomette.