Confused about a search result for a trip (NOL-CVS)

I have a trip booked on the Crescent to get to NOLA. When looking at a return trip, I'm using a search engine because I'm somewhat flexible. It's also giving me results for the City of New Orleans which would take me all the way to Chicago and then from there I go to CVS. I've only traveled by train once and it was one way and a straight trip. I don't know if I'm reading the results correctly.

So, I would have to make a connection and get on the Cardinal to get back home from Chicago. When looking at the price it's giving me, is all this included as a trip or do you have to do legs? I feel like an idiot because it seems confusing to me

Sounds like its giving you both choices: the single-seat, one-night direct ride, plus the two-night trip with a connection in Chicago.

The price it's showing for the NOL-CHI-CVS trip covers all of it. You ride all the way to CHI, transfer to the Cardinal and ride all the way to CVS. I'm sure it's less expensive just to take the Crescent back, though...

Actually for a roomette it's cheaper to go the long way. It's a 48 our trip instead of a 23 hour one and that's what had me so confused.

Whether or not it's cheaper to go the long way depends upon your date of travel. The cheapest possible fare NOL to CVS on the Crescent is $348 and the most expensive would be $507 for 1 adult. If there is any flexibility in your return date, the easiest way to see what the fares are is to use AmSnag to search a block of dates - up to a maximum of 30 days -but it sounds like you've already done that.

But the cheapest Roomette NOL to CHI is $267 and the cheapest from CHI to CVS is $255 for a total of $522 as a minimum - and that's more than the most expensive direct rip on the Crescent.

This leads me to think you may not be reading the fare data correctly. Either that or the date you're comparing has Roomettes sold out on one of the legs and the fare you're seeing is partly for Coach.

Q: What return dates are you interested in?

You would be amazed at some of the options Amtrak gives you to get from A to B. Then again, some very obvious choices don't show up.

I would recommend you just take the Crescent. Since you've only traveled by train once, taking the shorter, direct route on the Crescent is probably a better idea.

niemi24s said:

This leads me to think you may not be reading the fare data correctly. Either that or the date you're comparing has Roomettes sold out on one of the legs and the fare you're seeing is partly for Coach.

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Remember that connecting tickets often get a large discount than if you just booked the two segments separately. So I wouldn't say that the OP is necessarily reading the booking page incorrectly, Arrow could just be offering a significant discount going the long way round.

It is also very possible that the Crescent is high bucket and the CONO/Cardinal are both low bucket.

cpotisch said:

niemi24s said:

This leads me to think you may not be reading the fare data correctly. Either that or the date you're comparing has Roomettes sold out on one of the legs and the fare you're seeing is partly for Coach.

Click to expand...

Remember that connecting tickets often get a large discount than if you just booked the two segments separately. So I wouldn't say that the OP is necessarily reading the booking page incorrectly, Arrow could just be offering a significant discount going the long way round.

Click to expand...

Connecting tickets cheaper than two separate tickets? Do you know this for a cold hard fact or are you just hypothesizing?

niemi24s said:

cpotisch said:

niemi24s said:

This leads me to think you may not be reading the fare data correctly. Either that or the date you're comparing has Roomettes sold out on one of the legs and the fare you're seeing is partly for Coach.

Click to expand...

Remember that connecting tickets often get a large discount than if you just booked the two segments separately. So I wouldn't say that the OP is necessarily reading the booking page incorrectly, Arrow could just be offering a significant discount going the long way round.

Click to expand...

Connecting tickets cheaper than two separate tickets? Do you know this for a cold hard fact or are you just hypothesizing?

Click to expand...

I know it for a cold hard fact. I have booked connecting tickets and multi-cities where the price is significantly cheaper. For example, when I took the Sunset/Eagle and LSL from Pomona, CA to NYP. A roomette for two cost $680 and $420 for the two trains, respectively. However, because it was a connecting ticket, the price was about $1,020 instead of $1100.

Well I'll be fried in wine! For years, the mantra here was that there was no cost advantage to booking multi-city over booking separately. Maybe that explains the OP's confusion.

Q: Lagniappe - what dates were you looking at for your return trip?

niemi24s said:

Well I'll be fried in wine! For years, the mantra here was that there was no cost advantage to booking multi-city over booking separately. Maybe that explains the OP confusion.

Q: Lagniappe - what dates were you looking at for your return trip?

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I've sometimes found that connecting tickets will be discounted, but multi-city isn't. Don't know why that is. However, always check both connecting and multi-city because I'll sometimes find savings even exceeding $100.