Back to the Buckets: Amtrak's bizarre pricing

[GBNorman]

https://thriftynomads.com/airline-error-mistake-fares-cheap-flights/

Walt and others, here is a recent article regarding "mistake fares". It appears that in the interest of passenger goodwill (I guess they still think about that), airlines, whether legally obligated or not, honor "mistake fares".

Possibly the two instances involving myself noted above did not rise to the level of a "mistake"; maybe United looked and saw I was "nearly Premier" (850 miles short - and NO, I was not going to take a joyflight just to qualify) last year and decided "let it go".

Who knows!!

 

[Manny T]

To speculate and attempt an answer to the OP's question, since Albany is the capital of NY State, wouldn't legislators, lobbyists, that whole crowd be traveling away from Albany after the work week ends towards downstate/NYC on Saturday, and not heading upstate to Albany on that day? Hence the high load and high bucket for the southbound Adirondack on Saturday? I mean, who would voluntarily spend a weekend in ALB?

 

[niemi24s]

To speculate and attempt an answer to the OP's question, since Albany is the capital of NY State, wouldn't legislators, lobbyists, that whole crowd be traveling away from Albany after the work week ends towards downstate/NYC on Saturday, and not heading upstate to Albany on that day? Hence the high load and high bucket for the southbound Adirondack on Saturday? I mean, who would voluntarily spend a weekend in ALB?

While that sounds logical, the fare pattern does not reflect that. High load and high bucket ($62) when checked last week were every day of the week going SDY to NYP. But with the minor exception of the first two Fridays and the first Saturday the high bucket was seen only on Mondays and Tuesdays going NYP to SDY.

That same fare pattern for the Adirondack exists today also between ALB and NYP in either direction - for 11 months - and only on the Adirondack. $62 going South for 11 months. $62 (with minor exception) only on Mondays and Tuesdays going North for 11 months.

And I could not find that pattern on any of the other 18 trains between ALB and NYP - only the Adirondack.

 

[JoeBas]

This is the glitch that brings down the whole Matrix. You just watch...

 

[niemi24s]

Did AmSnag queries between the end points of the Adirondack and some intermediate stops and ended up with too much info for my noggin to cope with.

Did find a hidden city, though. NYP to ALB or SDY is $62 on some days, but on those days is only $58 to SAR - a stop or two down the line. Whoopee-ding!

That's enough of this stuff. I quit.

 

[PaulM]

Did find a hidden city, though. NYP to ALB or SDY is $62 on some days, but on those days is only $58 to SAR - a stop or two down the line. Whoopee-ding!

This is why I'm cynical when it comes to the the law of supply and demand mantra. Sure, there is more demand to ALB & SDY than SAR. But what isn't being taken into consideration is that a seat to SAR takes up a seat to ALB or SDY.

By the way, this is an example of what I call the NOL syndrome. That's when WAS to NOL is cheaper than WAS to ATL; and it's rationalized by saying the train is empty between ATL and NOL.

 

[niemi24s]

This is why I'm cynical when it comes to the the law of supply and demand mantra.

Me too. AU pundits blithely proclaim yield management and supply & demand, but when peculiarities like this exist for weeks and months on end the casual observer might think fares are set by a blindfolded monkey picking them from a jar.

In addition to the hidden city on the Northbound Adirondack there's also one going South. MTR to ALB is usually always $53 but on some of those days MTR all the way to NYP is only $46!

 

[jis]

And you guys still insist on jumping all over me when I say it is all pretty random, while also proclaiming that some up in the sky AU pundit (whatever or whoever that is) claims it is not? Look in the mirror and you will see who jumped over me a few posts back and who is the current resident AU pundit on this matter

LOL!

 

[niemi24s]

But as demonstrated back in Post #17 Adirondack fare variations are not random. Over time, they conform to a regularly repeated pattern. At least they did 5 days ago when I looked.

And I'm no pundit. I'm simply adept at using AmSnag and have the spare time to use it to find what the facts (fares) happen to be - not the how and why they happen to be that way. The how and why are the realm of the pundit.

 

[jis]

But you have not provided a reason for said pattern. I thought we were talking about reasons, or at least I was. Beyond a vague salute to "yield management" I have never been able to find any cogent consistent reason behind much of what they do.

 

[niemi24s]

But you have not provided a reason for said pattern. I thought we were talking about reasons, or at least I was. Beyond a vague salute to "yield management" I have never been able to find any cogent consistent reason behind much of what they do.

Perhaps you misunderstood me or I misled you. I'm not the least bit interested in the reasons for the fares - only what they actually are. In this thread I set out to merely confirm Northeastern292's assertion regarding the Adirondack fares between NYP and SDY and in the process found some additional (I thought) interesting things about them as mentioned in Post #9.

My apologies if I said anything to mislead you.