Why such a huge cost discrepancy on LD?

[copperdeer]

So from what I understand, if I want to stop off for a night or three in a town along a LD route by booking one leg the first day then the next for a few days later, the cost goes up dramatically. For example, from NYP-EMY via CHI on 49 & 5, it's $186 on coach as a straight shot, which seems humanly impossible, btw. Say I want to break up the trip by visiting my people in Buffalo, NY and Lincoln, NE. Now, it's $50 on 49 for NYP-BUF, $124 on 49 & 5 BUF-LNK, and $118 LNK-EMY - $292, or $106 more???? I could see it being a little more, but c'mon, what am I missing?

 

[caravanman]

Most long haul travel is cheaper per mile the further you go.

If you are taking up a seat for only a short stretch, you deprive the carrier of the chance to sell that seat to someone else for the whole route.

Many folk do travel shorter distances, so the carrier will charge more for those, pro rata, it's what the market will pay...

At the end of the day, my take on it is that the shorter distances are a fair fare, and the long distance end to end routes are an incredible bargain!

Ed.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Curious if you do the same itinerary but using airlines if you see the same thing.

Also, Amtrak prices for one day may be higher or lower than for the previous day.

 

[Ryan]

The differing days may be the majority of the cost change. I wonder how it would look if you totaled up segments along the route of the same train.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

The differing days may be the majority of the cost change. I wonder how it would look if you totaled up segments along the route of the same train.

I think he means total up the segments for the same dates you would be on the trains for the NYP-EMY straight through route.

 

[copperdeer]

These are all the lowest / Value fares, regardless of what day. So I checked, if I split it up even more... Zephyr end to end, CHI-EMY, is $133. CHI-LNK $66, LNK-DEN $59, DEN-SLC $65, SLC-EMY $79 - $269, or more than double the straight shot. And it goes up from there obv. I appreciate this cost structure on its own, but there should be some recognition for linking these legs together. After all, that is the advantage that the train has over bus/fly, well there's a few, it's the logistical advantage anyways - the variety of combinations of destinations and routes you can link together.

 

[copperdeer]

I suppose I can still justify the increased cost by, it saves me from having to pay for sleeper car the entire way, or maybe even at all, and it'll make the trip much more worthwhile to me to visit friends and family along the way for a few days at a time.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

Curious if you do the same itinerary but using airlines if you see the same thing.

With airlines, it is often cheaper to get a ticket for the entire end-to-end route, and simple de-plane at the intermediate stop (where you really wanted to go). I think such is called "skiplagging", and the airlines are suing a NYC dude for uncovering their ticket pricing inconsistency.

 

[City of Miami]

, and the airlines are suing a NYC dude for uncovering their ticket pricing inconsistency.

Smells like an 'urban legend' to me.

 

[Carolina Special]

Amtrak charges a higher rate for less than end to end travel to make up for vacancies. If you stop along the way, they may not be able to refill the seat for several stops, which means lost revenue.

 

[neroden]

Carolina Special's explanation is the main explanation here. Some of Amtrak's discrepancies, however, are really unreasonably high: CHI-DEN + DEN-EMY is the example I always use. It is very likely that Amtrak will be able to sell both halves... and both halves cost nearly twice as much as the full trip.

 

[Chaz]

I worked as a ticket agent for Greyhound at Pt Authority in NYC whilst in grad school (70's). Inter-city Bus travel was still big then. Thru non-stop fares were always cheaper (true there were then multi-week bus passes avail. for foreigners {& more expensive passes for USA residents} so multi-stops could be cheap).

Aside: After 2000 I often would bus from NYC to Bangor Me for holidays. I found that buying a ticket to Boston and then Boston to Bangor was cheaper...due to competition NY-Boston...thru ticket holders paid a premium.

19th Century Rail tariff complaints included shippers having to pay the same price for say 200 miles as 2,000. Eventually tariff agreements ironed out some of the issues. I imagine our more de-regulated times undid some of that.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

, and the airlines are suing a NYC dude for uncovering their ticket pricing inconsistency.

Smells like an 'urban legend' to me.

I guess you never heard of Google?

Did you even try to search first? Like with something like "skiplagged lawsuit"?

 

[TC_NYC]

, and the airlines are suing a NYC dude for uncovering their ticket pricing inconsistency.

Smells like an 'urban legend' to me.

I guess you never heard of Google?

Did you even try to search first? Like with something like "skiplagged lawsuit"?

It actually exists:

https://skiplagged.com/

The lawsuit against them got thrown out of court.

Keep in mind, there is the national rail pass that's a great value for trips like these. They have a 15 day rail pass that includes up to 8 segments in coach for $459:

https://www.amtrak.com/take-the-trains-across-america-with-usa-rail-pass

 

[copperdeer]

YES! The rail pass would be perfect, I think 8 segments/15 days is exactly what I'm looking at, I could always just pay for the shortest legs, particularly on the beginning and end. Thank you so much for pointing this out.