amtrak.com Changes

*** Please use this thread only to discuss changes to the website. Thank you! ***

Just went on the site and when you pull up an itinerary, you are now only shown the full price for the trip including rooms. They do not show you the room costs.

Am I just missing something? Since I found no other discussion about this, I am assuming it just came out this morning.

(sorry if this has already been discussed. Been away from the board for a week and was unable to find any new discussion about this)

I tried the new Amtrak Website to obtain information on a future trip.

I did the test booking, but found there was no place to indicate that

I am a senior to get the senior discount on rail travel. Have anyone

tried using the new system?

I think it depends on the trip you try to book. Sometimes the trip prices each room individually, and sometimes it only comes up as a total price. I'm not sure why it does this, but try another trip and it might be different.

It looks to me like this is a redesign of trip output. Not even a place to list room prices.

Here is a screenshot...

I just started another thread a few minutes ago. You can now choose Senior under where you choose your dates of travel.

While looking at the new redesign, there are now "Value" and "Flexible" fares:

Value Fares

Value Fares are refundable with a 10% fee. Value Fare reservations can be canceled and modified for the full value of the ticket saved as an eVoucher that can be used for future Amtrak travel or as a money back refund after a 10% refund fee. The Value Fare is available on all trains or buses.

Click to expand...

Flexible Fares

Flexible Fares are 100% refundable. Flexible Fare reservations can be canceled and modified for the full value of the ticket saved as an eVoucher that can be used for future Amtrak travel or as a full money back refund with no refund fee. The Flexible Fare is available on most trains or buses.

Click to expand...

It looks like the cost increase for a flexible fare is pretty significant, 20%-20% based on some quick browsing. I wouldn't pay for one (full e-voucher is fine by me), but good on Amtrak for potentially increasing revenue in a "soft" way.

I like this much better, I'd rather just get an "all in" price up front without having to do the math in my head.

Plus, it'll give you an accurate price - when coach fares were in anything but the lower bucket, the price for a room was misleadingly high when you did that math in your head.

The cherry on top is that it also tells you "1 room available at this price" - can be a good guide for when prices are going to change.

Sadly, this breaks Amsnag, since the elements that it's scraping have changed considerably. Hopefully it can be reconfigured to work with the new layout.

Ryan said:

I like this much better, I'd rather just get an "all in" price up front without having to do the math in my head.

Plus, it'll give you an accurate price - when coach fares were in anything but the lower bucket, the price for a room was misleadingly high when you did that math in your head.

The cherry on top is that it also tells you "1 room available at this price" - can be a good guide for when prices are going to change.

Sadly, this breaks Amsnag, since the elements that it's scraping have changed considerably. Hopefully it can be reconfigured to work with the new layout.

Click to expand...

It used to be, it would show you the price for the room, then once you selected it it gave you a total. No need to do anything in you head. Now, if you want to know how much you are paying for a room, you have to do the math.

Also, Amsnag seems to still be working fine and now looks like the ONLY place to see room prices.

If people saw the high bucket coach price, and a high room price, they'd likely never click on the room to see the cheaper price.

Example:



When presented with this screen, the logical thought for some is "I'm not paying $350 for a coach ticket and then adding $381 on top of that for a room. I'm not spending $731 on that trip".

It isn't until you click on the room that the correct price is displayed:



The first image should have said "Add $255 per room", since $350 (coach fare displayed) + $255 = $605 ("all in" price for a roomette.

Room prices are irrelevant. What matters is "how much is this trip going to cost me?".

When I try to use amsnag, I get the following error:

Query failed: insert into choice select distinct sessId,conCode,seg,train, depSta, arrSta from result where sessId = order by conCode,seg

Error: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'order by conCode,seg' at line 2

Query failed: delete from result where sessId =

Error: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '' at line 1

Query failed: select * from choice where choiceId =

Error: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '' at line 1

Click to expand...

There's also that 'saver/value/flexible/premium' categorization across the top. I wonder what's up with that? Sounds like Greyhound. Not going to be good news for us, I expect.

I checked a price last night (old system) and again this morning (new system) and the cost is ~5% higher. That trip was TOL-CVS sleeper senior Jan 13: $210.....now $221

Unfortunately, for me, they still don't show the prices until you book it when using the disability booking method.

Hmmmmm! Looks like another Surprise!!! from Amtrak to it's Best Customers! Perhaps they should have given some notice and/or had a Test/Trial Period to work out any "Bugs" that are sure to show up! h34r:

I did a Test Booking from AUS-TAY- and the Fares ranged from $6,80 (Senior) to $54!!!! for a 25 mile/45 Minute Ride! The point about Not Showing Room Prices till you Choose a Coach Fare seems a Valid Point to me also! Perhaps if I knew what a "Premium" Fare was I might consider it.? Maybe you get to ride in the Engine like on Tourist Trains or perhaps Tempo thinks they can charge NEC Prices on the Eagle Route!

(Sarcasm intended! )Premium is actually the Rail Fare and Room Price combined if you Select that Choice! And how is Business Class Selected/Booked?????

No me gusta! :angry:

Ryan said:

Room prices are irrelevant. What matters is "how much is this trip going to cost me?".

When I try to use amsnag, I get the following error:

Query failed: insert into choice select distinct sessId,conCode,seg,train, depSta, arrSta from result where sessId = order by conCode,seg

Error: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'order by conCode,seg' at line 2

Query failed: delete from result where sessId =

Error: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '' at line 1

Query failed: select * from choice where choiceId =

Error: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '' at line 1

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

While presenting the total cost is just fine for a lot of people, they should still be showing the room price SOMEWHERE. I certainly would not say showing the room price is irrelevant. The way it is now there is no way to know how much you are paying for a room!

Just checked amsnag again and it was working fine. You sure you have the right link to the current version? (http://biketrain.net/amsnag/amSnag.php) At least that is what I use and it works for me.

So is the only way to book business class now to book a "Premium" fare? Just ran a search NYP>WAS and picked #67... same scenario for any NE Regional


Monday, September 30, 2013
3:00am - 6:57am
3 hr, 57 min
67 Northeast Regional



SAVER
$49.00
1 Reserved Coach Seat

Only 1 seat at this price

VALUE
$84.00
1 Reserved Coach Seat

Only 1 seat at this price

FLEXIBLE
$164.00
1 Reserved Coach Seat


PREMIUM
$125.00
1 Business Class Seat
Only 1 seat at this price

When you check out on any, there's no option to add the business upgrade. It was normally +$41 to add business class and low bucket was upgradeable. Now it looks like PREMIUM is really just VALUE with $41 already included.

Up until today coach reserved seat tickets were fully refundable, i.e. it was only sleepers that had the refund fee.

AFAIK the only exception was the 14 day advance purchase 25% off NEC fares.

Ryan said:

It looks like the cost increase for a flexible fare is pretty significant, 20%-20% based on some quick browsing.

Click to expand...

Why would someone buy that ticket when the refund penalty is 10%? Same flexibility, right?

Anybody know where to enter the ISIC or AAA discount? I'm not seeing it anywhere - _ -

As someone who knows about buckets, I don't care for it. But the average Amtrak rider, I think they'll like it.

montezume said:

Anybody know where to enter the ISIC or AAA discount? I'm not seeing it anywhere - _ -

Click to expand...

I didn't do a test booking all the way thru, but it used to be on the next screen.

the_traveler said:

montezume said:

Anybody know where to enter the ISIC or AAA discount? I'm not seeing it anywhere - _ -

Click to expand...

I didn't do a test booking all the way thru, but it used to be on the next screen.

Click to expand...

It is still there. Once you add the trip to your cart, you'll get the fare breakdown on the next screen just like before.

montezume said:

Anybody know where to enter the ISIC or AAA discount? I'm not seeing it anywhere - _ -

Click to expand...

On the homepage where you're entering your search criteria, you'll see a new tab labeled "Other Discounts." If you click on that, you'll see a drop-down menu at the bottom for Passenger #1 where you can select from a variety of discounts.

Hello,

I guess I am with the ones that do not like change, especially to a system that seemed to work just fine and was very transparent in regards to what you are paying for.

I did a test booking on the 23 OCT from BOS-ATL via NYP. Northeast regional at 8:15 connecting to the Crescent. The Saver fare; quote from Amtrak "Saver Fares are the lowest available fares and include deeply discounted non-refundable fares" is $311.00 all coach. The Value fare, which is the next level up (I think?) is $159.00. So something is not right here if the "lowest available fare" is higher than the next level up.

--BOS-T-Time

Thankfully the app on the IPhone has not been changed.

montezume said:

Anybody know where to enter the ISIC or AAA discount? I'm not seeing it anywhere - _ -

Click to expand...

I couldn't find it either.

Then I logged into amtrak.com, and I have input my personal AAA number into my profile. Once I logged in, the prices that were shown were with the discount INCLUDED.

So a standard trip I take is PVD - BOS. The lowest fare is $15 (besides the E bucket, that is $11). In any case, once I logged in it was showing me $13.50 (with AAA discount) rather than $15.

So what is the deal on the NEC between the Value and Flexible fares? Do the value fares not allow one to get a refund anymore?

I am also seeing weird stuff on the NEC where the premium fare (ie, a business class seat on a regional or FC on acela) is cheaper than the "flexible" fare.

So I don't get what the flexible fare is - I thought when you had booked FC or BC on a regional that the fares were fully refundable anyway? So why book a "flexible" fare if the premium fare is in a better class and cheaper?