3 day fare sale

[amamba]

Sale on the NEC this week:

http://www.amtrak.com/3-day-sale-northeast-regional-train?utm_source=Travelzoo&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=Travelzoo_SeptSale_Boston_TO_Philly&WT.mc_t=NER_SEPT_FLASHSALE_DFCB&WT.mc_n=Travelzoo_SeptSale_Boston_TO_Philly|TravelZoo_Custom_SEPTFlashSale&WT.mc_r=365&buf=999

What I find bizarre is that I was trying to book tickets from PHL to RTE and the $47 fare doesn't come up. So I thought, OK, the rule says Boston, I should try BBY. Nope, sale fare doesn't come up.

The $47 fare only works for PHL - BOS (not BBY or RTE). The fare is $59 when going to BBY or RTE.

I understand excluding RTE, but really, excluding BBY? Seems silly to me.

 

[the_traveler]

Yeah, it does seem silly. (It's Amtrak - what do you expect? :giggle: ) just book to/from BOS and board at BBY and/or maybe RTE or get off there!

 

[amamba]

Yeah, I mean I know I can book to/from BBY, but I feel bad for other folks and casual riders who are maybe missing out on the $12 because they didn't put BOS in the to/from field.

I think they should make it clear in the terms and conditions that it is only good for South Station, since they do take the time to note the station name for Baltimore.

 

[the_traveler]

I think they should make it clear in the terms and conditions that it is only good for South Station, since they do take the time to note the station name for Baltimore.

I'm not giving credit where credit is not due (Amtrak), but there is a (I think) 12+ mile difference between Baltimore and BWI Airport! And that airport is not in Washington either, even though that's what the "W" in the name stands for. As for Boston, I do agree it should specify South Station, but North Station also has Amtrak service and it is also called "Boston"!

 

[SubwayNut]

What's even more ridiculous on those dates is that its two dollars cheeper $47 to buy a ticket BOS-PHL, than BOS-NYP that is still the normal Saver Price of $49.

Heck the short NYP-PHL trip at $39 is only $8 less than the BOS-PHL Sale Price.

 

[Acela150]

Sunday I had a ticket to BOS, but got off at RTE. The seat check was a Boston seat check. Conductors will issue the same seat check for RTE, BBY, or BOS.

 

[Acela150]

What's even more ridiculous on those dates is that its two dollars cheeper $47 to buy a ticket BOS-PHL, than BOS-NYP that is still the normal Saver Price of $49.

Heck the short NYP-PHL trip at $39 is only $8 less than the BOS-PHL Sale Price.

That's what flash sales do.

 

[afigg]

What's even more ridiculous on those dates is that its two dollars cheeper $47 to buy a ticket BOS-PHL, than BOS-NYP that is still the normal Saver Price of $49.

Heck the short NYP-PHL trip at $39 is only $8 less than the BOS-PHL Sale Price.

The ad on the Amtrak website gives more prominence to the WAS-PHL and BAL-PHL sale than to BOS-PHL. They probably threw in BOS-PHL at a slight discount to see how many tickets they sell and to boost the BOS-PHL market a little. BOS-PHL traffic has taken a large hit in the past several months due to aggressive JetBlue discounts. According to the July 2013 monthly reports, BOS-PHL Acela sales were off -46% and Regional sales were off -38% for the month of July compared to July 2012,

 

[SubwayNut]

Just reading up on it, that makes total sense, JetBlue has ended US Airways Monopoly on that route (I know Southwest tried and failed, discontinuing the flight) dropping fares from $558 round-trip (according to this article) down to amounts closer if not less than Amtrak's fares.

 

[amamba]

Interesting on the airline market share BOS - PHL. I actually used to always fly BOS - PHL because 10 years ago airtran was in that market and they had flights for as little as $29 each way.

Southwest then dropped their PVD - PHL flights which has significantly increased the us airways cost of those flights.