AAA Rate more than regular rate???

[Stellar1]

I was checking prices and times for a roundtrip from New York Penn Station to Kingston, RI for July.

I was able to find a low fare of $38 each way. When I clicked on the AAA Adult rate

discount, (which is supposed to be a 10% discount), the fare actually went UP to $45.90

each way.

Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing or does anyone have any suggestions

why this might be happening.

Thanks.

 

[mercedeslove]

It could possibly be that the original fare was already at a discounted price which was lower than the 10%% discount given by AAA. You're only allowed to use one discount at a time.

 

[Ryan]

That's exactly right - the $38 dollar fare is discounted by 25%. But you can only have 1 discount, so when you apply the smaller AAA discount, the price goes up. The website does a horrible job of explaining this.

 

[rrdude]

That's exactly right - the $38 dollar fare is discounted by 25%. But you can only have 1 discount, so when you apply the smaller AAA discount, the price goes up. The website does a horrible job of explaining this.

Totally agree Ryan, not sure if that is by design or not. How many times have you been frustrated booking a trip, then apply your AAA or NARP discount, and the fare goes up?

A lot of us know "Why", but for a new traveler, it must be frustrating as Hell.

I really doubt Amtrak is counting on "a little more money here and there" because I think the fact that that **** off a lot of travelers would cancel that out.............

 

[Guest]

That's exactly right - the $38 dollar fare is discounted by 25%. But you can only have 1 discount, so when you apply the smaller AAA discount, the price goes up. The website does a horrible job of explaining this.

The website also does a horrible job of explaining the refund restrictions on these fares. That in my opinion is the bigger problem.

 

[AlanB]

It's not that Amtrak is counting on extra revenue or that the are trying to **** people off, or even make things difficult for them The problem is that the reservation's program ARROW simply isn't capable of dealing with certain issues like this.

I understand that Amtrak is working on a fix, but I have no info on when we might see that fix. I'm also not sure if the fix will actually fix the problem, or if the fix is just a warning that one is booking a heavily discounted fare that comes with restrictions and cannot be combined with another discount.

 

[rrdude]

It's not that Amtrak is counting on extra revenue or that the are trying to **** people off, or even make things difficult for them The problem is that the reservation's program ARROW simply isn't capable of dealing with certain issues like this.
I understand that Amtrak is working on a fix, but I have no info on when we might see that fix. I'm also not sure if the fix will actually fix the problem, or if the fix is just a warning that one is booking a heavily discounted fare that comes with restrictions and cannot be combined with another discount.

Probably right on "target" about ARROW Alan. Using legacy s/w like that, does limit what you can do, and I have to give Amtrak KUDOS for integrating ARROW with web-ticketing, probably not an EZ task.

The "Real Nightmare" will come when they decide to use NEW reservations/yield-mgmt software.

Alan, how much longer do you speculate that ARROW will be in use? Five years? More?

 

[PerRock]

It's not that Amtrak is counting on extra revenue or that the are trying to **** people off, or even make things difficult for them The problem is that the reservation's program ARROW simply isn't capable of dealing with certain issues like this.
I understand that Amtrak is working on a fix, but I have no info on when we might see that fix. I'm also not sure if the fix will actually fix the problem, or if the fix is just a warning that one is booking a heavily discounted fare that comes with restrictions and cannot be combined with another discount.

Probably right on "target" about ARROW Alan. Using legacy s/w like that, does limit what you can do, and I have to give Amtrak KUDOS for integrating ARROW with web-ticketing, probably not an EZ task.

The "Real Nightmare" will come when they decide to use NEW reservations/yield-mgmt software.

Alan, how much longer do you speculate that ARROW will be in use? Five years? More?

What about jut using one of the other systems out there? What does National Rail (UK) use? That would seem like it would cover all of Amtrak's bases as well as having room for improvement. The Nat Rail program probably splits info up between the various carriers; we could then see thru ticketing on commuter rails as well.

peter

 

[AlanB]

Alan, how much longer do you speculate that ARROW will be in use? Five years? More?

I honestly have no idea. I'm sure that it's being discussed, but just where it is in the list of needed things for which Amtrak has no money, I don't know.

 

[AlanB]

What about jut using one of the other systems out there? What does National Rail (UK) use? That would seem like it would cover all of Amtrak's bases as well as having room for improvement. The Nat Rail program probably splits info up between the various carriers; we could then see thru ticketing on commuter rails as well.
peter

If only things were that simple. While I have no idea on Amtrak's specific requirements for a new program, which might well preclude many things already out there, there are other factors to consider here.

1) Cost to buy said program.

2) Cost to install, test, and and train everyone on the new system.

3) Cost to convert the existing data over to the new program from ARROW.

And all of that is money that at present Amtrak doesn't have.

 

[Stellar1]

Thanks everybody for the explanation. I didn't realize that the $38 fare was already discounted.

 

[PRR 60]

...And all of that is money that at present Amtrak doesn't have.

Amtrak has money. They have chosen to spend it on other things like car repairs, converter rehabs (Lamokin), and station renovations (Wilmington). Amtrak does not see replacing an antiquated reservation system to be as important as some those other projects. Maybe they're right. Maybe not.

 

[Ryan]

Each of the things that you cited (with the exception of Wilmington) are vital to actually being able to provide rail service. Replacing a functioning system isn't. I'd say they made the right call.

 

[jis]

...And all of that is money that at present Amtrak doesn't have.

Amtrak has money. They have chosen to spend it on other things like car repairs, converter rehabs (Lamokin), and station renovations (Wilmington). Amtrak does not see replacing an antiquated reservation system to be as important as some those other projects. Maybe they're right. Maybe not.

It seems that if trains stop running due to the infrastructure falling apart there would not be any need for a reservation and ticketing system legacy or otherwise. So it would seem that it makes sense to at least keep the infrastructure in running order first.