Anyone else irritated at how FAR in advance you have to book

[RobertF]

Ok, I know it's pure market economics but it drives me crazy how far out you have to book to get an affordable price on a bedroom (and to lesser degrees roomettes). I realize that it's a capacity issue, but it would be nice to be able to book the TE or EB or CS 2 months out and get an affordable price. As it is now, you have to book 4-5-6 months out. Just makes spur of the moment trips more difficult.

Just irritates me because my life makes it very hard to book out much farther than maybe 2 months for the most part.

 

[Rail Freak]

Ok, I know it's pure market economics but it drives me crazy how far out you have to book to get an affordable price on a bedroom (and to lesser degrees roomettes). I realize that it's a capacity issue, but it would be nice to be able to book the TE or EB or CS 2 months out and get an affordable price. As it is now, you have to book 4-5-6 months out. Just makes spur of the moment trips more difficult.
Just irritates me because my life makes it very hard to book out much farther than maybe 2 months for the most part.

Got a feeling, the more popular it gets, the longer out you'll have to book. :angry:

 

[RailFanLNK]

Even though it can be a pain, just think if everything was empty? We wouldn't be having sleepers to book reservations for. It would be nice if there was more equipment where putting on another sleeper and coach wasn't such a big deal. I'm a spur of the moment guy, but I have had to learn to accept with Amtrak, I'd better have my ducks in a row far out or otherwise the ducks aren't gonna be in a row!

 

[GG-1]

Aloha

I must echo "rail rookie", especially since my ducks have a long filght before and after. quack quack

 

[p&sr]

Ok, I know it's pure market economics but it drives me crazy how far out you have to book to get an affordable price on a bedroom (and to lesser degrees roomettes).

Well, there you have another big advantage of travelling Coach.

 

[RobertF]

Ok, I know it's pure market economics but it drives me crazy how far out you have to book to get an affordable price on a bedroom (and to lesser degrees roomettes).

Well, there you have another big advantage of travelling Coach.

Traveling coach! Bite yer tounge!!

 

[GregL]

Ok, I know it's pure market economics but it drives me crazy how far out you have to book to get an affordable price on a bedroom (and to lesser degrees roomettes).

Well, there you have another big advantage of travelling Coach.

The last two years I booked trips in Jan. for traveling in May. I believe I got the best deal in doing that. Earlier this month, I tried to change the reservation by one day, making the stay one day longer, and it was going to cost $300.00 more ( about 30% more). All trips included a bedroom both ways. Needless to say I politely turned them down.

GregL

 

[the_traveler]

I'll take 4-5-6 months out! Have you tried to redeem for a "saver" (or whatever each airline calls their 25,000 mile) frequent flyer award? :huh: If you're REAL lucky, you may find a 25,000 mile award at 11 months out! Otherwise, you can get a seat for double the award miles!

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

Ok, I know it's pure market economics but it drives me crazy how far out you have to book to get an affordable price on a bedroom (and to lesser degrees roomettes). I realize that it's a capacity issue, but it would be nice to be able to book the TE or EB or CS 2 months out and get an affordable price. As it is now, you have to book 4-5-6 months out. Just makes spur of the moment trips more difficult.
Just irritates me because my life makes it very hard to book out much farther than maybe 2 months for the most part.

Consider writing to your Congresspeople and asking them to give Amtrak money for more sleepers.

 

[Crescent ATN & TCL]

Ok, I know it's pure market economics but it drives me crazy how far out you have to book to get an affordable price on a bedroom (and to lesser degrees roomettes). I realize that it's a capacity issue, but it would be nice to be able to book the TE or EB or CS 2 months out and get an affordable price. As it is now, you have to book 4-5-6 months out. Just makes spur of the moment trips more difficult.
Just irritates me because my life makes it very hard to book out much farther than maybe 2 months for the most part.

Consider writing to your Congresspeople and asking them to give Amtrak money for more sleepers.

Not only sleepers but Diners, Lounges and Coaches as well. I believe most of the LD trains could sell out with twice as many cars as they do now, add locos and cars and sell at lower buckets to fill the capacity. It would make a lot of sense economically and lower the cost to revenue ratio for the trains.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

They'd be wiser to use that to double frequency.

 

[BobWeaver]

Ok, I know it's pure market economics but it drives me crazy how far out you have to book to get an affordable price on a bedroom (and to lesser degrees roomettes). I realize that it's a capacity issue, but it would be nice to be able to book the TE or EB or CS 2 months out and get an affordable price. As it is now, you have to book 4-5-6 months out. Just makes spur of the moment trips more difficult.
Just irritates me because my life makes it very hard to book out much farther than maybe 2 months for the most part.

Consider writing to your Congresspeople and asking them to give Amtrak money for more sleepers.

Not only sleepers but Diners, Lounges and Coaches as well. I believe most of the LD trains could sell out with twice as many cars as they do now, add locos and cars and sell at lower buckets to fill the capacity. It would make a lot of sense economically and lower the cost to revenue ratio for the trains.

This makes me think of the situation on 19/20 between NOL and ATL, where the majority of the time, only 2 coaches are in use because of the relatively low number of riders. A quick fare query on amtrak.com finds that the fare is $58 between ATL and NOL in coach class, which really isn't bad at all for an almost 12 hour train ride. But one has to think, wouldn't it be beneficial to lower these fares somewhat to see if the resulting lower fare entices some new business?

They'd be wiser to use that to double frequency.

If only it were that easy to get the host railroads to agree to it.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

The answer to the freight RR problem might be to build a bunch of dedicated, mostly 200 MPH track and then do 4-6 runs each day in each direction. The faster track ought to increase ridership by enough to justify the extra trains.

(However, if we stay at 110 MPH and slower, I think Amtrak has a bunch of spare P40 locomotives, which is one of the more obvious things that would be needed if the frequencies were doubled instead of just making the trains longer.)

On some level, I suspect it doesn't matter if some of the letters people write to Congress asking for more money to be thrown at Amtrak are imperfect in the details of exactly what Amtrak should spend its money on. What's probably more important is that Congress be convinced that lots of people want lots of money to be spent on improving Amtrak. I also think there's a lot of value in people telling their Congresspeople honestly exactly what bothers them personally about Amtrak. The original poster on this thread, RobertF, wasn't unhappy about the state of the dining cars, so he may be able to write a more convincing letter if he focuses on the sleeping cars. And presumably someone else will have shared their opinions about SDS with someone in Congress so that when our Congresspeople are sifting through the suggestions, they'll hopefully decide to buy sleepers, dining cars, etc, even if some of the letters in support of Amtrak funding didn't mention every single car type Amtrak needs.

 

[SUTTONK11]

IT IS BAD HAVING TO BOOK SO FAR AHEAD OF TIME BUT AMTRAK'S LIBERAL CANCELLATION POLICY ELIMINATES THE FINANCIAL RISK. ALSO, WITH BUCKET PRICING, IF YOU CANCEL LATE, SOME OTHER PASSENGER MIGHT GET A LAST MINUTE BARGIN.

 

[jackal]

IT IS BAD HAVING TO BOOK SO FAR AHEAD OF TIME BUT AMTRAK'S LIBERAL CANCELLATION POLICY ELIMINATES THE FINANCIAL RISK. ALSO, WITH BUCKET PRICING, IF YOU CANCEL LATE, SOME OTHER PASSENGER MIGHT GET A LAST MINUTE BARGIN.

Welcome to the forum, SUTTONK11!

Your points are valid. When I start thinking of a trip, I go ahead and book several options and then cancel the ones I don't need later.

Joel--would it be worth it to start a letter-writing campaign like many other advocacy organizations do? Do you think there's enough of a groundswell of support for Amtrak to make our voices heard over, say, the immigration issue or whatever?

 

[printman2000]

This post made me decide to check on current pricing for our June trip. We paid $2714 (2 roomettes the whole way) for our round trip from Lamy, NM to Boston. I bought these tickets back in January.

The same trip now would cost $4718. Almost $2000 difference. If I could not book early, we would not be taking this trip.

I am not complaining. Amtrak needs to get as much as they can. If they can get it, they should charge it. I was just a little shocked at the price difference.

 

[p&sr]

When I start thinking of a trip, I go ahead and book several options and then cancel the ones I don't need later.

How does this work? When I reserve on-line, the Website tells me the prices are not firm until I pay.

Is it different by phone? What about the message (on the phone) that says "Lower Prices may be available On-Line"?

Or do you "pay" for several options and then get "reimbursed" before your credit card becomes due?

 

[jackal]

When I start thinking of a trip, I go ahead and book several options and then cancel the ones I don't need later.

How does this work? When I reserve on-line, the Website tells me the prices are not firm until I pay.

Is it different by phone? What about the message (on the phone) that says "Lower Prices may be available On-Line"?

Or do you "pay" for several options and then get "reimbursed" before your credit card becomes due?

The latter. Especially now that I have my AGR credit card, which I only use for Amtrak purchases--having enough available credit isn't a problem! :lol:

 

[the_traveler]

I have my AGR credit card, which I only use for Amtrak purchases

Why only for Amtrak purchases? I would use it for ALL purchases (or as much as you can pay off in full each month) and build up the points!

I use my Delta Sky Miles AX for as much as I can. I currently have over 250,000 (not including any awards I have used), but I have only flown less than 30,000 miles on Delta! If you use your MC in a similar way, your AGR account total will increase too.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

I really don't know exactly how many people there are who might be willing to write letters to their Congresspeople asking for more money for Amtrak, nor do I know how many letters it would take to get a particular level of funding. However, we do know that Congress is happy to give some money to Amtrak, and I suspect that in general more percieved support from voters will lead to more funding

In looking at Wikipedia a bit, the Amtrak article says that taxpayers give Amtrak somewhere between $1 billion and $2 billion a year. The United States federal budget article says the federal government spent $2,730 billion total in FY2007. Highway and airport expenditures would certainly be interesting numbers to know, but I don't have the time to track them down right now.

 

[jackal]

I have my AGR credit card, which I only use for Amtrak purchases

Why only for Amtrak purchases? I would use it for ALL purchases (or as much as you can pay off in full each month) and build up the points!

I use my Delta Sky Miles AX for as much as I can. I currently have over 250,000 (not including any awards I have used), but I have only flown less than 30,000 miles on Delta! If you use your MC in a similar way, your AGR account total will increase too.

Well, first of all, I just got the AGR card a few weeks ago. I haven't had a chance to switch all of my spending (including my automatic bill payments) over to it.

Second, that card is competing with several other mile/point-earning cards (Alaska Airlines Visa Signature, United Airlines Platinum Class Visa Signature, American AAdvantage World MasterCard, American Express Platinum Card, American Express Blue) as well as a few cash rebate cards (Costco TrueEarnings American Express, AOPA Platinum Visa (5% back at participating aviation-related merchants, including the place at which I took my flight lessons)).

Third, I've decided to place almost all of my spending on my American Express Platinum, as it's a charge card that I must pay off every month, thereby preventing me from carrying a balance and going any further into debt. (The only time I don't use it is at a merchant that doesn't take American Express or when I qualify for double miles/points on travel spending on my other cards, e.g. when buying an Amtrak ticket or an Alaska Airlines ticket.) Membership Rewards points can be transfered to a few other programs, so I consider it an acceptable program to earn points in (for now).

However, with the great redemption value AGR offers, I may decide someday to build up my AGR account and switch my spending to that card--we'll see. That likely won't happen until after I'm debt-free and probably after I move somewhere within easy reach of an Amtrak station so I don't ever have to worry about my points expiring if I can't ride an Amtrak train for an extended period of time. (Yeah, like that's ever in danger of happening! :lol: )

 

[dspacekd]

IT IS BAD HAVING TO BOOK SO FAR AHEAD OF TIME BUT AMTRAK'S LIBERAL CANCELLATION POLICY ELIMINATES THE FINANCIAL RISK. ALSO, WITH BUCKET PRICING, IF YOU CANCEL LATE, SOME OTHER PASSENGER MIGHT GET A LAST MINUTE BARGIN.

I agree with that! I'd been debating when to plan my LD trip. Amazinly later in the evening when I actually say down to book it with the credit card there was a FAMILY BEDROOM that suddenly popped up as being $10 less than the Roomette on the SWC. Naturally I booked that option and saved $10 and got a larger room for my father and I.

We've also decided to book (within the next month) a Christmas & New Years trip to WAS and PVD on Amtrak provided this coming trip goes well.

 

[saxman]

The best thing to do is play with lots of dates and city pairs. I once found a roomette on the CZ, Chicago to Emeryville for only $336, in the middle of summer, 5 days ahead of time! Of course I bought it right away, and it was well worth it! I think it was because they opened up roomettes inside the trans-dorm, so that could've been why it was at the lowest bucket. This was also 3 years ago. But then of course you have to buy a plane ticket to get back.

 

[DKpartyguy]

As far as booking far in advance, I usually try to to get the best price. But I never get the ticket printed until the day of departure, just in case I need to make any last minute changes, which has occasionally happened. If your ticket hasn't been issued, changing it around is much easier. About 2 years ago, I had booked a ticket on the Crescent from NYC to New Orleans in a roomette. Wanting to get the best price, I went on amtrak.com and played around with many dates, and finally booked a trip about 3 months ahead of departure. The trip was for August, and the best price I found was around $650.00 one way, which was very high for that trip, but I had to go around that time. Of course, in the months before, I checked the website often, and the price was always the same, right up until the week before my departure date.

One day I looked and was amazed to find a fare of $286.00 for a roomette, leaving the week before my trip!

I immediately booked the chaper fare and cancelled my other ticket. Because it was more than seven days from my original departure, I was able to get my orignal ticket refunded. So, after frantically changing around my hotel and car rental reservations, I had re-booked my entire trip for a week earlier, saving almost $400 on Amtrak!

So, sometimes, it is very possible to get low fares at the last minute. The real trick is to familiarize yourself with the average fares of the trip you want to take, that way you will know a really good low fare when you see it.

Just my 2 cents as always......

David

 

[RobertF]

I have my AGR credit card, which I only use for Amtrak purchases

Why only for Amtrak purchases? I would use it for ALL purchases (or as much as you can pay off in full each month) and build up the points!

I use my Delta Sky Miles AX for as much as I can. I currently have over 250,000 (not including any awards I have used), but I have only flown less than 30,000 miles on Delta! If you use your MC in a similar way, your AGR account total will increase too.

Love my Delta Sky Miles AMEX. Just wish there were a way to get more MQM's besides having to spend $25k or fly...