Are these normal Acela Fares?

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Cal

Cal

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I have never travelled on Amtrak east of Chicago, and all my intercity experience has been on the Surfliner or Heartland Flyer.

I have the chance to go on Acela this month, and I was looking at possible fares from WAS to NYP, as if possible I'd like to go the whole route.

I'd be travelling with another person, and after testing a few dates the lowest one-way fare I can find where I would depart in the morning and arrive in the evening are at $302 in business class. Those seem insanely high, are those the normal fares or are they higher as some sleeper fares are?

I also have four upgrade coupons that I'd like to use to ugprade from Business to First, how often is First Class sold out in July? And how does it compare weekday vs weekend?
 
Cal said:
I have never travelled on Amtrak east of Chicago, and all my intercity experience has been on the Surfliner or Heartland Flyer.

I have the chance to go on Acela this month, and I was looking at possible fares from WAS to NYP, as if possible I'd like to go the whole route.

I'd be travelling with another person, and after testing a few dates the lowest one-way fare I can find where I would depart in the morning and arrive in the evening are at $302 in business class. Those seem insanely high, are those the normal fares or are they higher as some sleeper fares are?

I also have four upgrade coupons that I'd like to use to ugprade from Business to First, how often is First Class sold out in July? And how does it compare weekday vs weekend?
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There are fewer Acelas on the Weekends, and usually Fares are Lower, especially in Business Class( Coach on Acela).

You didn't indicate which day you wanted to travel, but the Very Early and Midday Acelas are usually the least full,. The evening Trains are usually Full and Buckets are Higher, especially on Mondays and Fridays.

Acelas that stop @ BWI ( only a couple do)tend to be Less Crowded and Lower Bucket on most days.

I did a few Test Bookings, and the Low Bucket for Acela Biz Class seems to be $80, which, with your Upgrade Coupon for FC, would be a Good Deal!( FC can have Buckets over $400 on Busy Trains!!)

I wouldn't bother to Bid for a FC AcelaUpgrade, it would tend to be Big Bucks to Win 2 Seats!

You might have to just do a one way on Acela and ride a Regional in BC I'd the Buckets are too High when you want to ride.( you'll need to be Flexible on the Times to get the Best Deal)
 
Bob Dylan said:
There are fewer Acelas on the Weekends, and usually Fares are Lower, especially in Business Class( Coach on Acela).

You didn't indicate which day you wanted to travel, but the Very Early and Midday Acelas are usually the least full,. The evening Trains are usually Full and Buckets are Higher, especially on Mondays and Fridays.

Acelas that stop @ BWI ( only a couple do)tend to be Less Crowded and Lower Bucket on most days.

I did a few Test Bookings, and the Low Bucket for Acela Biz Class seems to be $80, which, with your Upgrade Coupon for FC, would be a Good Deal!( FC can have Buckets over $400 on Busy Trains!!)

I wouldn't bother to Bid for a FC AcelaUpgrade, it would tend to be Big Bucks to Win 2 Seats!

You might have to just do a one way on Acela and ride a Regional in BC I'd the Buckets are too High when you want to ride.( you'll need to be Flexible on the Times to get the Best Deal)
Click to expand...
Yeah. Also I don't intend to bid, but to use upgrade coupons that I have.
 
I've seen prices for Acela Business Class for $69 from Philly to Boston,if purchased two weeks in advance
 
Generally the fares North/East of New York tend to be a little lower than those between NY and Washington. When I lived in NJ I usually did my Acela joy rides Nort/East of NY as the fares were lower and the scenery much better, specially East of New Haven. First Class coupon upgrades were also much easier to come by specially on weekends, which is when I got to travel for leisure anyway, since weekdays tended to be very busy work days, even though I worked from home the last 15 or so years before retiring..
 
Cal said:
I have never travelled on Amtrak east of Chicago, and all my intercity experience has been on the Surfliner or Heartland Flyer.

I have the chance to go on Acela this month, and I was looking at possible fares from WAS to NYP, as if possible I'd like to go the whole route.

I'd be travelling with another person, and after testing a few dates the lowest one-way fare I can find where I would depart in the morning and arrive in the evening are at $302 in business class. Those seem insanely high, are those the normal fares or are they higher as some sleeper fares are?

I also have four upgrade coupons that I'd like to use to ugprade from Business to First, how often is First Class sold out in July? And how does it compare weekday vs weekend?
Click to expand...
Is the quoted price ($302) for two people? If so, that's about par for the course for Acela Business class. My last Baltimore-New York trip in April was something like $125 going up and $175 coming home. By the way, you can pay $150 for coach in the Northeast Regional if the Yield Management Gods are not looking on you with favor. The upgrade to first class could be $100 per person over that.

Northeast Corridor fares (on Amtrak, at least) are high, relative to journeys of equivalent length in other parts of the country. Remember, no state funding, and also they actually are serious competition to the other transportation modes. I think they price the Acelas to compete with last-minute-purchase air fares. In general, both the Acelas and Northeast Regionals between New York and Washington are faster than driving or the bus and only marginally slower than flying, if you take airport formalities and travel to the airport into account.
 
jis said:
Generally the fares North/East of New York tend to be a little lower than those between NY and Washington. When I lived in NJ I usually did my Acela joy rides Nort/East of NY as the fares were lower and the scenery much better, specially East of New Haven. First Class coupon upgrades were also much easier to come by specially on weekends, which is when I got to travel for leisure anyway, since weekdays tended to be very busy work days, even though I worked from home the last 15 or so years before retiring..
Click to expand...
Of course, you can't call the stretch between New York and New Haven "high speed rail," or even "higher speed rail." Nothing like riding an Acela going 45 mph for an extended period, watching the cars on I-95 whiz right by you...
The good coastal scenery is east of New Haven; actually east of Old Saybrook.
Once you get past Westerly, the coastal scenery goes away, but then you have real high speed (140-150mph) running through parts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
In between New Haven and Rhode Island, the trains go mostly 80-90 mph. Lots of curves and some grade crossings, too.
 
Believe it or not there are actually stretches of 110mph even between New Haven and New London, notwithstanding your claim that it is only 80-90.

Any day I prefer a ride from NY to Boston over a ride from NY to Washington. But that is just me. If I want to ride high speed rail I don't try to do that in the US. It does not have any yet. ;) It might in a few years though.
 
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Looking at Sunday, July 18, Acela business class is at an outrageous 558 dollars for two people, and 828 for First! Insane.

Note: Thought I sent this yesterday...
 
Cal said:
View attachment 23423

Looking at Sunday, July 18, Acela business class is at an outrageous 558 dollars for two people, and 828 for First! Insane.

Note: Thought I sent this yesterday...
Click to expand...
I checked the United Airlines website.



Two tickets from Dulles to Logan, Sunday July 18: $480 - $560 (They'll sell an upgrade bundle that includes Economy plus and one checked bag for $53 per person.
These are for fully refundable economy tickets.
The non-refundable "cheap" tickets are $412 - $480
By he way, there are only 3 non-stop flights that day. They have a number of 1-stop routings they'll sell, but the ticket prices range from $800 - $1,100 for the cheap non refundable to over $2,000 for fully refundable coach.

First class is $560 - $940 on the nonstops and cheaper on the one-stops. I think you can actually find first class tickets that are cheaper than non-refundable economy if you're not picky about your flight timing. The cheapest first class fare is a light that leaves Dulles at 10:10 PM and gets into Logan at 11:43 PM.

By the way, no non-stop service from DCA, and the fares are higher than from Dulles.

The prices drop sharply if you do the trip the next day.
The moral of the story is don't travel on the weekends.

So these fares are indeed competitive with the airlines. If you want to go cheap, you'll have to take the bus.
 

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