Demand for rail travel

[Greg]

I am attempting to go from New Orleans (would prefer to travel from Tallahassee, but that's another story) to Los Angeles on May 11th of this year and there are NO roomettes available. I can't believe the demand is that high this far in advance. The policy makers and operators of Amtrak need to be thinking 3 generations out and get the passenger rail system in this country FIXED!!

 

[MrFSS]

I am attempting to go from New Orleans (would prefer to travel from Tallahassee, but that's another story) to Los Angeles on May 11th of this year and there are NO roomettes available. I can't believe the demand is that high this far in advance. The policy makers and operators of Amtrak need to be thinking 3 generations out and get the passenger rail system in this country FIXED!!

Sure there is:

 

[Greg]

I am attempting to go from New Orleans (would prefer to travel from Tallahassee, but that's another story) to Los Angeles on May 11th of this year and there are NO roomettes available. I can't believe the demand is that high this far in advance. The policy makers and operators of Amtrak need to be thinking 3 generations out and get the passenger rail system in this country FIXED!!

Sure there is:

Needed to depart on the 11th and arrive on the 13th so unfortunately this won't work. I already saw it. thanks, though

 

[the_traveler]

You are probably thinking of taking the Sunset Limited, and don't forget that it only runs 3 days a week. I don't know the current consist of it right now, but assuming it carries 2 sleepers, that would be

• 10 bedrooms
  
• (I think) 24 roomettes
  
• 4 family bedrroms, and
  
• 4 H bedrooms
  

PER WEEK!

 

[darien-l]

You are probably thinking of taking the Sunset Limited, and don't forget that it only runs 3 days a week. I don't know the current consist of it right now, but assuming it carries 2 sleepers, that would be

• 10 bedrooms
  
• (I think) 24 roomettes
  
• 4 family bedrroms, and
  
• 4 H bedrooms
  

PER WEEK!

I'm pretty sure there's only ONE sleeper car on the Sunset Limited as it leaves New Orleans.

 

[darien-l]

By the way, I'm seeing 7 available roomettes for your dates:

Pretty good price, too.

 

[MrFSS]

By the way, I'm seeing 7 available roomettes for your dates:

Pretty good price, too.

Wrong date - Its MAY - not MARCH.

 

[darien-l]

Wrong date - Its MAY - not MARCH.

Doh, you're right. Sorry.

 

[AlanB]

You are probably thinking of taking the Sunset Limited, and don't forget that it only runs 3 days a week. I don't know the current consist of it right now, but assuming it carries 2 sleepers, that would be

• 10 bedrooms
  
• (I think) 24 roomettes
  
• 4 family bedrroms, and
  
• 4 H bedrooms
  

PER WEEK!

I'm pretty sure there's only ONE sleeper car on the Sunset Limited as it leaves New Orleans.

I believe it's one sleeper with 14 roomettes, and then 8 in the Trans/Dorm, for a total of 22 out of NOL.

 

[George Harris]

Maybe ride coach to San Antonio and pick up the Texas Eagle sleeper there? Or, may even be able to ride a Sunset Limited sleeper to San Antonio, or better to some point west thereof and then change to the TE sleeper? I would give these things a try. Probably have to talk to an agent to test these out.

 

[MrFSS]

Maybe ride coach to San Antonio and pick up the Texas Eagle sleeper there? Or, may even be able to ride a Sunset Limited sleeper to San Antonio, or better to some point west thereof and then change to the TE sleeper? I would give these things a try. Probably have to talk to an agent to test these out.

As always, George has the solution:

 

[Guest_earthrise_*]

What is the consist of the Sunset Limited this time of year? I might be on the Sunset in March--though I'll be in coach since it'll be an all-day trip.

If you book two roomettes back to back, will you have to vacate it in San Antonio and 'reclaim' it?

 

[GG-1]

What is the consist of the Sunset Limited this time of year? I might be on the Sunset in March--though I'll be in coach since it'll be an all-day trip.
If you book two roomettes back to back, will you have to vacate it in San Antonio and 'reclaim' it?

Aloha

I am not good at consist information, so I will let others answer this question, What I dont understand is why "back to back" question.

I assume(dangerous ) that you are planning to board the SSLimited and continue through San Antonio, So why not book the room start to finish?

Am I seeing the situation correctly? BTW: I go through San Antonio if I see the time correctly on April 1. having left CHI on Mar 31 via the TE where we connect to the SSL.

Does this help?

Eric

 

[AlanB]

If you book two roomettes back to back, will you have to vacate it in San Antonio and 'reclaim' it?

If you book the same roomette, then no, you wouldn't have to vacate it and then reclaim it. However, I can't imagine why anyone would want to do that. Just more paperwork and a possible fare increase.

If however one is doing what was suggested by George and highlighted by MrFSS, then yes you have to leave one room and move to another car and claim that room, since you'd be booked into two different cars.

 

[sky12065]

What is the consist of the Sunset Limited this time of year? I might be on the Sunset in March--though I'll be in coach since it'll be an all-day trip.
If you book two roomettes back to back, will you have to vacate it in San Antonio and 'reclaim' it?

Aloha

I am not good at consist information, so I will let others answer this question, What I dont understand is why "back to back" question.

I assume(dangerous ) that you are planning to board the SSLimited and continue through San Antonio, So why not boot the room start to finish?

Am I seeing the situation correctly? BTW: I go through San Antonio if I see the time correctly on April 1. having left CHI on Mar 31 via the TE where we connect to the SSL.

Does this help?

Eric

Eric, it's because the only car where the roomette is available on Greg's travel day from SAS (San Antonio) to LAX (LA) orignates in CHI, or in other words the Texas Eagle. There are no available roomettes on the required travel date that go straight through from NOL (New Orleans) without switching cars in SAS.

 

[D.P. Roberts]

The "bigger" picture question, however, is still the OP's view of Amtrak - like many people, I have often though that Amtrak doesn't have enough capacity, so Amtrak needs to "fix" it. I, too, get frustrated when the bucket system prices things out of my range, or one leg of my planned trip works to my schedule, but the return trip has me arriving or departing in the middle of the night - and there are no other choices, because there's only one train per day. Whatever we can say about Amtrak's management of its existing trains, added capacity is not something they can do a whole lot about without additional funding by our friends in Congress.

 

[GG-1]

What is the consist of the Sunset Limited this time of year? I might be on the Sunset in March--though I'll be in coach since it'll be an all-day trip.
If you book two roomettes back to back, will you have to vacate it in San Antonio and 'reclaim' it?

Aloha

I assume(dangerous ) that you are planning to board the SSLimited and continue through San Antonio, So why not boot the room start to finish?

Am I seeing the situation correctly? BTW: I go through San Antonio if I see the time correctly on April 1. having left CHI on Mar 31 via the TE where we connect to the SSL.

Does this help?

Eric

Eric, it's because the only car where the roomette is available on Greg's travel day from SAS (San Antonio) to LAX (LA) originates in CHI, or in other words the Texas Eagle. There are no available roomettes on the required travel date that go straight through from NOL (New Orleans) without switching cars in SAS.

Aloha

Thanks Sky but are we talking the same issue. Greg and Guest_earthrise are the same situation? If in fact there are rooms on Sunset Limited leaving NOL then someone boarding later can be assigned the available room after San Antonio, which might be the Texas Eagle.. But if that is not what is happening how does a " Back to Back" occur?

I am totally confused about the question/situation.

 

[earthrise]

What is the consist of the Sunset Limited this time of year? I might be on the Sunset in March--though I'll be in coach since it'll be an all-day trip.
If you book two roomettes back to back, will you have to vacate it in San Antonio and 'reclaim' it?

Aloha

I assume(dangerous ) that you are planning to board the SSLimited and continue through San Antonio, So why not boot the room start to finish?

Am I seeing the situation correctly? BTW: I go through San Antonio if I see the time correctly on April 1. having left CHI on Mar 31 via the TE where we connect to the SSL.

Does this help?

Eric

Eric, it's because the only car where the roomette is available on Greg's travel day from SAS (San Antonio) to LAX (LA) originates in CHI, or in other words the Texas Eagle. There are no available roomettes on the required travel date that go straight through from NOL (New Orleans) without switching cars in SAS.

Aloha

Thanks Sky but are we talking the same issue. Greg and Guest_earthrise are the same situation? If in fact there are rooms on Sunset Limited leaving NOL then someone boarding later can be assigned the available room after San Antonio, which might be the Texas Eagle.. But if that is not what is happening how does a " Back to Back" occur?

I am totally confused about the question/situation.

This is partly my mess, so I'll try to explain.

I didn't realize you could book a roomette up to San Antonio and then a separate roomette from SAS to the final destination. I wondered whether you'd have to move all your belongings from one coach to another for future reference. It sounds like a hassle to wake up in the middle of the night and move from one coach to another--especially since the train is supposed to reach SAS at 3am or 1am (westbound and eastbound, respectively).

I'll probably do NOL-HOS on the Sunset Limited in March. It's an all-day trip so I'll be fine in Coach. I'd like to know how many coach cars there are because I'm very picky about getting a window. I didn't want to start another "I'm going on the Sunset Limited..." threads so I just piggybacked on this one.

Hope that clears things up.

 

[Greg]

thanks so much to all who replied to my initial post. It is so frustrating to not be able to travel efficiently around the country on the train. I am a firm believer in rail travel for the reason of a number of societal benefits associated with it. I sure hope the next decade bodes well for us supporters of Amtrak and rail travel in general. Thanks again, Greg

 

[sky12065]

What is the consist of the Sunset Limited this time of year? I might be on the Sunset in March--though I'll be in coach since it'll be an all-day trip.
If you book two roomettes back to back, will you have to vacate it in San Antonio and 'reclaim' it?

Aloha

I assume(dangerous ) that you are planning to board the SSLimited and continue through San Antonio, So why not boot the room start to finish?

Am I seeing the situation correctly? BTW: I go through San Antonio if I see the time correctly on April 1. having left CHI on Mar 31 via the TE where we connect to the SSL.

Does this help?

Eric

Eric, it's because the only car where the roomette is available on Greg's travel day from SAS (San Antonio) to LAX (LA) originates in CHI, or in other words the Texas Eagle. There are no available roomettes on the required travel date that go straight through from NOL (New Orleans) without switching cars in SAS.

Aloha

Thanks Sky but are we talking the same issue. Greg and Guest_earthrise are the same situation? If in fact there are rooms on Sunset Limited leaving NOL then someone boarding later can be assigned the available room after San Antonio, which might be the Texas Eagle.. But if that is not what is happening how does a " Back to Back" occur?

I am totally confused about the question/situation.

Eric, I'm confused about your confusion! Is it possible that we are viewing the term "Back to Back" differently?

To me it's a simple situation where Greg wants the use of a roomette for his entire trip and there is no one specific roomette that's vacant for the entire trip from New Orleans to LA.

Therefore the itinerary that Alan copied & pasted on his post is the only way Greg can travel all the way on his specific date in a roomette, albeit that he does have to physically change from one sleeper on the SSL to another sleeper on the TE.

BTW, I speak only of Gregs situation and not earthrises'. I'm picking up that earthrise is only going as far as Houston but then again I'm not sure. Perhaps earthrise is correct when he says things are "partly his mess" for which we'll have to punish him by making him take an extra trip on a train to anywhere! :lol: Some punishment huh?

 

[GG-1]

What is the consist of the Sunset Limited this time of year? I might be on the Sunset in March--though I'll be in coach since it'll be an all-day trip.
If you book two roomettes back to back, will you have to vacate it in San Antonio and 'reclaim' it?

Aloha

I assume(dangerous ) that you are planning to board the SSLimited and continue through San Antonio, So why not boot the room start to finish?

Am I seeing the situation correctly? BTW: I go through San Antonio if I see the time correctly on April 1. having left CHI on Mar 31 via the TE where we connect to the SSL.

Does this help?

Eric

Eric, it's because the only car where the roomette is available on Greg's travel day from SAS (San Antonio) to LAX (LA) originates in CHI, or in other words the Texas Eagle. There are no available roomettes on the required travel date that go straight through from NOL (New Orleans) without switching cars in SAS.

Aloha

Thanks Sky but are we talking the same issue. Greg and Guest_earthrise are the same situation? If in fact there are rooms on Sunset Limited leaving NOL then someone boarding later can be assigned the available room after San Antonio, which might be the Texas Eagle.. But if that is not what is happening how does a " Back to Back" occur?

I am totally confused about the question/situation.

Eric, I'm confused about your confusion! Is it possible that we are viewing the term "Back to Back" differently?

To me it's a simple situation where Greg wants the use of a roomette for his entire trip and there is no one specific roomette that's vacant for the entire trip from New Orleans to LA.

Therefore the itinerary that Alan copied & pasted on his post is the only way Greg can travel all the way on his specific date in a roomette, albeit that he does have to physically change from one sleeper on the SSL to another sleeper on the TE.

BTW, I speak only of Gregs situation and not earthrises'. I'm picking up that earthrise is only going as far as Houston but then again I'm not sure. Perhaps earthrise is correct when he says things are "partly his mess" for which we'll have to punish him by making him take an extra trip on a train to anywhere! :lol: Some punishment huh?

Well we know that confusion reigns supreme, but the followups make sense to especially as I now realize I was combining 2 questions into 1. is my punishment a free lunch while on the Texas Eagle 3/31-4/?3 while in the sleeper to LA :lol:

Hope some AU user are on board and we meet.

Aloha

Eric