Discrepancy in Amtrak route prices

[tjemartin]

Hello

I usually go back and forth between NFS and WIL on Amtrak visiting family and friends and never had a problem with the ticket prices before, but last month (April 21) I booked a trip from NFS to WIL for travel on July 19 to August 5 and it cost me $330.20 ($165.10 each way), which I found to be a lot more than what I usually pay even with my NARP discount.

Tonight I was on Amtrak.com looking at the same route on the same dates with the same seat selections (BC on Maple Leaf portions and CC on NEC portions) and found that it was the usual $216 before NARP discount, but even though I had NARP selected, Amtrak.com failed to show the NARP discount

Why such a big drop in price between last month when I booked the ticket till now and why won't the NARP discount show up?? Is it possible for Amtrak to credit me the difference in price?? Has anyone else experienced price discrepancies with Amtrak lately?

Thank you in Advance,

Tom M

 

[the_traveler]

Fares (or buckets) are not fully based on just the city pairs. They are also based on the load for that/those specific train(s) on that specific date. A set of cities may be $260 on the 15th - when many are traveling - but $190 on the 14th or 16th -when fewer passengers are traveling.

The reason the discount does not show up is that fare is most likely a 14-day advance fare. That discount is 25% off the full fare. Other discounts are only 10-15% off the full fare.

 

[neroden]

Amtrak moves the bucket prices around repeatedly. Yes, Amtrak will credit you for the difference in price if you call them up. (After all, you could always make a new reservation and cancel the old one.)