Here are other ways to think of the LSL portion of your trip:
• Your trip is 7 months distant, and a lot can happen in that time - especially with Amtrak fares! At present, the Roomette buckets shown on Ryan's AmSnag printout are $444, $382, $315, and $258. That's 4 buckets shown. But there are a total of 5 buckets and the missing one is $191.
• You initially looked at the middle bucket of $315 and there is absolutely no reason to believe it will stay the same during the next seven months. Matter of fact I'd be willing to bet a tidy sum it will change (up or down) about 10 to 20 times between now and the 14th.
Here's my suggestion:
• Book now at the $315 Roomette fare - just to reserve it
• Check the fare every day. When it increases simply do nothing and keep checking
• When it inevitably decreases to the next lowest bucket of $258, call an Amtrak agent and have the fare modified to that lower fare and then. . .
• Continue checking on a daily basis, ignoring any fare increases from $258 but . . .
• When the fare most likely falls to $191 call Amtrak again and have the fare modified to
that lower (lowest) rate
And here's an example of why you should check the fares daily when looking for a decrease. . .
. . . because they can and do change, often on a daily basis, often skipping a bucket. I've heard fare changes are posted once daily at about 0200hrs PST or 1000hrs GMT
But I've no idea why there are different prices on the same day for this Western portion of the LSL route. it's the same equipment, I think. It seems #449 can be higher than, the same as or lower than #49 and on about 1/3 of the days for each. Maybe somebody else can shed some light on that mystery.