Low Bucket Rooms WAS to ATL

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Ashland Train Enthusiast

Service Attendant
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Jul 5, 2010
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182
Location
Ashland, VA
Happy New Years All!

So as part of my New Year's festivities with friends, my Fiancee and I were asked to take part on a good friend's wedding in Atlanta this coming September. Naturally, we accepted, and as such have began to consider travel plans. When looking at availability on the Crescent, as this is a train I haven't had the pleasure of taking, I noticed an oddity that made me wonder if I am seeing things correctly. From what I can gather, using AmSnag to look all the way up to 11 months out, the low bucket price for a Bedroom appears lower than for a Roomette, at 233 and 241 respectively? Now, it could be that the true low bucket roomettes have already been bought out, but I am skeptical that they would be bought for the months of Sept, Oct, and Nov when I checked AmSnag. Can anyone here shed some light on this? Is this actually the case where the Bedroom is cheaper, or is there some quirk in pricing/booking that I am overlooking?

Thanks!

~ DCTE
 
You're reading it correctly. I'd book the trip with the bedroom. If in the future the roomette price drops, you can always rebook for that and cancel your bedroom reservation. Carpe bedroom!
 
I have never seen the bedroom fare lower than a roomette, but it is possible.

I would suggest you book an accommodation as I have had trouble getting a sleeper

between New York and Atlanta on three occasions.
 
Book WAS-NOL and then just get off in ATL. The roomette price should drop to $142.
 
Book WAS-NOL and then just get off in ATL. The roomette price should drop to $142.
If I may ask, what's up with the pricing structure there? That doesn't make sense.
Sure it does. ATL and points north are far more popular, so Amtrak charges extra because it can. People will pay the price. And in some cases, Amtrak even manages to resell the room south of ATL, so they can take in even more revenue.
 
Did a string of dummy bookings for Feb. 23 (price is the total fare, roomette plus the base):

NYP-ATL: $338

NYP-BHM: $288

NYP-SDL: $319

NYP-NOL: $319

WAS-ATL: $346

WAS-BHM: $245

WAS-SDL: $274

WAS-NOL: $274

If this holds, book to Birmingham instead of New Orleans and knock another $30 off the total. And yes, I do see that...I was thinking from the standpoint of "taking up space" from point A to point B (not to mention the blatant loophole here).
 
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Wow.

I travel 2-3 times per year between Washington and Atlanta, and I had noticed the difference between Roomettes and Bedrooms on some dates (with bedrooms being cheaper). However, the low-bucket cost of the trip had heretofore kept me from traveling roomette or bedroom (and therefore kept me from traveling by train some times). Since Washington - Birmingham is cheaper, I might just have to try that sometime.

Would there be repercussions for getting off early?
 
Wow, just Wow. You guys are amazing, never in a million years did I think that by posting this, I would get a recommendation that I could save money by booking travel further than my intended destination.

Did a string of dummy bookings for Feb. 23 (price is the total fare, roomette plus the base):

NYP-ATL: $338

NYP-BHM: $288

NYP-SDL: $319

NYP-NOL: $319

WAS-ATL: $346

WAS-BHM: $245

WAS-SDL: $274

WAS-NOL: $274

If this holds, book to Birmingham instead of New Orleans and knock another $30 off the total. And yes, I do see that...I was thinking from the standpoint of "taking up space" from point A to point B (not to mention the blatant loophole here).
Wow, just Wow. You guys are amazing, never in a million years did I think that by posting this, I would get a recommendation that I could save money by booking travel further than my intended destination. That this looks too good to be true makes me somewhat skeptical, so to echo T29's comment, what penalty/ramification would there be, if any, to prevent someone from booking WAS to BHM, and then just getting off in ATL? Assuming no checked bags, could the SCA forcibly keep you from getting off?

Thanks for the advice!

~ DCTE
 
I still don't get it. Granted there are fewer travelers south of ATL. But NYO to BHM still takes up space NYP to ATL.
 
I think it's called desperation on the ATL-NOL segment. The Crescent is one of the best LD trains in cost terms (it reclaimed 61% of revenues in FY08; only the Auto Train and the Empire Builder did better...and per-passenger revenue rose on it '08 vs. '10...there is a very good reason that Southen held onto the Crescent as long as they did), but that southern segment is likely somewhat draining on it. In fact, if I had to guess, if the ATL-NOL vacancy rate is high enough, you could probably argue that the NYP-ATL segment (the bit that Southern kept daily up until the end) is the second-best long distance train in the system, and is at worst a marginal loser.
 
what penalty/ramification would there be, if any, to prevent someone from booking WAS to BHM, and then just getting off in ATL? Assuming no checked bags, could the SCA forcibly keep you from getting off?
Do you remember the movie Stalag 17? In it, some escaped prisoners get off the train and a ***** agent shoots one. Well, the train was the Crescent, the escaped prisoner tried to get off in Atlanta instead of Birmingham and that was an Amtrak Ticket Agent with the gun.

Now, not everyone gets shot but it can sure ruin a good trip so only do it if your vacation ends in Atlanta rather than in Washington so you at least get to enjoy the vacation time.
 
Just to add, if you book starting from NYP, instead of from WAS, because it is a few dollars cheaper, and subsequently not board in NYP, I believe you are officially a "no show" and your room becomes available to re-sell. No?
 
Did a string of dummy bookings for Feb. 23 (price is the total fare, roomette plus the base):

NYP-ATL: $338

NYP-BHM: $288

NYP-SDL: $319

NYP-NOL: $319

WAS-ATL: $346

WAS-BHM: $245

WAS-SDL: $274

WAS-NOL: $274

If this holds, book to Birmingham instead of New Orleans and knock another $30 off the total. And yes, I do see that...I was thinking from the standpoint of "taking up space" from point A to point B (not to mention the blatant loophole here).
You can even just book to ATN/Anniston and it knocks $2 off vs BHM. Not much, but there is no reason to pay more.
 
I have never seen the bedroom fare lower than a roomette, but it is possible.

I would suggest you book an accommodation as I have had trouble getting a sleeper

between New York and Atlanta on three occasions.
Somebody recently posted that they snagged the family room cheaper than a roomette; nothing is impossible with any railroad~especially Amtrak. Three of us are going from NOL to Atlanta Saturday for $41 in the accesible room. Show me where you can feed three people three good meals, steak, soft drinks and dessert included, for $41 !!!
 
I think it's called desperation on the ATL-NOL segment. The Crescent is one of the best LD trains in cost terms (it reclaimed 61% of revenues in FY08; only the Auto Train and the Empire Builder did better...and per-passenger revenue rose on it '08 vs. '10...there is a very good reason that Southen held onto the Crescent as long as they did), but that southern segment is likely somewhat draining on it. In fact, if I had to guess, if the ATL-NOL vacancy rate is high enough, you could probably argue that the NYP-ATL segment (the bit that Southern kept daily up until the end) is the second-best long distance train in the system, and is at worst a marginal loser.

The difference between NYP-ATL and ATL-NOL is quite striking. A few months ago I took the whole route in coach and was surprised how empty the train was after ATL. By the time we got to Mississippi they cleaned closed two coaches with the other two about half full.

Which begs the question. Could Amtrak cut a single coach off each Crescent (that would be 4 if I am not guessing wrong) and create a a WAS-ATL day train out of it? If they were adventurous the could also do it on another route, but that might be asking too much.

Track rights and all, how hard would this be to do?
 
what penalty/ramification would there be, if any, to prevent someone from booking WAS to BHM, and then just getting off in ATL? Assuming no checked bags, could the SCA forcibly keep you from getting off?
It's not too tricky to book WAS-BHM and then get off in ATL, simply by not telling anyone. However, it can make life more difficult for the conductor and car attendants, who have a passenger manifest which tells them you are getting off in BHM. While ATL is the sort of stop where you can easily get off the train for a smoke break and just not get back on again, BHM may be the sort of stop where a car attendant counts how many people get off the train (to make sure there isn't a passenger who is about to miss their stop). When the count comes up one short (because you got off in ATL), someone may panic a bit, and ultimately the crew will never solve the mystery (so they may feel worried for a while, depending on their particular personalities). When I've done this sort of thing, I've told the crew "I'm going to get off early -- it's easier for my friend to meet me there, it turns out", and it's never been a problem. And that way, the conductor can make a note on the manifest, and there's no panic down the line for anyone. ALSO, this is important to do if you're going to get off at a small station where not all doors will open because the station platform is short. By telling the crew where you're actually getting off, they'll make sure you sit in a car where the door will open. This is probably not a big deal for getting off at Atlanta, but it would probably be a big deal if you were to get off at, say, Danville.

Booking BHM-WAS but getting on in ATL is much trickier. Especially if you're booking a sleeper, it may be nigh impossible. If you don't board at BHM, the crew will call Amtrak and report you as a "no-show", which will cancel your reservation and allow Amtrak to re-sell your room to somebody else. If you do not already have your ticket printed, this is a big problem because you can no longer print your ticket. If you do have your ticket printed, I have no idea what happens. And if you try to call Amtrak to say "hey, it turns out it's much easier for me to board in ATL than BHM, can you make a note that I'm doing that so my room doesn't get resold?", I have no idea what happens. It may work; others can perhaps speak from experience.
 
Similar fare logic has occured between CHI and DAL/AUS.

Last year I found it less expensive for a roomette to Austin than to Dallas from Chicago.
 
Last year on the Empire Builder, I got off at GBB instead of CHI. I told the SCA, who said "You can get off whenever or where ever you want." Granted this was from one of the worst SCA's I'd ever encountered - so take that comment with a grain of salt.
 
Last year on the Empire Builder, I got off at GBB instead of CHI. I told the SCA, who said "You can get off whenever or where ever you want." Granted this was from one of the worst SCA's I'd ever encountered - so take that comment with a grain of salt.
That would be the California Zephyr, wouldn't it?

I've occasionally left a train early, without any problem. Debarking at Rockville rather than Washington on the Capitol Limited. That time, though, I alerted the SCA the night before since I wasn't sure how long the platform was, or if it would complicate the stop.

I'd never try to board a sleeper late, without a very good reason, for fear that my compartment would be sold out from under me.

What I have done often, though, is to leave off Mrs. Ispolkom early or pick her up late. Since it's the same number of AGR points to go from Minot to points east as it is to go from St. Paul, I'll book the award from Minot (to Washington, for instance) and Mrs. Ispolkom would join me in the morning in St. Paul. In the opposite direction, she'll debark in St. Paul and I'll ride another night to Minot. Some SCAs find it weird, but no conductor has ever blinked at it.
 
A second thought leaps to mind: On certain LD routes that are the only trains to serve a given segment of track (Denver-Glenwood Springs on the Zephyr leaps to mind), Amtrak has to limit some bookings to ensure that more than a handful of through bookings can happen...it doesn't do them any good to have a train that sells out on one segment, blocking out all through traffic. 50 years ago, some of these runs would have simply been done with an added car or two that bounces between the two destinations (Some of Bill Haithcoat's schedules are good at showing this). In the case of the Crescent, depending on sales patterns, you'd probably pick up a couple of Superliners in Philly or DC to supplement the Viewliner-only segments to/from NYP (remember, the train is boarding-only until you get out of DC, and the NYP-PHL segments on the long distance trains aren't going to sell out; you can use Viewliners as well, but I'm assuming that Amtrak would rather run an odd-looking Superliner chunk and net the revenue than not) and drop half of the train in Atlanta, and in doing so you'd enable the OBS for that half to be used on more trains for the same amount of work time (they'd just shuttle NYP/PHL/WAS-ATL and back). At the absolute peak season this might require asking a handful of coach passengers who get awkwardly seated to switch coaches (as I don't trust the computer not to make a hash of this sooner or later), but you'd net a decent amount of ridership
 
This thread inspired me to do an analysis of fares on the Crescent. There are some interesting patterns, depending on where you start and end your trip. I started a new thread showing the charts I made for trips starting at NYP, CLT, ATL, and NOL, with each chart showing trips from each of the origins to every other stop on the Crescent.

View them here: http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/35761-a-look-at-fares-on-the-crescent/
 
For comparison sake.

WAS to NOL

Cheapest Airfare is $230 each way + $30 luggage = $260.00 or $520 R/T + $15.00 per day LT parking and a glass of water if you are lucky

Total trip for two (4 days) = $1100.00 Travel time about 3 hours

Amtrak

CLP to NOL on the Crescent

$229.00 each way $458.00 R/T but that is for two in a bedroom at low bucket. Includes three meals, parking is free Travel time is 24 hours

Total trip cost is $916.00 Nearly $200 less than the costs of flying .
 
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