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-Late Shore-

Train Attendant
Joined
Sep 29, 2002
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35
OK, another question- :rolleyes: Why are deluxe bedroom accomodation charges on the Zephyr less than on the Chief in the month of February. I'm talkin' about $250 less!????
 
It's what the airlines would call congestion pricing. You charge more for the more popular route, which you know is easy to sell out. The Lake Shore is far more likely to sell out in Feb, than is the Zephyr. The Lake Shore, unlike the Zephyr, does tend to carry some business people who don't need to rush (i.e. fly) to Chicago from NY. However, most business people can't take two plus days to get from Chicago to California.

Secondly the Lake Shore carries far less deluxe bedrooms than does the Zephyr, since it utilizes Viewliner equipment. Even during the peak months when the LSL has two sleepers out of NY and one out of Boston, it only has a total of 6 deluxe rooms. Typically during the winter the LSL only runs with 1 sleeper out of NY, which reduces that total of 6 deluxe to 4.

The Zephyr, which runs with two sleeper cars in the winter carries a total of 10 deluxe bedrooms, since it utilizes Superliner equipment.

So with higher ridership and less deluxe rooms, the LSL demands a premium for it's deluxe rooms.
 
thanks alan, but i meant the comparison between prices as far as the sw chief and the zephyr in that month. i can't get over the chief being more popular than the zephyr overall, i mean, i.e. its going to cost me $806 for the d.b. between chi-needles ow, and from chi-slc, its only $550! that's a big difference. the main point is im trying to get to Vegas, but i am leary of the high cost, and if it's all worth it. :unsure:
 
Oops, sorry I guess I didn't read that to well. :(

However, if does come right back to what's popular and what's not. Needles is much closer to Vegas than SLC, so again more people would take the Chief rather than the Zephyr to get to Vegas.

Also have you tried varying your travel dates by a day or two? Perhaps the date you picked has for some reason a high sell out rate. Groups do sometimes book sleepers on Amtrak way in advance. This would cause the train to hit its magical 50% number, at which point the rates increase.
 
I noticed that when booking my Chicago trip. Going Deluxe from Boston to Chicago was $200 more than going on an Acela Regional to Washington then the Capitol Limted to Chicago. On the way back we were suposed to be on the Lake Shore, but as most of you know my sleeper was annuled.
 
Yes, that tends to be the case, I think many of the routes have some popular days that sell out faster. In this case, it probably is popularity in the end. Late Shore, let me be the first to welcome you to the forums (as a member). :)
 
Why thank you Viewliner! It's great to become a member to this forum. :D So, what would you do, if you had your choice. Would you go to SLC and get the Deluxe Bedroom on all 4 portions (Bos-Chi, Chi-SLC & the return) and then take the Greyhound bus out of SLC at 8:45AM the next morning, OR (yes, ther is an alternative), would you pay MORE money, for the Deluxe Bedroom (an additional $256.00 only between Chi-Need & Need-Chi), and go there more directly?

Alan, your answer as well sir? :rolleyes:
 
Personally I'd probably bite the bullet and pay the extra two bits, so I could have the longer train ride and shorter bus ride.

That said however, if varying your dates of travel didn't help the price or is not practical for your schedule. Then you might want to try one more thing. Amtrak charges for the sleepers by the miles. So if you were to book the deluxe room from Chicago to Albuquerque, then book a coach seat from there to Needles you'd knock $120 off the overall price of your trip. By the way my test used no discounts, using AAA or other discounts may help additionally.

Since the odds are you won't get much sleep that night coming into Needles anyhow, this might make using the Chief more palatable. You might even be able to save more if you were to move the point where you switch from sleeper to coach further east.

Ps. While this trick might work well for your arrival, I probably wouldn't do this for your return trip.
 
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