Price difference from roomette to bedroom

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margo

Lead Service Attendant
Joined
Sep 2, 2009
Messages
279
Location
Louisiana
While plnning a round trip on the SL from LCH to TUS for next March, I noticed the price for a roomette from LCH to TUS was $454.00, while the bedroom was $1474.00. The return trip was $619.00 and $1107.00. I checked other dates with the same result. $1,020.00 extra for a 30 hour (1 night) ride? Am I doing something wrong? I noticed most other lines had about $300.00 difference. Thank you for your help.
 
No, you're not doing anything wrong.

That $1,020 difference you found was between the highest Bedroom fare and the lowest Roomette fare. On the other hand, the difference between the lowest Bedroom fare and the highest Roomette fare was -$49 (meaning a Bedroom is $49 cheaper than a Roomette), but I only found that low Bedroom fare offered on 23 and 24 Dec from TUS to LCH.

If there's any flexibility in your travel dates I recommend using AmSnag... http://biketrain.x10.mx/amsnag2.0/amSnag.php ...to find the dates that are easiest on the pocketbook.

It seems a bit zooey at first, but there are actually 5 different prices (aka, buckets) for each type of sleeping accommodation. There's no way of predicting when each will be offered so you just have to search for the cheapest travel dates - and AmSnag (thanks, Paul) makes that search a lot easier because a single search can show 30 days worth of fares.
 
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Good explanation and advice from niemi24s. One additional point: Pricing of each type of accommodation is independent of pricing for other types. So, for example, if there's a lot of demand for bedrooms and low demand for roomettes on a particular date, the price of the remaining, unbooked bedrooms typically goes up, while roomette prices remain the same or drop lower.
 
How did i not know about AmSnag?
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Flexibility is fine for us. We're retired! What fun checking all the prices! Thank you , thank you.
 
'Course, DIRECTION makes a big difference too. I've paid close to twice down and half back depending on the Snowbird migration and vacationers.
The direction in and of itself does not have any connection to the price. The price on a given day really only depends on how far out you book, the time of year of travel, and remaining availability. Now of course if there's a massive migration of snowbirds heading south for the winter, and they've booked a bunch of seats/rooms, that will likely make things more expensive southbound than northbound, but it's not a direct result of the direction.
 
Prices are a bit screwy. If you are flexible, you can work it. For instance, I looked at my AT prices and depending on the day in Nov/Dec I pulled up (roomette vs bedroom) $583/1093, $424/1093, $345/915. Try different days. 'Course, DIRECTION makes a big difference too. I've paid close to twice down and half back depending on the Snowbird migration and vacationers.

I use: https://tickets.amtrak.com/itd/amtrak
The Amtrak website is fine for checking fares on just a few travel dates. But for more than a few (whatever that is) travel dates AmSnag comes to the rescue by allowing you see fares during a period as long as 30 days. When using AmSnag 2.0, the prices shown for the sleeper selected will be the low bucket undiscounted coach fare for 1 or 2 passengers (you select) plus the upcharge for the particular sleeping accommodation you select. What you see on AmSnag is obtained directly from Amtrak so if you use AmSnag correctly and use Amtrak correctly (without too much delay) the prices will match (provided the coach fare/s is/are not discounted).

It may be interest to know that it's possible for a low bucket Bedroom to be cheaper than a high bucket Roomette on 13 of the 16 different long distance trains with sleepers. And on a few of those trains, the 2 or 3 lowest bucket Bedrooms can be cheaper than a Roomette. How 'bout them apples? But which ones? Just lay your Orphan Annies on this sea of numbers:

29 Oct 18 Fare Buckets.jpg

But just because a fare appears on this chart doesn't mean you can find it because Amtrak may not offer it when you look. That's why some fare are only estimates - I've never happened to notice them being offered during any 11 month period.
 
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'Course, DIRECTION makes a big difference too. I've paid close to twice down and half back depending on the Snowbird migration and vacationers.
The direction in and of itself does not have any connection to the price. The price on a given day really only depends on how far out you , the time of year of travel, and remaining availability. Now of course if there's a massive migration of snowbirds heading south for the winter, and they've booked a bunch of seats/rooms, that will likely make things more expensive southbound than northbound, but it's not a direct result of the direction.
Normally direction does not matter. However, if you were going north from Florida in say December or January when many are headed south, or heading to _____ when there was some big event, there may be a fare difference of what you will be charged if you were going the other direction at the same time.
 
'Course, DIRECTION makes a big difference too. I've paid close to twice down and half back depending on the Snowbird migration and vacationers.
The direction in and of itself does not have any connection to the price. The price on a given day really only depends on how far out you, the time of year of travel, and remaining availability. Now of course if there's a massive migration of snowbirds heading south for the winter, and they've booked a bunch of seats/rooms, that will likely make things more expensive southbound than northbound, but it's not a direct result of the direction.
Normally direction does not matter. However, if you were going north from Florida in say December or January when many are headed south, or heading to _____ when there was some big event, there may be a fare difference of what you will be charged if you were going the other direction at the same time.
Well I haven't seen any example of that whatsoever. I've checked a lot of Auto Train and Silver Service fares, and the buckets are always the same in either direction.
 
If direction of travel makes no difference, then kindly explain this from ¶2 of Post #2 of this thread:

. . . I only found that low Bedroom fare offered on 23 and 24 Dec from TUS to LCH.
And when doing the search of the 11 months for fares in the other direction, that low bucket fare never appeared.

The problem I see with your statement (that direction makes no difference) is some will take it to mean the fare is the same in either direction on any specific day. Even though they could be the same, there's no reason why they should be the same - after all, they're two different trains.

Fire up AmSnag and see for yourself.

Oops! Just checked and it was Sold Out on those two dates in the other direction. [dummy!] Lemme find another example.

[Edit] Looked at a trip between MSP and WPT in both directions for the period 20 - 29 December and found the fares were different (depending upon direction) on 8 of those 10 days.

And that was on the very first search. Based on that, I'd guess it's fairly common when the search is done for dates that are not too far in future. I'd also guess that out 10 or 11 months they'd probably be all the same in either direction as bookings haven't yet caused bucket changes.

Fire up AmSnag and see for yourself.

[Edit] And for WAS to SAV on the Meteor 26 - 29 December, they were different (depending upon direction) on 2 of those 4 days.
 
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If direction of travel makes no difference, then kindly explain this from ¶2 of Post #2 of this thread:

. . . I only found that low Bedroom fare offered on 23 and 24 Dec from TUS to LCH.
And when doing the search of the 11 months for fares in the other direction, that low bucket fare never appeared.

The problem I see with your statement (that direction makes no difference) is some will take it to mean the fare is the same in either direction on any specific day. Even though they could be the same, there's no reason why they should be the same - after all, they're two different trains.

Fire up AmSnag and see for yourself.

Oops! Just checked and it was Sold Out on those two dates in the other direction. Lemme find another example.
I said that there is no direct correlation between the direction and the price. In other words, the pricing system does not take into account the direction of the travel. My point still stands.
 
Prices truly are screwy more then once Ive seen roomettes cheaper then coach chi to pdx /sea on the builder.
As far as I can see, Roomettes are only ever cheaper than Flexible coach , which does offer a significantly better change/cancellation policy. In my opinion that definitely doesn't make it worth more than a sleeper, but for whatever reason, that's how they've priced it.
 
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Don't know if they're screwy, maybe just a bit peculiar at first glance.

A Roomette by itself can indeed be cheaper than Coach, but when you book a Roomette the low bucket Coach fare is added to the Roomette upcharge. At present, 1 adult in a low bucket Roomette on the EB from CHI to SEA has a fare of $183 + $260 = $443. And my estimate (because I've never seen it offered) for a high bucket Coach seat is $514. But the next lowest bucket Coach has been offered and is $397.

But I don't spend every waking hour looking for fares, so what you no doubt saw was some day when the high bucket Coach (about $500) was being offered. FWIW, here's the current fare bucket structure for the Empire Builder:

EB 24 Oct 18 Fare Buckets.jpg

Those with orange shading are estimates as I've not spotted them being offered.
 
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I said that there is no direct correlation between the direction and the price. In other words, the pricing system does not take into account the direction of the travel. My point still stands.
The problem I see with these statements of yours is that someone could use AmSnag to find the cheapest travel date for the first leg of a round trip and spot that same and cheapest fare offered a few days later (for the return trip) on the same AmSnag search and blithely assume that same fare is offered in the other direction. And blithely assume simply due to being unaware of the fine difference between directly correlated and indirectly correlated to the direction of travel.

These fine points will probably escape the average AmSnag user and I think the best overall advise to give is...

NEVER ASSUME THE FARES WILL BE THE SAME IN THE OTHER DIRECTION

In the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter why the fares might be different in the other direction - except as some mundane intellectual pursuit.
 
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The bucket are indeed the same in both directions. Yet, you will be hard pressed to find a low bucket fare from the northeast to Florida in January, but I bet it will be much easier to find one from Florida to the northeast (because less people want to go that direction).
Well I just found a ton of low bucket roomettes on the Star in January from Delray Beach to New York, but sure.
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The bucket are indeed the same in both directions.
I beg to differ unless you're referring all 5 buckets in each bucket structure or a specific date or dates when they just happen to be the same in both directions - such as perhaps 10 or 11 months from now.

Here's why I say one should never assume they're the same in both directions on the same dates, routes and train name and that direction does indeed make a difference:

MSP & WPT Trips.jpg

Many more examples can be easily found using (thanks, Paul) AmSnag. As a matter of fact, I'll bet the Amtrak system is just sloppin' all over with dates when different directions have different fares.

But don't my word for it. Fire up AmSnag and see for yourself.

[Edit] And for trips during this same time period but between MSP and MKE:

• Roomette fares differed depending upon direction on 6 of 10 dates

• Bedroom fares differed depending upon direction on 8 of 10 dates.
 
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The bucket are indeed the same in both directions.
I beg to differ unless you're referring all 5 buckets in each bucket structure or a specific date or dates when they just happen to be the same in both directions - such as perhaps 10 or 11 months from now.

Here's why I say one should never assume they're the same in both directions on the same dates, routes and train name and that direction does indeed make a difference:

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MSP & WPT Trips.jpg

Many more examples can be easily found using (thanks, Paul) AmSnag. As a matter of fact, I'll bet the Amtrak system is just sloppin' all over with dates when different directions have different fares.

But don't my word for it. Fire up AmSnag and see for yourself.
Neither Dave nor I are saying that prices are automatically the same in both directions on a given day. Just that the buckets are the same and that direction does not directly have an effect on its own. If there's a significance difference in remaining availability then of course the price is going to be different. But the prices are going to be the same when all the other factors (unrelated to the direction) are the same.
 
I suppose someone's thinking "All those examples of fares being different in different directions were for West Coast trains - fares are always the same in both directions for our beloved East Coast trains."

Fiddlesticks!

WAS & ATL Trips.jpg

And this just happens to be the first one I looked this morning.
 
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I suppose someone's thinking "All those examples of fares being different in different directions were for West Coast trains - fares are always the same in both directions for our beloved East Coast trains."
Who said or even implied that they think that?
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And if the Crescent isn't enough of an East Coast train, would the Silver Star do the trick?

ORL & RGH.jpg

I haven't been keeping track, but I think I'm batting 1000 with these searches. As said previously, the Amtrak system is probably sloppin' all over with examples where direction makes a difference.
 
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And if the Crescent isn't enough of an East Coast train, would the Silver Star do the trick?

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ORL & RGH.jpg

I haven't been keeping track, but I think I'm batting 1000 with these searches. As said previously, the Amtrak system is probably sloppin' all over with examples where direction makes a difference.
I guess I have to repeat this. When did anyone say anything about East Coast trains? And when did anybody say that the price is automatically the same in both directions on a given day? Nobody said that stuff. Maybe you don't have to keep repeating this irrelevant argument.
 
There may be better ways to depict seasonal fare trends/directional differences for the Auto Train, but this is the best I could come up with:

AT Roomette Fares 27 Oct - 25 Sep 2019.jpg

Red and green dots show the high and low bucket fares, respectively. I'll leave the analysis up to you.
 
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