Railpass or Guest Rewards for big multi-city trip?

[joolsstone]

Hi folks

First time poster, from the UK, just planning our big Amtrak trip next month. Our first Amtrak trip and first big one in the US by any means, so we're very excited!

Here is our itinerary so far. All overnight journeys will be done in sleeper cars / roomettes

New York - New Orleans (Crescent)

New Orleans - LA (Sunset)

LA - San Fran (Coast Starlight)

San Fran - Chicago (Calf Zephyr)

Chicago - NYC

Fly home form there

I have costed this to work out to around $4,500, using Amtrak's fare estimator.

I have a number of questions concerning passes and points...

I've signed up to join the Guest Rewards prog but I've worked out that since the coach fare elements of these trips alone will easily be more than $900, the same cost of 2 x 15 day 8 segment ticket, it may be worth buying railpasses instead / as well.

I understand that you can't use reward points on sleeper upgrades, but if we get railpasses anyway then would we even need to use the points on this trip? And can you earn points on passes too?

Presumably we'll have earned enough to get a free ride on the Starlight.

Also are the points only valid per person or can you transfer them if yore travelling with a partner?

How does it work with the railpass and upgrades? Do you just buy the upgrade online as normal and will it be the same cost as that quoted for the upgrade if you didn't have a pass?

I hope my questions makes sense.

Thanks!

Jools

 

[VentureForth]

I don't think that you can actually earn enough points in one month (particularly in processing) to use on this trip.

The Railpass would be the best way to go, and if sufficiently cheap enough, you can add sleeper service where you need it. More on that at the end. Remember that you'll already have your railfare, and that the sleeper cost is the same for one or two people (or four in a family bedroom).

I can almost assure you that after your first night in coach, you'll be begging for even the tiniest of roomettes. Keep in mind that there are no shower facilities for coach passengers on the train, only for sleeper pax. There are no such services for anyone in any of the major train stations.

So I did a quick little pricing game for your itinerary. For two adults, your round the country trip could be had for $1278 total. Two 15-day railpasses cost $898 and would certainly work on your itinerary of 5 segments against the max of 8. You can use the remaining three segments to stop enroute, ie: Atlanta, San Antonio and Denver.

To add a roomette for two adults for the journey would be approximately $1600. But I didn't include the section between Los Angeles and Emeryville (San Francisco) because it's only 10 hours in the middle of the day. So adding that to your railpass price of $898 would total around $2500; adding it to the regular fare would be around $2700.

That all is assuming two adults travelling. Do you have a different number that brought the price to $4500? Or were you perhaps pricing a bedroom?

 

[Ryan]

Welcome, Jools!

Since you don't actually earn the points until you execute the travel, I'd forget about trying to use them - even if you had earned enough by your last leg (which if you're spending a total of $4500, you won't), you'll have to wait until you get to CHI to book that last leg, and I wouldn't want to wait to do that.

I'm far from a rail pass expert, but my understanding is that it replaces the "rail fare" portion of your ticket only (you pay the accommodation charges). It should be pretty easy to look at each leg, see what the rail fare costs would be and compare that to the pass cost.

For example:



Your rail pass would cover the $94 "Adult" fare. You'd have to pay $480 for the room (but you only pay for the room once, not per person).

How many people are you traveling with?

 

[joolsstone]

Wow, thanks guys, that's good to know! I guess there will be other trips I can use my points on or maybe even a hotel night.

On roomette vs bedroom, some will be bedrooms. We'd like to have a private toilet for as many of the overnights as we can afford, esp the CZ, so that will bump it up a bit.

Thanks so much VentureForth, very kind of you to do that, I really appreciate it!

4,500 was prob a little off. I called a UK ticketing agent and he costed it at $3000 for the supps and 900 for the passes. I know I'm booking late and in peak season too, so I'm pretty happy with that ballpark.

I'm gonna upgrade for a roomette the Starlight anyway, as it's only $100 and you get parlour car access and 2 meals, I'm really looking forward to that one in particular!

 

[the_traveler]

Remember you need to reserve each train in advance, and you should also reserve the rooms as soon as possible to get the lowest price for the rooms.

 

[VentureForth]

I'm gonna upgrade for a roomette the Starlight anyway, as it's only $100 and you get parlour car access and 2 meals, I'm really looking forward to that one in particular!

You know, I was thinking about that, but it failed to make it into my final edit. Well done. Hope it works out well for you!

 

[Gemuser]

I can't comment about points but i would carefully cost out pass+sleeper cost verses sector fares + sleeper cost.

Back in 2012 a mate and I did a similar trip and the sector fares beat the pass by over $A1000.

Our trip was: Emeryville - Seattle (Coast Starlight) - Glacier National Park - Chicago (?Empire Builder) - New York (Lake Shore Limited) - Washington DC (NEC) - New Orleans (Crescent); Orlando - Washington DC (Silver Meteor) - Chicago (Capital Limited) - Emeryville (California Zephyr). All in roomette except on LSL (bedroom) & NEC (coach).

The consultant at Amtrak's Australian agent said that sector fares are always cheaper IF you want sleepers, she was certainly correct for our trip.

 

[joolsstone]

Oh I haven't heard of sector fares before. How do they work please?

 

[VentureForth]

I'm not sure what he means by sector fares other than the base rail fare for each segment.

In my example above, the savings expected for having a rail pass over just booking a room was less than the $400 delta in price between the rail fare and room fare, in reality only being around $200. That's because when a room is added to a rail fare, the rail fare drops to the lowest bucket. It's sort of encrypted they way they price it - the room price reflects the discount you're getting on the rail fare. For example, if the rail fare from point A to point B costs $200 and it says you can add a room for $350, what happens behind the scenes is that the rail fare drops to the lowest rate, of say, $125 and the room really costs $425.

It really gets convoluted and confusing when you are pricing with two persons. But since it is assumed that with the rail pass you are at the lowest bucket, the room would cost more than what you may see online. This can have a big effect if you are a single traveler, but can be a benefit if you are traveling as a couple (as the room fare is always for two).

Anyway, I may have confounded you more, as I certainly confounded myself (not hard to do). The big benefit of the rail pass is the ability to stop enroute along a single corridor. For instance, a rail fare between Emeryville (San Francisco) to Chicago on October 9th is $163 per person. But say you want to stay in Denver for a day or two. EMY to DEN plus DEN to CHI is $137 plus $116 ($253). You're railpass would just be a segment usage. Now, adding the sleeper would have the same effect ($1250 vs $750 non stop).

Ok. I'll stop now. I hurt my head.

 

[joolsstone]

Thanks for explaining VF, with you... I think! :giggle:

In the end I went for 'sector fares' even though it worked out a bit more expensive. We found a very good deal on the Zephyr - around $650 for a bedroom - and the agent explained that if we got railpasses there'd be a slight delay in confirming availability of all the sleepers, so the fare might've been snapped up overnight and I didn't want to risk it.

Our itin is pretty tight so I don't see us stopping off anywhere. Maybe I'll go for a railpass on another, more freewheeling trip.

But, phew, it can be a complicated business eh! lol

 

[VentureForth]

Hey - so long as you got what you wanted! I'm glad you were able to book some great rooms on some great trains. I hope you enjoy your trip across our fruited plains - and be sure to share your adventure with us during and after!

My last and final advise is this: Anything can happen on Amtrak. They will do their best to keep your itinerary together, but plan for worst, expect mediocrity and hope for the absolute best.

 

[Gemuser]

Oh I haven't heard of sector fares before. How do they work please?

Exactly that! You pay a separate fare (base + sleeper) for each sector or journey you make..

So in my trip described above the sectors were Emeryville - Seattle, Seattle - Glacier NP, GNP - Chicago, Chicago - New York, NYP - DC, DC - New Orleans, Orlando - DC, DC - Chicago, Chicago - Emeryville.

Sector fares is the term used in the travel trade, at least in Australia.