Sleeper availability Amtrak.com vs iPhone App

[SteveSFL]

I've been watching availability for a potential family trip from Denver-Emeryville on May 18th. There will be six of us and it will probably be 2 bedrooms and 1 roomette.

I checked Amtrak.com and it let me select up to 6 bedrooms (I didn't check more than that) so I figured there was plenty of space available. I figured I can take a measured approach in my planning and not have to book in the next few days.

But I just checked again using the iPhone app and when I put in 6 adults for that trip it showed insufficient rooms available. By adjusting numbers the app shows that there is only one bedroom and two family rooms available for that date. Amtrak.com still shows plenty of rooms.

Which can I trust and why the difference? I guess I'll call tomorrow and find out for sure. I don't mind one family bedroom but the parents are going to want a regular bedroom and they didn't like bedroom "A" the last time so I would hope that's not the only remaining bedroom.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I recall having the same problem last year when checking roomettes on the LSL for the Gathering. I don't recall what conclusion I came to as to why, but I think the website was the accurate one.

 

[SteveSFL]

I called Amtrak and there are indeed plenty of bedrooms available on the train. Not really a good for "yield management" if iPhone app is showing there is not enough availability on a train when there really is.