Sleeper price drops

[LeeA]

I booked the Sunset Limited, Houston to New Orleans last month for a trip on June 12. The rail fare was only $49., but the roomette was $138! After reading this forum, I started watching the roomette prices to see if they would fall. I checked early this morning and it was still $138. I checked again a few minutes ago and it was $82! I called and got the roomette at $82 and the agent said that was the lowest price for the roomettes on that trip! I'm not sure if a couple of rooms cancelled, or if it is yield management, but it seems that if you watch it carefully, you can still get the price drop at the last minute! I'm hoping the Car Attendant will still have the bed turned down when I get there as the train leave at 5:10am! I'll enjoy going back to bed for a while after getting up at O'dark-thirty to get to the station !

 

[Shanghai]

LeeA,

Welcome to the forum. Glad you were able to get a reduced rate on your roomette.

Have a good trip.

 

[jis]

On the Silver Star I was on last night from WAS to SAV, the sleepers were almost completely empty. I think I counted about 6 empty roomettes in EACH of the three cars (9710 Mountain View, 9711 * View, 9712 Autumn View). If I recall correctly, maybe of the 6 Bedrooms, only one or two were being used. I don't think ANY of the H rooms were occupied during any portion of the trip.

If you were on a train with 3 sleepers that had car numbers 9710, 9711 and 9712, that left Washington DC in the evening headed south, it is a very good bet that it was the Silver Meteor and not the Silver Star This is pretty much the middle of the off season to Florida anyway, so no surprise there. IMHO Amtrak should more aggressively sell upgrades in the off season. might as well make at least some extra money if the cars and accommodation are running anyway.

 

[Oldsmoboi]

must be specific to that train.

The Capital from PGH to CHI has a lot of SOs across the board for the next month. A few trains are listed as completely sold out. No coach, no roomette, no bedroom, no family room.

Silvers are all viewliners. No Family rooms avail. EVER!

The bedrooms are sold out.

This is roomette only

Hope that clairifies.

Well my point was that the Capital is sold out on a lot of trains. There is no way the prices are dropping there. I was looking at EB prices for the latter half of Sept 2011 and into October. The EB is sold out so much that it's every difficult to even get a round trip ticket from Chicago to the west coast in any sort of room.

 

[VentureForth]

On the Silver Star I was on last night from WAS to SAV, the sleepers were almost completely empty. I think I counted about 6 empty roomettes in EACH of the three cars (9710 Mountain View, 9711 * View, 9712 Autumn View). If I recall correctly, maybe of the 6 Bedrooms, only one or two were being used. I don't think ANY of the H rooms were occupied during any portion of the trip.

If you were on a train with 3 sleepers that had car numbers 9710, 9711 and 9712, that left Washington DC in the evening headed south, it is a very good bet that it was the Silver Meteor and not the Silver Star This is pretty much the middle of the off season to Florida anyway, so no surprise there. IMHO Amtrak should more aggressively sell upgrades in the off season. might as well make at least some extra money if the cars and accommodation are running anyway.

You right, mon...

 

[Bob Dylan]

I booked the Sunset Limited, Houston to New Orleans last month for a trip on June 12. The rail fare was only $49., but the roomette was $138! After reading this forum, I started watching the roomette prices to see if they would fall. I checked early this morning and it was still $138. I checked again a few minutes ago and it was $82! I called and got the roomette at $82 and the agent said that was the lowest price for the roomettes on that trip! I'm not sure if a couple of rooms cancelled, or if it is yield management, but it seems that if you watch it carefully, you can still get the price drop at the last minute! I'm hoping the Car Attendant will still have the bed turned down when I get there as the train leave at 5:10am! I'll enjoy going back to bed for a while after getting up at O'dark-thirty to get to the station !

That's a Good Snag! Remember that you will have Two Meals, Breakfast should be served between Houston and Beaumont (Generally about 6:30AM depending on OTP) and Lunch will be between New Iberia, La and Schriever depending again on OTP! Since this is the End of the Run for the OBS they Will Be in a Hurry to Serve, Probably be a Limited Menu and a Short Lunch! Your Room may have been Occupied to Houston since it's Overnite from SAS to HOS but your SCA Should Make Up the Room Before You Board if so! Have a great Trip and Time in New Orleans and Do a Trip Report for Us!

 

[LeeA]

I booked the Sunset Limited, Houston to New Orleans last month for a trip on June 12. The rail fare was only $49., but the roomette was $138! After reading this forum, I started watching the roomette prices to see if they would fall. I checked early this morning and it was still $138. I checked again a few minutes ago and it was $82! I called and got the roomette at $82 and the agent said that was the lowest price for the roomettes on that trip! I'm not sure if a couple of rooms cancelled, or if it is yield management, but it seems that if you watch it carefully, you can still get the price drop at the last minute! I'm hoping the Car Attendant will still have the bed turned down when I get there as the train leave at 5:10am! I'll enjoy going back to bed for a while after getting up at O'dark-thirty to get to the station !

That's a Good Snag! Remember that you will have Two Meals, Breakfast should be served between Houston and Beaumont (Generally about 6:30AM depending on OTP) and Lunch will be between New Iberia, La and Schriever depending again on OTP! Since this is the End of the Run for the OBS they Will Be in a Hurry to Serve, Probably be a Limited Menu and a Short Lunch! Your Room may have been Occupied to Houston since it's Overnite from SAS to HOS but your SCA Should Make Up the Room Before You Board if so! Have a great Trip and Time in New Orleans and Do a Trip Report for Us!

Thanks for the information Jim. I'm looking forward to the trip. It has been quite a while since I've been on the train, so am looking forward to it. I'm only in NOL for the afternoon/night and then go to ATL on the Crescent. I'm headed home to visit family. It's rare that I have the extra time needed for the train, but everything has fallen into place for this trip, and I'm looking forward to avoiding the airport this time around - at least the outbound portion. In the past, I've traveled on the Silver Service between West Palm Beach and New York, the Empire Builder Seattle-Chicago, A couple of North East Corridor trips, and one Acela trip between BWI and Philadelphia. As a child, I was on the last run of the Nancy Hanks between Macon and Forsyth. I really hope Georgia gets it together and is able to re-establish service Atlanta-Savannah.

 

[LeeA]

LeeA,

Welcome to the forum. Glad you were able to get a reduced rate on your roomette.

Have a good trip.

Thanks Shanghai!

 

[PaulM]

. One question, will I get dinner leaving from Denver at 7:10pm?

If it leaves at 7:10 - definitely. The cutoff is around 9:00PM.

 

[Gord]

Which would be "a couple of decades"... Nope.

I assume that CDL means Cardinal, but that's just a guess.

I know it's a fine point but the rivet counter in me just can't let it pass..., I'm holding up a couple of fingers, how many would that be? Answer is two. Describing forty years ago you could say a few or several decades ago, but not a couple, if you're trying to be accurate. A couple means two as in "they're a nice couple", etc. :lol:

Warm Regards,

Mr. Smarty Pants.