UPGRADES

[bobbyswf]

One more question and a big thanks to those who've taken time to respond to my previous posts!

We're booked in a roomette from Tampa to Washington DC, a 21 hour trip.

The cost difference between a roomette and a bedroom is $705. If the bedrooms go unsold and you wish to upgrade, do you still have to pay the $705 or are they ever discounted at the last minute either at the station before boarding or onboard the train?

Again, many thanks!

Bob Jones, Fort Myers, Florida

 

[AlanB]

Bob,

Yes unsold bedrooms, even roomettes are in effect discounted once the train leaves the station. Here's how it works:

Amtrak has 5 different price levels for sleepers. As sleepers are sold, prices rise through those levels or buckets as Amtrak calls them. Your train most likely has sold several rooms of both sizes, causing the fare to jump up at least 2 or 3 buckets, if not higher. Now that said, if you upgrade on board to an open room, you always get the fare rate from the lowest bucket.

I'm not sure just what the lowest bucket price is, but I did find one fare for next October 18th that was only $434 for the bedroom. That was the lowest one I found, but I only checked a few dates, so it is possible that there is an even lower fare. But if $434 is the lowest, then that's what you'd have to pay to upgrade.

Of course, you've already paid for the roomette, so that amount would be credited towards the $434, leaving you to pay the balance. That balance can be paid in cash, travelers checks, or by credit card. It's also possible that the roomette fare is higher than that $434, in which case you would owe nothing. I'm not sure if you can get a refund though for the difference.

Now one word of caution, the upgrade can only be done on the train. If you try to do it in Tampa at the station, you will pay the currently advertised rate on Amtrak.com.

 

[trainboy325]

Under the current tarrif for this schedule period, an on-board upgrade can be sold up to 50% off the lowest fare bucket, but it has to be YB day, which means that the sleepers have low occupancy. On Silver Service, because of very high demand for sleepers, any on-board sale will be the difference of a full price lowest fare bucket of the bedroom and the accomodation charge paid for your roomette. Unfortunately, working out in NOL doesn't give me a chance to check out what the price is for the bedroom in the current tarrif book. OBS Employee should be able to provide specific price details that can help bobbyswf with the cost of the possible upgrade since he has access to a current Silver Service/Palmetto tarrif book!

 

[AlanB]

Under the current tarrif for this schedule period, an on-board upgrade can be sold up to 50% off the lowest fare bucket, but it has to be YB day, which means that the sleepers have low occupancy. On Silver Service, because of very high demand for sleepers, any on-board sale will be the difference of a full price lowest fare bucket of the bedroom and the accomodation charge paid for your roomette.

Unless there has been a recent unpublicized change, what you've posted sound remarkably like the old policy, pre June 15th, 2004. By the way, YB is a coach bucket code, not a sleeper bucket code, so I'm not sure what that has to do with anything.

According to the last info that I and many other railfans are aware of, the current policy is as follows:

(As posted by Gene Poon in e-mails)
CHANGES TO ON-BOARD SLEEPER SALES PROCESS

DUE TO HIGH DEMAND AND LIMITED AVAILABILITY, THE PRICE FOR

ON-BOARD SLEEPER UPGRADES WILL BE CALCULATED USING A NEW,

SIMPLER METHOD THAT WILL RESULT IN HIGHER REVENUE YIELDS.

EFFECTIVE JUNE 15, 2004 AND UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, CONDUCTORS

WILL COLLECT THE *PUBLISHED* D-LEVEL ACCOMMODATION CHARGE

FROM PASSENGERS WHO WISH TO UPGRADE ON BOARD THE TRAIN,

BASED UPON SPACE AVAILABILITY.

IN CASES WHERE A PASSENGER IS UPGRADING FROM A SMALL SLEEPER

TO A LARGE SLEEPER (E.G., STANDARD TO DELUXE), AND THE ACCOM

CHARGE ORIGINALLY PAID FOR THE SMALL SLEEPER IS GREATER THAN

THE D-LEVEL CHARGE FOR THE LARGE SLEEPER, THE PASSENGER MAY

UPGRADE TO THE LARGER ROOM FOR NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE.

-source: AMTRAK

(NOTE: under previous policy the charge was calculated as a percentage of the low bucket accomodations charge)

 

[AlanB]

Just to help make things clearer, here is a description of Amtrak's bucket system:

There are five "buckets" (levels) of sleeping car accommodations charges and space is inventoried among them in an attempt to maximize revenue to

Amtrak.  They are designated by the letters S, A, B, C, D.  S is

highest, D is lowest.  Obviously, the earlier you make reservations, teh

better your chances of getting a room at a lower "bucket."  However, on

busy-season trains such as the California Zephyr in summer or the City

of New Orleans and Crescent at Mardi Gras, you will find few D rooms,

even if you look a year in advance, because Amtrak knows they don't have

to cut fares to fill those rooms.  But in slow season, such as January

on the Coast Starlight, you probably will find many more.

Under the new policy, if a passenger is able to advance-reserve and pay

for a Sleeping Car room at the D bucket accommodation charge, there will

be no savings whatever in taking a chance and trying to upgrade on board

the train.

There are "buckets" of Coach fares, too: Y, YA, YB, YC, YD, and they are

allocated in much the same way on most long-distance trains and on some

Corridor trains.  A passenger with a Sleeping Car reservation pays the

lowest, D-bucket Coach fare as the Rail Fare portion of the ticket,

regardless of whether YD is actually available in Coach inventory or not.

-GP