Weekly Specials

Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

AmtrakWPK

Conductor
AU Supporting Member
Honored Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2004
Messages
1,864
Location
Casselberry, Florida
Weekly Specials has risen to a new low, No specials at all (Maybe they figure everybody within several hundred miles of Chicago has already taken all the trips they were going to take. And basically for months it rarely if ever listed anything except Chicago-based trains.

BUT !! - Good news for those who want a weekly special to nowhere, you can select how many adults, how many children and how many infants you want to go nowhere with.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
We're coming into Easter, why would Amtrak sell discounted seats when they can get full price for them over the next two to three weeks? :unsure:
 
Maybe with Spring Break getting underway they are putting them on hold for a few weeks, considering many of those trains serve college towns.
 
Well, Chicago wouldn't be my choice for either Easter or spring break.
Oh come now AmtrakWPK,

It's actually been in the 50's and sunny here for the last few days!!!

Snow is almost completely gone! Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course that could all change in a Chicago minute. ;)
 
Well, Chicago wouldn't be my choice for either Easter or spring break.
One of the best spring breaks I ever had was in Chicago during grad school. We found a hotel right downtown for only $88/night and 4 of us stayed in it. It was great. Of course, my experience is limited - the only spring break trips I ever took were that one and one to Niagara Falls senior year of college. Notice how I seem to have missed the whole concept of heading for the sun??? :p
 
We're coming into Easter, why would Amtrak sell discounted seats when they can get full price for them over the next two to three weeks? :unsure:
But Alan we've beat this horse to death for almost a year now. There is so much mold on the "Specials" that FEMA wouldn't buy them...
 
When I looked a couple of days ago, there were (of course :rolleyes: ) many 3xx series (Chicago area) trains, but there were also 850 & 851 (to/from IND) listed. Beside those trains were the drop down arrows.

The only thing was - for 850 and 851 - THERE WAS NOTHING ON THEM! :huh: You could not choose a date, because there were none to choose from! But you could select train #850 or #851, just not a date!

So why list trains 850 and 851 as a "weekly special" at all? :huh:
 
Weekly Specials has risen to a new low, No specials at all (Maybe they figure everybody within several hundred miles of Chicago has already taken all the trips they were going to take. And basically for months it rarely if ever listed anything except Chicago-based trains.
BUT !! - Good news for those who want a weekly special to nowhere, you can select how many adults, how many children and how many infants you want to go nowhere with.
Why in the world would Amtrak offer specials during spring break & Easter - one of the heavily traveled times of the year? I guess you have to keep in mind that Amtrak does not exist to offer you low prices when you want them and to the destinations you want. It is there to attempt to make more money - per the constant request/demand of Congress. They were very specific when they stipulated restrictions on discounts. Go where you want and pay the price - support Amtrak.
 
Snow is almost completely gone! Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!Of course that could all change in a Chicago minute. ;)
Snow? Whats that? Oh the white stuff on on the non lava side of the volcano. :lol:

majolie said:
Posted Today, 09:44 AMOne of the best spring breaks I ever had was in Chicago during grad school. We found a hotel right downtown for only $88/night and 4 of us stayed in it. It was great. Of course, my experience is limited - the only spring break trips I ever took were that one and one to Niagara Falls senior year of college. Notice how I seem to have missed the whole concept of heading for the sun??? tongue.gif
Since My college was in LA I went skiing to Big Bear Mountain, and thanks to a bad fall not to Vietnam that year. So snow is good when I go to it and it doesn't come to me. :)
 
Weekly Specials has risen to a new low, No specials at all (Maybe they figure everybody within several hundred miles of Chicago has already taken all the trips they were going to take. And basically for months it rarely if ever listed anything except Chicago-based trains.
BUT !! - Good news for those who want a weekly special to nowhere, you can select how many adults, how many children and how many infants you want to go nowhere with.
Maybe they were updating the page. I just checked and there were at least 16 different trains available with specials between now and mid-April. Granted, they were all 3XX trains, but they are there.
 
That must have been it - everything that was there had expired, so they finally woke up the rip-van-winkle Weekly Specials person and they put different dates on the same old sets of Chicago trains. Maybe I should print out a copy of the Amtrak route map, and send it to them and ask that they give it to whoever sets the weekly specials, to inform that *&(^@#$ that, while he/she is obviously unaware of it, AMTRAK ACTUALLY RUNS A WHOLE NATIONWIDE ROUTE SYSTEM (Imagine THAT! ) and that they should either start adding something other than Chicago-based trains on it or change the web site to say "Chicago-and vicinity Weekly Specials" so everybody else wouldn't waste their time looking......
 
Last edited by a moderator:
to inform that *&(^@#$ that, while he/she is obviously unaware of it, AMTRAK ACTUALLY RUNS A WHOLE NATIONWIDE ROUTE SYSTEM (Imagine THAT!)
You are somewhat right. Well, Amtrak runs some trains from coast to coast, but not nationwide. You can't take a train from Louisville to Las Vegas (without Thruway buses) or Boise to Phoenix, so it's not a true nationwide service!
 
Why in the world would Amtrak offer specials during spring break & Easter - one of the heavily traveled times of the year?
Then why are there specials RIGHT NOW, just reposted, all over Chicago and vicinity? By that logic, there should only be specials (if ever) in the (probably short) segments all over the system between stations where the passenger counts are historically low. Are you arguing that the entire Chicago-and-vicinity area is Amtrak's absolute worst passenger-count disaster of the whole system , so terrible that they have to constantly, even during Easter and spring break, keep all those trains on Weekly Specials? I doubt that as being factual. Weekly Specials are a marketing tool. Is Amtrak only interested in increasing that one area market? I certainly would hope not. But that's what the "Weekly Specials" evidence suggests.

And I DO support and ride Amtrak. Back when the Weekly Specials "Rail Sale" rotated around the system quite a lot , Wendy and I quite a few times were able to induce friends to "try Amtrak" using those specials to entice them, and at least some of those folks are now regulars. I thought that was the PURPOSE for those low rail sale /weekly specials - to entice those who hadn't ridden Amtrak to give it a try. And with only a small number of seats per day per train for the special fares, it just seems like a great way to do it. By the way for several of those years, Wendy and I had Florida Railpasses, so specials or no special, those "chaperoning" rides didn't use up rail sale or weekly special seats, or regular coach seats. You are NOT going to entice anybody down in Florida to try Amtrak if he has to fly to Chicago to do it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You guys are saying that only Chicago gets the specials, but I am in St Louis (the wicket city) and sometimes like to go to Kansas City. That gets a special 30% rate - Wowee!!

Since the discount works for the different train number both east and west bound, can I buy discounted tickets in BOTH DIRECTIONS with of course a couple of days in between?

My beard is grey, I am an old f@rt :blink: - that gets me 15% off - can I stack that with the Weekly Special - or should I just try it and not bother folks? ;)

OK, I tried - I couln't stack the discounts :( :(
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You guys are saying that only Chicago gets the specials, but I am in St Louis (the wicket city) and sometimes like to go to Kansas City. That gets a special 30% rate - Wowee!!
Since the discount works for the different train number both east and west bound, can I buy discounted tickets in BOTH DIRECTIONS with of course a couple of days in between?
Most weeks, it's always just 3xx series trains and the Mules - sometimes 850/851 is thrown in for "good measure" and occasionally 7/27 and 8/28 can also be found there. But VERY RARELY (and not for a long time) has something like #5 or #2 or #29 or #20 shown up!

Yes, you can book different train numbers on different dates! Years ago (many years ago :rolleyes: ), I booked weekly specials from ALB-CHI and CHI-ALB on 48/49, those worked out to connect (again on a weekly special) with CHI-DEN and DEN-CHI, and I decided that I did not want to drive to ALB, so I got (again as a weekly special) BOS-ALB and ALB-BOS on 448/449! So I found and booked weekly specials from BOS-DEN-BOS on 6 trains for a long weekend trip! :lol:
 
You guys are saying that only Chicago gets the specials, but I am in St Louis (the wicket city) and sometimes like to go to Kansas City. That gets a special 30% rate - Wowee!!
Since the discount works for the different train number both east and west bound, can I buy discounted tickets in BOTH DIRECTIONS with of course a couple of days in between?
Most weeks, it's always just 3xx series trains and the Mules - sometimes 850/851 is thrown in for "good measure" and occasionally 7/27 and 8/28 can also be found there. But VERY RARELY (and not for a long time) has something like #5 or #2 or #29 or #20 shown up!

Yes, you can book different train numbers on different dates! Years ago (many years ago :rolleyes: ), I booked weekly specials from ALB-CHI and CHI-ALB on 48/49, those worked out to connect (again on a weekly special) with CHI-DEN and DEN-CHI, and I decided that I did not want to drive to ALB, so I got (again as a weekly special) BOS-ALB and ALB-BOS on 448/449! So I found and booked weekly specials from BOS-DEN-BOS on 6 trains for a long weekend trip! :lol:
I'd be willing to bet that it's been almost two years since any of those trains have shown up on the "Mildew Specials."
 
You guys are saying that only Chicago gets the specials, but I am in St Louis (the wicket city) and sometimes like to go to Kansas City. That gets a special 30% rate - Wowee!!
Since the discount works for the different train number both east and west bound, can I buy discounted tickets in BOTH DIRECTIONS with of course a couple of days in between?
Most weeks, it's always just 3xx series trains and the Mules - sometimes 850/851 is thrown in for "good measure" and occasionally 7/27 and 8/28 can also be found there. But VERY RARELY (and not for a long time) has something like #5 or #2 or #29 or #20 shown up!

Yes, you can book different train numbers on different dates! Years ago (many years ago :rolleyes: ), I booked weekly specials from ALB-CHI and CHI-ALB on 48/49, those worked out to connect (again on a weekly special) with CHI-DEN and DEN-CHI, and I decided that I did not want to drive to ALB, so I got (again as a weekly special) BOS-ALB and ALB-BOS on 448/449! So I found and booked weekly specials from BOS-DEN-BOS on 6 trains for a long weekend trip! :lol:
I'd be willing to bet that it's been almost two years since any of those trains have shown up on the "Mildew Specials."
Your right! My referred trip was (IIRC) in 2003! :rolleyes: And the last time I took 5/6 on a weekly special (and not out of CHI but SLC-GJT-SLC) was in (IIRC) 2005!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top