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s.vettel

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Hello everyone,

I just reserved a bedroom w/3 adults on CZ#5 CHI-EMY departing Christmas eve on the phone since the website can't let you book 3 adults into one bedroom.

The price I got on the phone was a couple hundreds of dollars cheaper than what I saw on the website (by adding prices of 2 coaches & 1 adult and a bedroom).

My CC was cleared and has a online boarding pass already with all info correct including the bedroom number.

The agent on the phone said it is an amazing price, but I'm kinda nervous now if I actually got what I wanted.

Does anyone had an experience where booking by phone was cheaper than booking online?

Thanks
 
:cool: Nice Snag! Happens All the Time as the Marketing Wizards @ Amtrak are Now Monitoring the Ticket Sales and Load Factors on Trains Closely! Also there is still a "Bug" that makes On-Line Booking of Sleepers Raise the Price for Rooms for 2 or more when the Actual Fare is Often Way Less when Called in to an Agent!
 
The website is experiencing some bugs when adding more than one passenger to a bedroom, so, for now, the recommendation is to call.

But that's beside the point. Since you have three people, that's why it was tripping you up. The website won't allow you to book three people in a bedroom, so you have to call an agent anyway. :) I'm glad you did, because booking two people in Coach and then adding a bedroom for one person is incorrect. You need all three names on the bedroom manifest. So, in a sense, you did save money because you booked it properly via an agent.

If you ever book a room for two people, you just select "two passengers", and it'll put you in a room and calculate the rail fare along with the sleeper fare. You don't book two Coach tickets and then a room; you just book the room. I made the same mistake the first time I priced roomettes. Everyone on this forum was really helpful, and I was so happy to save a ton of money. The price of a room covers everyone in that room; it isn't per-person.

Hope that helps!
 
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First off, you must book via an agent to book more than 2 persons into a room. Second, you do not pay a separate "coach fare". All occupants receive the lowest "coach fare" (or bucket) instead of the prevailing (possibly high) bucket!
 
Thanks for your quick replys. The total fare I got was about $1090 total for one way with $460 fare and $630 for a bedroom. Even considering AAA discount which we used, it is still cheaper than online which is showing $618 for a 3 coach at this moment.

I was amazed because we paid about $1600+ when I took the exact same trip during Christmas of 2011 which they allowed booking 3 persons in one bedroom online.

I did not know there are bugs online, so I'm glad I called.
 
it is still cheaper than online which is showing $618 for a 3 coach at this moment.
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Yup, that's because you're charged the lowest coach fare when booking a room instead of whatever the current rate is (called a "bucket").

So, if coach seats are selling for $400 right now, but the low bucket fare is $200, you'd be charged $200 plus the room cost instead of $400 plus the room charge. :) It's pretty cool.
 
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s.vettel said:
I was amazed because we paid about $1600+ when I took the exact same trip during Christmas of 2011 which they allowed booking 3 persons in one bedroom online.
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Christmas time (and Thanksgiving) are Amtrak's busiest travel period(s). It is almost impossible to find a low fare - because many more people want to visit their family and/or friends!
 
Gingee said:
Oh I saw you are starting in Chicago. Where is the end place?
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EMY is Emeryville, the last stop on the CZ. It's just outside San Francisco and has a short bus connection into the city.
 
Look for your dining car and/or lounge car crew to have their car(s) decorated with holiday lights along the roofline on the afternoon of your departure from CHI.
 
I disagree with all of you apologizing for the back door fare increase by calling it a "bug" in the website. It would be a "bug" if you were refunded the difference between the fare you PAID online and the fare you were quoted on the phone.......but since you are not refunded, it is an online fare increase. Period.

If the OP were only to have two pax, they would not have had to call in to make a rez, and would only have known the online fare. That is a price increase through the back door for online purchases. Currently there is a two-tiered price structure for sleepers, one price on the phone, a higher price online.
 
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Has anyone called & told Amtrak here's a bug? I'm sure they know by now, but complaining on a forum w/o notifying Amtrak is not going to fix the problem.
 
And Amtrak may be working on determining who overpaid so they can refund the difference but this is probably something that will take time to do.
 
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AmtrakBlue said:
And Amtrak may be working on determining who overpaid so they can refund the difference but this is probably something that will take time to do.
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That would be nice, if true!

People here call it a "bug", but nobody can confirm that through Amtrak, or have not posted that they confirmed it. To the new rider, the price on the site is the price.....they do not know to call to get a cheaper price, do they? The higher price may turn new riders away....that is unfortunate. Or even worse, there will be riders who pay more than the correct fare without knowing they got ripped off.

It will be a "bug" when Amtrak posts on the rez page that there is a "bug" and tells folks to call to get correct price, until then, it is a back-door rate hike.
 
The bug appears to be squahsed.

1 Adult:

ren_den_1.png


2 Adults:

ren_den_2.png
 
I may have spoken too soon - looks like bedrooms are still hosed up.

That makes it even more unlikely that it's a policy decision, why would there be a different policy for bedrooms and roomettes?
 
I talked to Customer Relations after I Posted about this "Bug" a Couple of Weeks ago! I was told that Amtrak's Crack IT Department was "On It" but with the Mess Going on in WAS and the Roll Out of the New AGR Web Site perhaps they haven't gotten it entirely Solved Yet?? (ie Roomettes OK/Bedroom Bookings still Ripping Off On-Line Bookers!) :help:

Maybe Anthony, the AGR Insider, Has Passed this On to the Appropriate People???
 
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My boyfriend fixes code bugs every day - some take an hour, some require a few weeks to research and solve.
 
Additionally, if they are going to refund those pax due to the error, that may take time as well. Stuff like that usually has to go through management, committees, corporate, blah blah blah. There will plans and execution workflows and so on. It would be nice if it were instant, but I doubt it. They'll have to review every sleeper purchase made between roll-out and bug fix.
 
jimhudson said:
I talked to Customer Relations after I Posted about this "Bug" a Couple of Weeks ago! I was told that Amtrak's Crack IT Department was "On It" but with the Mess Going on in WAS and the Roll Out of the New AGR Web Site perhaps they haven't gotten it entirely Solved Yet?? (ie Roomettes OK/Bedroom Bookings still Ripping Off On-Line Bookers!) :help:
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I know bashing "Washington" is great sport, but this is a new one. How in the world can you blame Washington for someone introducing a critical computer application that gets the formula 2 x C + S wrong? Especially, when it was working perfectly before.
 
PaulM said:
jimhudson said:
I talked to Customer Relations after I Posted about this "Bug" a Couple of Weeks ago! I was told that Amtrak's Crack IT Department was "On It" but with the Mess Going on in WAS and the Roll Out of the New AGR Web Site perhaps they haven't gotten it entirely Solved Yet?? (ie Roomettes OK/Bedroom Bookings still Ripping Off On-Line Bookers!) :help:
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I know bashing "Washington" is great sport, but this is a new one. How in the world can you blame Washington for someone introducing a critical computer application that gets the formula 2 x C + S wrong? Especially, when it was working perfectly before.
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You misunderstood Paul, this is what the Agent told me when I called! I was thinking that with Everything going on @ Amtrak at the Time and the Stories of Amtrak trying to Save Cash that perhaps the IT Dept. was Shorthanded/and or Overworked and there was No Money for overtime to Deal with a Minor Glitch in the Software! My knowledge of IT Depts. is on a Par with the Inner Workings of the Vatican! -_-
 
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