10% off what with senior discount?

[denmarks]

If I get a bedroom is the senior discount on the entire fare or only the coach portion? Everything refers to 10% off "rail" fare. This is for a single.

 

[flitcraft]

Just the coach portion of the fare, unfortunately.

 

[zephyr17]

If I get a bedroom is the senior discount on the entire fare or only the coach portion? Everything refers to 10% off "rail" fare. This is for a single.

Sleeper fares consist of two components, the rail fare and the accommodation charge. The rail fare is per person and the accommodation charges are per room. Accommodation charges are never discounted and are the larger component. Discounts, senior, RPA and the occasional BOGO sale apply only to the rail fare.

Sleeper rail fares aren't yield managed, accommodation charges are, with the legendary five buckets. Base sleeper rail fare is pegged at the second Value coach bucket.

Unfortunately, the distinction between rail fare and accommodation charge have gotten hard to find with recent website "improvements". It doesn't appear anywhere prior to purchase on the main booking engine. However, if you use the Multi-City option the rail fare/accommodation charge breakdown is still available by selecting "details" after all selections are done but before payment.

The senior discount applies to sleepers as follows: rail fare per person - 10% of rail fare per senior + accommodation charge.

 

[niemi24s]

. . .and accommodation charge have gotten hard to find with recent website "improvements".

For entire routes, the easiest way to find the accommodation charge is to simply subtract the Coach fare followed by the > symbol on this chart:

For portions of any route, you'll have to find that Coach fare from the difference between the fares for 1 and 2 adults keeping the date and sleeper type the same.

FYI, the Family Bedroom and Bedroom fares on this chart have increased since it was last updated. Without AmSnag, finding the current fares is an excruciating project which is only about 75% complete..

 

[me_little_me]

Also note about "discount" fares.

On special offers, like 2 for 1 or 20% off, it's NOT off the senior fare but the full adult fare. A number of years ago, if Amtrak was offering a special and you selected Senior, you paid more than an adult "special" fare. What a rip! Now, it gives you the lower of the two.

With room charges in the stratosphere, the senior discount is minuscule in comparison to the total price. You still save the same amount but it doesn't look like much with excessive room prices.

As little as it is, it's better than the airlines with their 0% discount to almost everyone.