49 or 449?

[J. Alec West]

I'm planning a round trip from Portland, Oregon to Albany, New York (later connecting to Port Henry, New York). On the way there, the Lake Shore Limited leg of trip shows two line numbers on Amtrak's website - #48 and #448. Both Portland-to-Albany tickets are priced at $208. But on the way back, using the #49 makes the total ticket cost $260 while using the #449 only costs $208. And oddly the schedules for 48/448 and 49/449 are identical.

Is there a difference between those two trains (49/449) that explains the $52 price difference between the two???

Regards,

J. Alec West

 

[Anderson]

449 runs CHI-ALB-BOS while 49 runs CHI-ALB-NYP. 449 is therefore smaller (Boston is not New York, and connections from south of New York default to 49 for obvious reasons). However, the question of which one will be more expensive on a given date is somewhat random (49 is bigger but has more demand; 449 is smaller, but if demand is generically high enough then it will get pushed into a higher bucket) and more volatile on the sleeper than in coach (49 has about twice the sleeper space of 449, but New York is New York).

 

[OBS]

Just to help clarify, 40/449 are the same train, just different sections that originate in the cities as the previous poster explains.

 

[Mackensen]

If you're going Chicago-Albany (and no further) then it really doesn't make much a difference. One thing you should consider, however, is that the Boston section (449) will be on the opposite side of the train from the dining car. A typical Lake Shore Limited has this order:

• Boston sleeper
  
• Boston coach
  
• Boston coach
  
• Lounge
  
• New York coach
  
• New York coach
  
• New York coach
  
• New York coach
  
• New York coach
  
• Diner
  
• New York sleeper
  
• New York sleeper
  

If you're planning on using the dining car that's a rather long walk. I don't have a problem with it, but if you've got movement problems it's something to consider. Of course, you might wind up in the furthest New York coach .

 

[J. Alec West]

If you're going Chicago-Albany (and no further) then it really doesn't make much a difference.

Well, on my Albany-to-Portland return trip, it makes a $52 difference. And charging different prices for a coach seat on (essentially) the same train boggles the mind. Anyhow, you've answered my question. I'll take the #449 @ $208 over the #49 @ $260. On dining, well ... I'd probably be more of a lounge person. So, #449 would be the best choice for me anyway.

Thanks for the heads up.



Regards,

J. Alec West

 

[Anderson]

Well, it comes down to how much traffic there is. Note that there are 2/5 as many seats going to Boston as New York (or 5/2 as many seats going to New York as to Boston if you prefer). If there are 300 of A and 120 of B, and people have bought 250 of A and 60 of B, then Amtrak is going to try and slide those folks into B instead of A so it can save seats on A for folks going to New York. The problem is that Amtrak has to assign all of the seats up to Albany...they can't simply say "there are 45 folks riding on from Albany to BOS, 200 folks riding on to NYP...make sure those folks get their seats and fill in everyone else wherever there is space" because people do get on and off throughout the trip, so you can get quite a game of trying to move people to places where there is space.

 

[the_traveler]

Due the limitations of Arrow (the reservation system) they must price and book each "train" separately. Choose the one priced lower. And since they board the cars by destination, it is entirely possible that you may get seated in the NY coach closest to the diner!

 

[Acela150]

If you're going Chicago-Albany (and no further) then it really doesn't make much a difference.

Well, on my Albany-to-Portland return trip, it makes a $52 difference. And charging different prices for a coach seat on (essentially) the same train boggles the mind. Anyhow, you've answered my question. I'll take the #449 @ $208 over the #49 @ $260. On dining, well ... I'd probably be more of a lounge person. So, #449 would be the best choice for me anyway.

Thanks for the heads up.



Regards,

J. Alec West

If your an AGR member consider that extra $52 it might make the difference between Select Status and Non Select Status. Just a thought. If you are not an AGR member send me a PM with your e-mail and I will refer you!