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PaulM

PaulM

Engineer
Joined
Jun 27, 2008
Messages
2,352
Location
Quincy, IL
I had some time on my hands, so I developed a website that retrieves coach and sleeping car fares for a given origin and destination and a range of up to 30 days. You will get all connections, So, for example, if you try CHI to LAX on a day the SL runs, you will get 5 connections with as many as 3 segments per connection.

I had fun testing it with several recent examples. I didn't know there were so many types of sold out: -- trains, other options, seats, rooms, and each type of room separately.

Try it out at https://creditcontrolservice.sslpowered.com/amSnag/
 
Nice, a web developer on here! I'm actually learning php right now. The site right now is just loading and loading, not getting an index to load here. I'm really excited to try it out.
 
Awesome. If you can do it, Amtrak should be able to add something like tghis to their site's functionality. Many thanks.
 
Will put this to use in the near future. I ran a few test searches and I noticed that on some sleeper prices, what appears to be the low bucket, there is a "p" following the price. IS that the purpose of this flag or am I missing something?
 
What a great site ... easy to use, and so much information ... thank you!
 
Exiled in Express said:
Will put this to use in the near future. I ran a few test searches and I noticed that on some sleeper prices, what appears to be the low bucket, there is a "p" following the price. IS that the purpose of this flag or am I missing something?
Click to expand...
Thanks for reminding me. It's fixed.

The price comes from text that says for example "Add 389.10 per room". So I grabbed 7 characters after the "Add". If the price is less than $100, 7 characters includes the "p" from "per room".

None of the many samples, I tested had sleepers less than $100; most were sold out. I didn't think to try HMD to NOL next January. :rolleyes:
 
PaulM said:
I had some time on my hands, so I developed a website that retrieves coach and sleeping car fares for a given origin and destination and a range of up to 30 days. You will get all connections, So, for example, if you try CHI to LAX on a day the SL runs, you will get 5 connections with as many as 3 segments per connection.

I had fun testing it with several recent examples. I didn't know there were so many types of sold out: -- trains, other options, seats, rooms, and each type of room separately.

Try it out at https://creditcontro...red.com/amSnag/
Click to expand...
Can't get it to work for Auto Train, is that because you have to enter a vehicle too?

That IS a great tool too, I hope Amtrak doesn't squish it like SWA did that little app that "automatically went to retrieve your boarding pass".........
 
Last edited by a moderator:
rrdude said:
Can't get it to work for Auto Train, is that because you have to enter a vehicle too?
Click to expand...
The problem is the lack of an "Add to Cart" or "Sold out Train" image next to the coach price ($146 ). I'll look into it. I need to see what is going on here by looking at the underlying web page which looks something like this:

<span class="price" id="addToCartPrice1">$146.00

<span id="1_estimatedPrice_span"> <a href="javascript:var child=window.open('http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/Satellite?SnippetName=IBLegacy&pagename=am/AM_Snippet_C/SnippetWrapper&ibsref=estimatedFare','ibsref','directories=0,dependent=1,menubar=0,top=20,left=20,width=680,height=600,scrollbars=1');child.focus();" CLASS="smallblue">estimated</a></span></span>

<input value="udxuydjyhn3i" type="hidden" name="/sessionWorkflow/productWorkflow[@product=Rail]/selectedJourney[1]/@id" />

</span>

</div>

<!-- Begin HTML for Availability Segment Table -->

<div class="avs_grid">

<div class="avs_column train_name">

<!-- mp_trans_disable_start -->53 Auto Train<!-- mp_trans_disable_end --><br><b> </b><br /><!--img class="service_alert" alt="Service Alert" src="/images/en/icon_servicealert.gif" /-->

<a style="display:none" class="button" href="" name="selecttrainAlerts_Auto Train2010-08-25"><img class="service_alert" src="/images/en/icon_servicealert.gif" alt="Service Alert" /></a>

</div>

<div class="avs_column dep_arr_data">

<div class="dep_data">

<span class="time_point">Departs: 4:00 PM</span><br/>

Wed Aug 25 2010<br/>

<!-- mp_trans_disable_start -->Lorton, VA - Auto Train Only  (<a href="javascript:var child=window.open('http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/Satellite?SnippetName=IBLegacy&pagename=am/AM_Snippet_C/SnippetWrapper&code=LOR','station','directories=0,dependent=1,menubar=0,top=20,left=20,width=680,height=600,scrollbars=1');child.focus();">LOR</a>)<!-- mp_trans_disable_end -->

<br /><a style="display:none" href="" name="selecttrainDepNews_LORSFA2010-08-25">Station News</a>

</div>

<div class="arr_data">
Click to expand...
Well anyway you get the picture.

By the way the error message was just a guess, since Amtrak's error messages don't seem to follow a pattern, at least one I could figure out. I now have more sympathy for error messages that lie.
 
Good job Paul M! I am about to make Thanksgiving and Christmas reservations. This will sure make it a lot easier to findout the cheapest dates to travel.
 
PaulM said:
I had some time on my hands, so I developed a website that retrieves coach and sleeping car fares for a given origin and destination and a range of up to 30 days. You will get all connections, So, for example, if you try CHI to LAX on a day the SL runs, you will get 5 connections with as many as 3 segments per connection.

I had fun testing it with several recent examples. I didn't know there were so many types of sold out: -- trains, other options, seats, rooms, and each type of room separately.

Try it out at https://creditcontrolservice.sslpowered.com/amSnag/
Click to expand...
Wonderful! I think that you had more than "some" time on your hands! :lol: Great body of work. Tremendous timesaver for me. In a few keystrokes I get what would take me a half hour with numerous filled post-its to figure one leg in a future itinerary. :D Great tool! Very Impressed! :)
 
Nice tool, but one glitch: It seems to think the Cardinal runs every day. (I wish).
 
Holy cow...I just tried to put in my one way trip ( i already bought my return ticket from Kalamazoo to Anaheim) from LA to Grand Rapids, and the difference of roomette fare on the Southwest Chief on some dates near my planning time to leave is pretty big in some days. Awesome tool :)
 
PaulM, I used your site today before booking our tickets ... thank you!
 
It would be nice if it could display a static low bucket/high bucket as a reference... (assuming you had the price chart)
 
I'm not getting good answers. On 5/1/11, #6 EMY to CHI, bedroom price is $985. Amsnag says $267, which happens to be the roomette price.

Also looking at 30 for the 5/3/11, also lists the roomette and bedroom prices as the same. The bedroom should be $427, it's $125 with amsnag.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
PetalumaLoco said:
I'm not getting good answers. On 5/1/11, #6 EMY to CHI, bedroom price is $985. Amsnag says $267, which happens to be the roomette price.

Also looking at 30 for the 5/3/11, also lists the roomette and bedroom prices as the same. The bedroom should be $427, it's $125 with amsnag.
Click to expand...
The prices have already gone up, they fluctuate rapidly on this train (and LD trains it seems with the increased popularity!)I get a bedroom price of over $1100 for this date.

Based on what Ive seen when the bedrooms are sold out, which is true on most days, the roomette price will be shown across the board on all offered rooms! I found this to be true on the Texas Eagle which I just booked for the Gathering, Im pretty sure it applies to all trains! Paul probably can answer this better than I but this is a fantastic tool, lots of work and we appreciate it!
 
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