Amtrak lifts advance reservation requirements

[Superliner Diner]

This comes from Amtrak, via California travel agent Gene Poon. Amtrak normally publishes its alerts on Arrow in capital letters, hence the format below. I think the advisory has the date wrong; it should read December 20, 2002 (not 2003).

ADVANCE-RESERVATION REQUIREMENTS ARE DISCONTINUED

.

.

EFFECTIVE BY 9:00AM (EST) ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2003

ADVANCE-RESERVATION REQUIREMENTS IN ALL AMTRAK PUBLISHED

FARES ARE DISCONTINUED.

.

WHAT THIS MEANS IS THE FARE RULES THEMSELVES WILL NO LONGER

INHIBIT THE SALE OF ANY BUCKET FARE BASED UPON THE NUMBER OF

DAYS PRIOR TO TRAVEL THAT A PASSENGER BOOKS HIS OR HER TRIP.

(NOTE: The standard ticketing timelimits of up

to seven days after reservations are made will

still apply. HOWEVER this means that discounted

fares can now be purchased on the date of travel,

unlike what has applied for the past several months -GP)

.

AMTRAK WILL CONTINUE TO YIELD-MANAGE THE TRAIN INVENTORY ON

MOST TRAINS OUTSIDE OF THE NORTHEAST CORRIDOR, AND ONLY A

CONTROLLED, LIMITED NUMBER OF SEATS WILL BE OFFERED AT THE

DISCOUNTED FARES. IN ORDER TO QUALIFY FOR A DISCOUNTED RAIL

FARE, PASSENGERS MUST BE ABLE TO RESERVE THE APPROPRIATE

INVENTORY FOR THAT FARE.

.

ALSO DISCONTINUED WILL BE THE SO-CALLED 'SLEEPER' FARES.

THERE IS NO LONGER ANY NEED FOR THOSE FARES. PASSENGERS

MAKING LAST-MINUTE SLEEPER RESERVATIONS WILL AUTOMATICALLY

BE GIVEN THE LOWEST PUBLISHED FARE FOR THEIR ITINERARY.

.

***********************************************************

THERE IS ONE EXCEPTION: THE TRANS-BORDER FARES THAT

APPLY TO THE INTERNATIONAL (CHI-TWO) WILL CONTINUE TO

HAVE ADVANCE-PURCHASE REQUIREMENTS. HOWEVER, FOR LOCAL

TRAVEL WITHIN MICHIGAN ON THIS TRAIN THERE WILL NOT BE

ADVANCE-RESERVATION RULES ON THE FARES.

***********************************************************

.

ARROW WILL BE UPDATED ACCORDINGLY BY 9:00AM ON 20DEC03.

.

-source:

AMTRAK

 

[Viewliner]

So what exactly does this mean?

 

[Amfleet]

So what exactly does this mean?

WHAT THIS MEANS IS THE FARE RULES THEMSELVES WILL NO LONGER

INHIBIT THE SALE OF ANY BUCKET FARE BASED UPON THE NUMBER OF

DAYS PRIOR TO TRAVEL THAT A PASSENGER BOOKS HIS OR HER TRIP.

In other words passengers are going to pay the same price for an accomadation as one did a month before. Before this took place passengers would pay up to $200 more for an accomadtion than if they had purchased it a month in advance.