Amtrak Lower Fares

[wrjensen]

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0209/595793.html

WASHINGTON - With a dip in business travel, Amtrak is looking to attract other riders by cutting prices on its fastest trains between Washington and New York.

Amtrak officials say they are dropping fares on the Acela Express up to 25 percent. The offer runs between March 3 and June 26.

Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black tells WTOP that the faltering economy played into the decision to reduce prices. He says with business travel down, the national passenger railroad is reaching out to leisure travelers.

Now Acela business class tickets will be priced as low as $99 between Washington and New York; until now the lowest fare for that route was $133. Acela prices between New York and Boston also will be lowered.

Passengers must buy their tickets two weeks in advance to get those prices.

 

[amamba]

Interesting. I bought tickets about two weeks ago for BOS-NYP roundtrip on Acela at the end of March. Roundtrip for two was $466. I just looked at the same trains again and the pricing is identical - not up to 25% less. I wonder when these sale fares are actually running, or if they are just discounting low bucket fares but keeping the mid/high bucket fares as is?

 

[chertling]

Hmmm.... this brings up a question. I have BOS to WAS tickets that were purchased as part of a USA Rail Pass. I know I can't use the railpass for Acela trains, but with the new lower Acela prices, the price difference between the Regional train we are on and the Acela is only $40 right now. Does anyone know whether I can pay the difference out of pocket and ride Acela on my Railpass?

 

[the_traveler]

Hmmm.... this brings up a question. I have BOS to WAS tickets that were purchased as part of a USA Rail Pass. I know I can't use the railpass for Acela trains, but with the new lower Acela prices, the price difference between the Regional train we are on and the Acela is only $40 right now. Does anyone know whether I can pay the difference out of pocket and ride Acela on my Railpass?

I really don't know, but I would say no. There is probably some language in the rules like "... not valid on Acela ..."!

 

[PRR 60]

Beware - the new Acela special fares are non-refundable and cannot be upgraded to First Class. So, if you need flexibility, or you want to use an upgrade coupon on day of travel, don't book the discount fare.

Acela ridership in the New York to Washington segment is down over 20% compared to last year (NYC-BOS segment is down 9%). That is a huge drop in riders and revenue on what is Amtrak most financially lucrative operation. I'm not sure that this 14-day AP fare is going to close the gap in any meaningful way. It is just as likely that it will cannibalize the NE Regionals and will only net Amtrak the increment between the Regional fare and the discount Acela fare, which could be zero.

 

[amamba]

Beware - the new Acela special fares are non-refundable and cannot be upgraded to First Class. So, if you need flexibility, or you want to use an upgrade coupon on day of travel, don't book the discount fare.
Acela ridership in the New York to Washington segment is down over 20% compared to last year (NYC-BOS segment is down 9%). That is a huge drop in riders and revenue on what is Amtrak most financially lucrative operation. I'm not sure that this 14-day AP fare is going to close the gap in any meaningful way. It is just as likely that it will cannibalize the NE Regionals and will only net Amtrak the increment between the Regional fare and the discount Acela fare, which could be zero.

I think its an excellent point. It is also hard to ride the train for some people when flying is so cheap. For that same weekend in March that I am paying $466 for two roundtrip tickets on acela, I could have flown on either the usair shuttle or the delta shuttle for $300 - yes that is not a typo. The fares were $70 each way per person to fly. So the pricing might need to come down even more to be competetive with the discount airfares available on the BOS-NYC route.

 

[wayman]

Beware - the new Acela special fares are non-refundable and cannot be upgraded to First Class. So, if you need flexibility, or you want to use an upgrade coupon on day of travel, don't book the discount fare.
Acela ridership in the New York to Washington segment is down over 20% compared to last year (NYC-BOS segment is down 9%). That is a huge drop in riders and revenue on what is Amtrak most financially lucrative operation. I'm not sure that this 14-day AP fare is going to close the gap in any meaningful way. It is just as likely that it will cannibalize the NE Regionals and will only net Amtrak the increment between the Regional fare and the discount Acela fare, which could be zero.

I think its an excellent point. It is also hard to ride the train for some people when flying is so cheap. For that same weekend in March that I am paying $466 for two roundtrip tickets on acela, I could have flown on either the usair shuttle or the delta shuttle for $300 - yes that is not a typo. The fares were $70 each way per person to fly. So the pricing might need to come down even more to be competetive with the discount airfares available on the BOS-NYC route.

Either the pricing needs to come down or the advertising needs to go up: Amtrak needs to create direct-comparison ads that hit hard against the airlines and highlight the many selling points of rail travel (environment, comfort, door-to-door travel time rather than station-to-station, etc). They have nice huge banners in stations ... which are only seen by people who are already familiar with and friendly to rail travel (though some may only have ridden commuter trains and not Amtrak, most are already Amtrak customers so they're preaching to the choir). They have nice ads in Arrive magazine ... which you can find only in the seatbacks of Amtrak trains. And those ads do appear in some other places, it's true. But they don't do head-to-head comparisons with actual numbers. That's what Amtrak needs, because they need to fight back against the "but I can fly for less $$$" argument if their fares are going to remain equal to or greater than airfare.

 

[guest lsa]

Beware - the new Acela special fares are non-refundable and cannot be upgraded to First Class. So, if you need flexibility, or you want to use an upgrade coupon on day of travel, don't book the discount fare.
Acela ridership in the New York to Washington segment is down over 20% compared to last year (NYC-BOS segment is down 9%). That is a huge drop in riders and revenue on what is Amtrak most financially lucrative operation. I'm not sure that this 14-day AP fare is going to close the gap in any meaningful way. It is just as likely that it will cannibalize the NE Regionals and will only net Amtrak the increment between the Regional fare and the discount Acela fare, which could be zero.

I think its an excellent point. It is also hard to ride the train for some people when flying is so cheap. For that same weekend in March that I am paying $466 for two roundtrip tickets on acela, I could have flown on either the usair shuttle or the delta shuttle for $300 - yes that is not a typo. The fares were $70 each way per person to fly. So the pricing might need to come down even more to be competetive with the discount airfares available on the BOS-NYC route.

that is so true! I just flew twice to la on my last trip flew from jfk to lax direct for 88(153 with taxes included).