Any way to book a trip more than 1 year out?

[CelticWhisper]

So they just announced NecronomiCon Providence 2015 and it's from 08/20-08/23, so I'll be going CHI<-->PVD via the CL and NER/Acela. However, I can't book online past 07/21 right now.

Has anyone had luck booking a trip more than 1 year (11 months?) out, or is it a hard-and-fast limit?

 

[Bob Dylan]

So they just announced NecronomiCon Providence 2015 and it's from 08/20-08/23, so I'll be going CHI<-->PVD via the CL and NER/Acela. However, I can't book online past 07/21 right now.

Has anyone had luck booking a trip more than 1 year (11 months?) out, or is it a hard-and-fast limit?

11 months to the day is The Law!!!!

 

[the_traveler]

There's no way to book beyond 11 months out.

 

[SarahZ]

I set a calendar alert on my phone so I remember to book as soon as I'm within 11 months.

If the prices seem high, and they do sometimes start out that way, I set a calendar to remind me to check the price for those dates every two weeks.

 

[zephyr17]

11 months is when the inventory is released for sale on Arrow. It effectively does not exist before then.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I can understand why airlines refuse to sell seats more than three hundred days out. Airlines are often adjusting routes, frequencies, hardware, and utilization. On the other hand I'm not sure how Amtrak benefits from restricting future bookings. We're talking about a company that has little if any power to modify current routes and little if any incentive to create new ones. Hardware gets shifted around from time to time but in general the same routes will see the same frequencies with the same hardware for decades. Selling another two or three years into the future at high-bucket prices wouldn't seem to be much of problem in that context. Perhaps it's simply due to limitations inherent in the ARROW reservations system.

 

[the_traveler]

Part of the problem is that some people might not take special care or accidentally hit the wrong year when making the reservation. They may think their making a reservation for November 16, 2017, but they click on 2016 instead. When they do not show for the train on November 16, 2016, the reservation for (they thought) November 16, 2017 will be cancelled but they won't know for 12 months!

 

[amamba]

So they just announced NecronomiCon Providence 2015 and it's from 08/20-08/23,?

You can celebrate the birthday of HPlovecraft!

 

[fairviewroad]

I suspect that this is the real reason:

Perhaps it's simply due to limitations inherent in the ARROW reservations system.

But this is also a pretty good justification for keeping the current limitation:

Part of the problem is that some people might not take special care or accidentally hit the wrong year when making the reservation.

To me, there doesn't seem to be much upside to extending the reservation period. The OP doesn't have a logistical problem. It's just that he is very excited about his upcoming trip (I'm making a gender assumption here based on the objective of his trip). It's perfectly understandable why he wants to lock in his tickets for something that far in advance...but it's really not necessary.

 

[CelticWhisper]

Amamba - Yup, that's the plan! It'll be his 125th.

Fairviewroad - Got it in one. No logistical problems, just want to lock in low fares and make sure I get my room. I'm so excited you could say I'm...GOING MAD!

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I'll just have to pay close attention once September ~19th-ish rolls around.

 

[zephyr17]

Amamba - Yup, that's the plan! It'll be his 125th.

Fairviewroad - Got it in one. No logistical problems, just want to lock in low fares and make sure I get my room. I'm so excited you could say I'm...GOING MAD!

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I'll just have to pay close attention once September ~19th-ish rolls around.

Booking as soon as inventory is released is no longer a guarantee of the lowest fares. Amtrak has gotten much more sophisticated in their yield management over the last couple of years and they set the initial bucket by anticipated demand and a lot comes in to inventory at a high(er) bucket now. The price often drops later, so don't just grab the first price you see assuming it is the lowest, it doesn't have to be and probably won't be.

 

[CelticWhisper]

Amamba - Yup, that's the plan! It'll be his 125th.

Fairviewroad - Got it in one. No logistical problems, just want to lock in low fares and make sure I get my room. I'm so excited you could say I'm...GOING MAD!

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I'll just have to pay close attention once September ~19th-ish rolls around.

Booking as soon as inventory is released is no longer a guarantee of the lowest fares. Amtrak has gotten much more sophisticated in their yield management over the last couple of years and they set the initial bucket by anticipated demand and a lot comes in to inventory at a high(er) bucket now. The price often drops later, so don't just grab the first price you see assuming it is the lowest, it doesn't have to be and probably won't be.

Oh. ...Well poopy.

Is this what Amsnag is for then?

 

[zephyr17]

Amamba - Yup, that's the plan! It'll be his 125th.

Fairviewroad - Got it in one. No logistical problems, just want to lock in low fares and make sure I get my room. I'm so excited you could say I'm...GOING MAD!

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I'll just have to pay close attention once September ~19th-ish rolls around.

Booking as soon as inventory is released is no longer a guarantee of the lowest fares. Amtrak has gotten much more sophisticated in their yield management over the last couple of years and they set the initial bucket by anticipated demand and a lot comes in to inventory at a high(er) bucket now. The price often drops later, so don't just grab the first price you see assuming it is the lowest, it doesn't have to be and probably won't be.

Oh. ...Well poopy.

Is this what Amsnag is for then?

Pretty much. I'd start doing Amsnag searches now for various times of the year to get an idea of where the buckets are for your trip, that way when a low(ish) one shows up, you'll recognize that it is low when inventory is released. If it isn't low I'd sit back and do Amsnag searches regularly looking for patterns, and looking for that low fare.

That is not to say you should not book early, you should, but you should let the demand affect the yield management before you commit. I generally book anywhere from 5-9 months out. At some point, the exact time depends on the season I plan to traveling, if a really low bucket is not available, I will bite the bullet and either book it if I can swallow that fare or consider alternatives such as flying or just not going.

 

[The Whistler]

Fare watch is the only method of getting the best price as Amtrak monitors demand as the ticket sales open and progress. Sometimes fares drop just before a departure and at other times the best fares are several months out. The fares seldom open at low bucket anymore so just do a fare watch and hope for the best