Auto Train bedroom question

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A question to Auto Train experts:

1. Traveling party - 2 adults + 2 young kids in a Superliner sleeper car

2. Normally, Family Bedroom would be used, but it seems to be extremely expensive this year

3. The next choice -- 2 adjacent roomettes, which seems much more reasonable price-wise

4. However, Superliner roomettes do not have ladders to upper bunks; also, it would break the family party into 2 pieces

5. Therefore, the question:

- Can the "regular" bedroom + an extra coach seat can be used in this situation ?

a) They can only book 3 people in a bedroom, so there has to be 2 separate reservations, one sleeper (3 people) and one coach (1)

b) Can the coach passenger then walk to the bedroom and stay there all the time ? It seems that there is an "easy chair" in a bedroom

that is not being used when the bedroom switches to a "night mode"

c) Is riding in the "easy chair" much different from riding in coach ? Obviously, no recline and less legroom, but it seems that with some

effort one can sleep in it

d) It seems that meals are included for all Auto Train passengers, even in coach. The diner cars are different but it looks like they serve

the same meals. If this is the case, is it possible for a coach passenger to take his dinner ticket to the sleeper diner car and dine

with the family ?

Thanks in advance.
 
Don't know about meals, but the passenger in coach would not be allowed in the sleepers, even if the reservations were connected. It is against Amtrak official policy.
 
If you don't turn the couch into beds, then the regular bedroom could be used. It will require a call to Amtrak to do, but it can be done.

That being said, I'd recommend two roomettes over using a regular bedroom. It'll be much more comfortable (especially at night) and having roomettes across the hall from each other can offer some of the social aspect. If there's lower level roomettes available (a call to Amtrak should find this) then with the less traffic it wouldn't be too bad of an option.
 
Traveling with four people, myself, my daughter, and her two pre-teen girls, we used two roomettes across from each other. Worked great and we traveled much longer than the auto train. The girls shifted from being together, or with each one of us, or being in the lounge car with us playing games. Both girls slept in the upper bunks. Strongly suggest using 2 roomettes.
 
It's interesting how the "no coach passenger in sleeper section" policy is being enforced ?

Are these sections (sleeper and coach) physically separated now (by permanently locked inter-car passageway) ?

The last time we took Auto Train (March 2014) all passageways were open and all passengers

(sleeper and coach alike) were free to roam the entire length of the Auto Train consist (ex-autoracks, of course).
 
The south end of the train is the coach section; the north end is the sleeper section. Locking the doors between the two sections would present serious problems in terms of service delivery and safety. Conductors and other crew members need unfettered access to the entire train. If there were an emergency, it might be necessary to move people quickly from one area to another. Locked doors would create serious problems. Sleeper passengers are permitted access to the entire train. At the point where the sleeper section adjoins the coach section, there are signs prominently displayed, explaining that coach passengers are not permitted in the sleeper section. No passengers are permitted in the trans/dorm.

For meal service, each passenger receives a numbered, color coded meal coupon. The color and number are determined by the dinner seating and dining car where that passenger is scheduled to eat. Each dining car can accommodate 64 passengers per seating, and on a very busy train the seatings --- especially the first and second seatings --- are usually 100% reserved, which means there would not be an extra seat for an extra person. The inventory of food supplies is also carefully monitored. In the current belt-tightening climate, I wouldn't be surprised if a Chef and LSA could get in trouble for serving one more meal than their manifest indicates. I'm not sure about this latter point.

Unless I missed it, I don't think the size/age of the kids was mentioned. These are factors that could make a big difference in regard to the most suitable accommodations.
 
The OP says two "young" kids. With that as my sole guide, I would suggest:

1. Lonestar's suggestion (two economy"roomettes" across from one another). Mom & dad take the lower berths; the kids up top. This is not recommended if the children are extremely small.

2. One bedroom. The lower berth is wider than the upper, but much smaller than a full double bed. When asked if it can be used as a double, I always answered "it depends on how good friends you are." Small kids can share the narrower upper. Again, I would be concerned about VERY small kids up there without an adult.

3. Family room. Two lower berths, one full length and one about 48" long. The full length bed is extra-wide. Two upper berths, both standard width; one full length and one about 48" long.

4. Two adjoining bedrooms would probably be the most expensive option, but would be the most spacious option.
 
Please HELP:

I'm just off the phone with THREE Amtrak agents (including one from Customer Relations).

They keep telling the same story.

I'm trying to book a combination of

- 1 [regular] bedroom , plus

- 1 roomette

I can't mix-and-match rooms on the internet booking site, so I have to call.

They quote me the price that matches Amsnag and Amtrak web site (low bucket for both rooms).

Then I ask if they can make it so that both rooms are in the same car.

And the hell breaks loose ...

When checking each segment separately, they confirmed that in car 5342 all 5 bedrooms

(A through E) are available, and only a handful of upper-level roomettes are taken (i.e. quite a few are available).

By the way, this is Auto Train 53 (Southbound) for March 20, so it should NOT be even close to sold out

(it's the other direction that may be problematic). The availability of the lowest bucket prices confirms that.

Then, they say (ALL THREE AGENTS) that by forcing both rooms in the same car INCREASES THE PRICE

(by $200+).

Is this really true ??? Does requesting the exact same combination of rooms in the same car (given that the rooms

ARE AVAILABLE in that particular car) require a price increase ?????

Thanks in advance.

{This, by the way, was the most aggravating experience with Amtrak phone agents ever; I don't remember the name

of a lady, but the "regular" agent introduced himself as Bill and the "customer relations" agent as Bob)
 
Ask them to get a supervisor to help them. The computer is set up to price the rooms based on # of rooms available and the agents might not know how to override that, but the supervisor should be able to.

Though it does sound weird since you're booking just one bedroom and one roomette.
 
Are the following workarounds reasonable ?

1. a) Make a reservation for 2 roomettes (it can be done on the Internet, without calling)

b) keep the fingers crossed that both roomettes will be assigned to the same car

c) Then call and try to modify the reservation (upgrade one of the roomettes to a bedroom;

I guess they can still claim that the only upgrade available is a bedroom in a different car ...)

2. Go to an agent on the station (NYP in my case) and try booking it in person.

Thanks in advance.
 
Is it possible to add people to an existing reservation ?

In this case, I can book a bedroom for 3 people in the party (out of 4),

and then try to add a 4-th person and a roomette to the reservation.

I guess it may still cause the two rooms to be in different cars ...
 
Do what Amtrak Blue said.

Call back and get someone with a clue. If they don't have a clue, ask for a supervisor that has one.

Requesting a specific room in a specific car does not change the price, but apparently doing so in their computer system in such a way that doesn't change the price is more complicated than brain surgery or something.
 
Thanks, AmtrakBlue and Ryan.

I may try to call next week and see how it goes. Or I may just book 2 roomettes

and forget the whole [upgrade to bedroom] thing.

Still -- is it worthwhile to go to the NYP ticket counter and try to interact with a ticket agent in person ?

At least I'll be able to see if a "supervisor with a clue" comes to help out.
 
I wouldn't wait in line in NYP to book a trip to Heaven!

As the others said, call AGR back, you got a lazy/uncaring crew of agents, lots of us have done similar things on the phone and had no problem with a good agent, or a Supervisor if necessary!

Don't take No as Gospel!
 
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I wouldn't wait until next week, as the price really could change between now and then.
 
For two adults and two kids, I'd just stick with two roomettes. Call up and book it and ask for rooms across the hall from one another. Again selecting specific rooms should not change the price. If they claim it will, ask for a supervisor and get it done properly.

There's no reason to think that going to NYP will net better results.

Although saying that reminded me - did you call the regular Amtrak number or the special Auto Train number (800-SKIP-I95?) You've got a better chance of finding a clueful person at the dedicated Auto Train number.
 
Quote from Ryan:

"Although saying that reminded me - did you call the regular Amtrak number or the special Auto Train number (800-SKIP-I95?) You've got a better chance of finding a clueful person at the dedicated Auto Train number."

Absolutely right!

Tom
 
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I tried the 1-877-skip-i95 first.

Ran into a lady who seemed helpful at first, but then claimed that putting the

bedroom into the same car with roomette increases the price $200+, overriding

her own previous price quote given 5 minutes ago.

What bothered me the most was her explanation (rooms not available, train almost full,

etc.) when I absolutely certainly knew it was not the case.

So I hang up and tried 1-800-usa-rail instead. Got "Bob". Amazingly, he said the

exactly same thing in the same sequence -- at first quoted me the "low" price, but

presumably with roomette and bedroom in different cars, then tried to put them to

the same car and increased the price.

Incredulous, I asked for a "customer relations" agent (didn't think about asking for a

supervisor). "Bill" came. Instead of explaining to me what the issue was he started

the same "song" about the availability of rooms on this train. His tone and phone

manners were condescending at best, if not outright disrespectful to an "educated"

customer. He ended up the call telling that there is absolutely nothing he can do

(and is willing to do), effectively shutting down the conversation.

Since I need the specific date and don't wan't to risk the [regular] price increase,

I went ahead and booked 2 roomettes through the Internet. Unlike the Auto Train bookings

in prior years, the system did NOT give me the room assignments in the e-mail confirmation.

So, the first thing I'll do is to call in a day or two and see what are my current roomette

assignments. Hopefully they are in the same car and close to each other. This will be my

backup default option. Then I'll try again and see if I can upgrade one of the roomettes

to a bedroom without triggering the "unwarranted" price increase (beyond the difference

between price paid for a roomette and the current rate for a bedroom). I'll use the advice

given on this forum and ask for a supervisor, if necessary.
 
I was watching Amsnag daily regarding the price of a Bedroom on the Auto Train and something weird

seems to be going on.

The accommodation price for a Bedroom starts at $332 (seems to be the lowest bucket).

After some time, it jumped to $485 (seems like the second bucket; looks "normal" so far)

Then it jumped to $637, just for a few days, then dropped back to $332 !

This completely flies in the face of the "general theory" that the room pricing is solely tied

to the number of rooms still available. There exists a possibility of cancellations, but given the

recent Amtrak's cancellation policy for sleeping accommodations (you don't really get

your money back, just get it credited to future purchases) it's hard to believe that people

will be cancelling their Bedroom reservations willy-nilly (how this price history suggests).

Did somebody do some recent "price-watching" and observe similar patterns for other trains ?

It certainly seems that there is a degree of randomness in pricing, so it's getting almost

mandatory to do heavy price-watching before buying (and not assuming that price won't go

down, even within such a short period as one week).
 
This is exactly what I mean -- are these daily changes in room availability *real*, or are they made-up by

some computer algorithm ?

On some trains these changes can make sense, but they are very suspicious when we talk about

Bedroom reservations on the Auto Train. In years past, the Auto Train Bedroom accommodation price was never

going down (until may be a few days before departure) and never exhibited these fluctuations of

multiple buckets up or down in a single day.
 
Not including the Auto Train, I've also noticed a lot of fare changes in the last couple of months. My theory is that the revenue managers hadn't caught up to the new normal and were still opening up space at high prices even during low season, then reducing prices. And it seems that once someone goes for the lower fare, it goes back up.

Over a two week period, I was watching the CZ from Mount Pleasant to Denver. I observed

Coach: 2 increases, 2 decreases, 3 different prices 105 to 172

Roomette: 3 increases, 4 decreases, 4 different prices 200 to 358 (147 is low bucket)

Family: 1 increase, 1 decrease, 1 sold out, 2 different prices 417 to 631

Bedroom: 3 increases, 2 decreases, 5 different prices 319 to 778
 
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