Beware of sleeper fares changing while booking

[amtrakmichigan]

I experienced a big suprise while attempting to book 3 different reservations on the internet in the last couple days.

I attempted to purchase a sleeper on the Capitol Limited and Silver Meteor on Dec.28 / 29. 2007. I was quoted on the internet $143 for the CL (tol - was) and $171 (was - wth) for a std. room. I thought fair enough considering the time of year. I entered my passenger and credit card info and clicked purchase. An error appeared that said that the accomadations that I chose may have been sold out. SOLD OUT????? This has to be a bug in the reservation system I thought to myself. So I went back and started the whole process over again. The sleeper on the CL remained the same, but the room on the SM jumped to $383 !

The same exact thing happened on the return trip. On the return trip I decided to travel to NYP instead of WAS and take the LSL back home. The price for the rooms on both the northbound SM and LSL skyrocketed after I attemted to purchase the fares at the low bucket price just like I described above. If Amtrak has these fares listed, why can't you purchase them?

Has anybody else experienced this problem?

 

[MrFSS]

I experienced a big suprise while attempting to book 3 different reservations on the internet in the last couple days.
I attempted to purchase a sleeper on the Capitol Limited and Silver Meteor on Dec.28 / 29. 2007. I was quoted on the internet $143 for the CL (tol - was) and $171 (was - wth) for a std. room. I thought fair enough considering the time of year. I entered my passenger and credit card info and clicked purchase. An error appeared that said that the accomadations that I chose may have been sold out. SOLD OUT????? This has to be a bug in the reservation system I thought to myself. So I went back and started the whole process over again. The sleeper on the CL remained the same, but the room on the SM jumped to $383 !

The same exact thing happened on the return trip. On the return trip I decided to travel to NYP instead of WAS and take the LSL back home. The price for the rooms on both the northbound SM and LSL skyrocketed after I attemted to purchase the fares at the low bucket price just like I described above. If Amtrak has these fares listed, why can't you purchase them?

Has anybody else experienced this problem?

Did you call the 800 number and ask them to check the prices?

 

[rtabern]

I had that happen a couple of years ago. Well, actually I was quoted one price... and while I was in the process of booking it, it said that fare wasn't valid... then quoted me a higher price from there on out for the same roomette. I called the 800 number to see what was going on... and they said there was just 1 room left at that lower bucket price, and someone snatched it up while I was typing in my credit card info. Kinda stunk, but whatcha gonna go?

Hi Mr. FSS!

 

[AlanB]

Right up until you enter your credit card number those seats/rooms that you were quoted are still on the market for sale. The system doesn't lock out the seat/room that it is quoting you from sale. So if someone else swoops in and books that last seat/room at the lower bucket price before you do, then you will experience what you've seen.

 

[MrFSS]

Hi Mr. FSS!

Hi Robert - you staying warm up north!!!

 

[yarrow]

i had that happen recently though it kicked to a lower bucket, so i was happy.

 

[Guest]

Just last night we were checking bedroom fares from D.C. to Orlando. The first came back $1200 round trip and minutes later it jumped to over $2000. I felt like I was at an auction house.

 

[amtrakmichigan]

Right up until you enter your credit card number those seats/rooms that you were quoted are still on the market for sale. The system doesn't lock out the seat/room that it is quoting you from sale. So if someone else swoops in and books that last seat/room at the lower bucket price before you do, then you will experience what you've seen.

Remember Alan this happened on 2 different trains 3 different days. The odds of somebody booking a sleeper on the same train on the same day for a trip almost exastly 11 months from now at the exact same time for 2 different trains and 3 different days is impossable. I called Amtrak and they had no clue as to what was going on.

 

[rmgreenesq]

Remember Alan this happened on 2 different trains 3 different days. The odds of somebody booking a sleeper on the same train on the same day for a trip almost exastly 11 months from now at the exact same time for 2 different trains and 3 different days is impossable. I called Amtrak and they had no clue as to what was going on.

And the fare jump between the buckets roughly double? That seems a bit strange that the difference between the two buckets would be the bottom bucket fare. I think there is something amiss with the reservation system.

Rick

 

[frj1983]

Right up until you enter your credit card number those seats/rooms that you were quoted are still on the market for sale. The system doesn't lock out the seat/room that it is quoting you from sale. So if someone else swoops in and books that last seat/room at the lower bucket price before you do, then you will experience what you've seen.

Remember Alan this happened on 2 different trains 3 different days. The odds of somebody booking a sleeper on the same train on the same day for a trip almost exastly 11 months from now at the exact same time for 2 different trains and 3 different days is impossable. I called Amtrak and they had no clue as to what was going on.

I think something is amiss also and I'm not Mr. Spock, but the odds you are quoting gotta be a million to one!

I hope they have the problem solved by next month when I book my trip for the Fall.

 

[ccacioppo]

This does not cover sleeper but coach seating. A recent experience online:

During an online booking session last year (nov 2006), I tried to book 4 coach seats on the Silver Star (LAK - NWK) 91/92 roundtrip in Dec 2006.

Over a 2 week period, I checked the fare, twice per day (morning and evening) and saw the price

for this trip 'bounce' a from a low of $910.00 USD to nearly $1700.00 USD. (AAA discount applied) at various time in late Nov/early Dec.

The price varied between the high and low during the time.

I was lucky to have 'snatched' the low price of $910.00 USD for the trip early one morning. (A thursday, i think)

The pattern I saw never followed logic. In fact, this price was gotten 2 weeks before departure on a 'sold out' train.

It was just strange watching the price move like this......

Charlie Cacioppo

 

[amtrakmichigan]

The only logical reasoning I can come up with after thinking about my experience is this. The prices I was quoted was the lowest price bucket possible at any given time on the Silver Meteor at $174. I was booking this trip during peak travel times (end of Dec.) and I was probably the first person to attempt to purchase a sleeper on this train since I attempted to book it almost exactly 11 months ahead (the max. allowed) to the day. Because this is a peak travel time, the reservation system probably has the lowest 2 or 3 buckets "locked out" so the lowest price starts at one of the middle buckets. It looks to me that the Internet can't or won't tell the difference, it just brings up the lowest bucket until somebody attempts to purchase it and then automatically reverts to the buckets that are allowed to be sold for that travel period.

I must point out that I did not have this problem on the Capitol Limited. Again I was probably the first to purchase a sleeper on this train, but the fare on the internet already reflected a higher bucket at $143 from the start, which I beleave is a middle bucket for a Tol - Was trip.

One starts to get annoyed after filling out personell information, AAA member numbers, credit card info etc.... numerous times then have it come back and say " um...sorry but you can't buy the sleeper at that price because our computer programing department screwed up"

 

[Trogdor]

If you discover what you think is a bug in the system, be sure to contact Amtrak via their website and provide as detailed a description as possible of the problem you encounter, so they can look at it.