Booking a reservation on Amtrak.com.....

[niemi24s]

Perhaps the notion of the Auto Train having discounts for round trip bookings is simply due to the choice of dates - return trip obviously at a later date and maybe (but not necessarily) a lower bucket for the second half of the booking because more rooms are available?

Or, conversely, a higher bucket for the first (earliest) half of the booking because fewer rooms are available?

Then too, two separate one-way bookings for a car are 2 X $250 = $500 but for a round trip the car is $48 less at $452.

But whether or not that portion of the booking for just the passenger is discounted for a round trip would take a bit more snooping.

That doesn't make any sense. I think if you book a round trip, you'll be charged each way at the current price for each way, so where's the discount you're alluding to?

"I think. . ."? Think? Why not take the time to read my post slowly and carefully and then check for yourself?

The $48 "discount" for the car referred to was found using a dummy booking on the Amtrak website for a Northbound-first round trip with dates of 30 May and 26 Sep. Note this was for the CAR. Even though the only same sleeper available both ways on those dates was at different buckets, that may just be a bucket difference and not what could be considered a discount.

For those travel dates, the $48 savings is a fact. You don't think I pulled it out of my shorts, do you?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Perhaps the notion of the Auto Train having discounts for round trip bookings is simply due to the choice of dates - return trip obviously at a later date and maybe (but not necessarily) a lower bucket for the second half of the booking because more rooms are available?

Or, conversely, a higher bucket for the first (earliest) half of the booking because fewer rooms are available?

Then too, two separate one-way bookings for a car are 2 X $250 = $500 but for a round trip the car is $48 less at $452.

But whether or not that portion of the booking for just the passenger is discounted for a round trip would take a bit more snooping.

That doesn't make any sense. I think if you book a round trip, you'll be charged each way at the current price for each way, so where's the discount you're alluding to?

"I think. . ."? Think? Why not take the time to read my post slowly and carefully and then check for yourself?

The $48 "discount" for the car referred to was found using a dummy booking on the Amtrak website for a Northbound-first round trip with dates of 30 May and 26 Sep. Note this was for the CAR. Even though the only same sleeper available both ways on those dates was at different buckets, that may just be a bucket difference and not what could be considered a discount.

For those travel dates, the $48 savings is a fact. You don't think I pulled it out of my shorts, do you?

And did you do two one-way dummy bookings for those same dates? Do they not show the same fares as your round trip?

The question is "does a round trip cost less than two one way trips - using the same outbound and inbound dates?"

Show me the numbers (round trip and 2 one ways) for this statement: "Then too, two separate one-way bookings for a car are 2 X $250 = $500 but for a round trip the car is $48 less at $452."

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Here, I did your work for you. Vehicle on May 30 SFA-LOR is $250. Vehicle on Sept 26 LOR-SFA is $202. This equals what you're seeing for the round trip between these dates. So, no, there's no discount. Just the buckets for those two travel days. So no savings are had by booking a round trip vs two one way trips.

 

[cpotisch]

Seems like if there is any discount, it doesn’t show up all the time, since I have yet to find an example of a round trip being cheaper than two one ways. I’m still not completely sold on why the Auto Train would be the only one in the system with discounted round trips, but since multiple senior members said that’s the case, I believe it. What I’m wondering is if it used to be discounted, but isn’t anymore...

 

[niemi24s]

After an hour or so of snooping on the Amtrak website, the following pattern (?) emerged for one-way car/automobile charges on the Auto Train:

• Southbound: goes from $202 to $250 on 1 Oct 2018

• Northbound: goes from $250 to $202 on 1 Jul 2018

This based on random and incomplete checks for each month from June 2018 through 20 April 2019. Some changes were seen in 2019, but my old eyes gave gave out before I could pin down specific dates for any changes beyond those noted above. Neither version of AmSnag reveals car charges, so searching is quite tedious.

Anyway, it appears that there are only two buckets for car transport charges at they seem to be seasonal. There may even be increases or decreases of short duration but finding them would take about 660 individual searches for utter completeness.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

After an hour or so of snooping on the Amtrak website, the following pattern (?) emerged for one-way car/automobile charges on the Auto Train:

• Southbound: goes from $202 to $250 on 1 Oct 2018

• Northbound: goes from $250 to $202 on 1 Jul 2018

This based on random and incomplete checks for each month from June 2018 through 20 April 2019. Some changes were seen in 2019, but my old eyes gave gave out before I could pin down specific dates for any changes beyond those noted above. Neither version of AmSnag reveals car charges, so searching is quite tedious.

Anyway, it appears that there are only two buckets for car transport charges at they seem to be seasonal. There may even be increases or decreases of short duration but finding them would take about 660 individual searches for utter completeness.

So you agree there is no discount for booking a round trip on the auto train?

 

[cpotisch]

After an hour or so of snooping on the Amtrak website, the following pattern (?) emerged for one-way car/automobile charges on the Auto Train:

• Southbound: goes from $202 to $250 on 1 Oct 2018

• Northbound: goes from $250 to $202 on 1 Jul 2018

This based on random and incomplete checks for each month from June 2018 through 20 April 2019. Some changes were seen in 2019, but my old eyes gave gave out before I could pin down specific dates for any changes beyond those noted above. Neither version of AmSnag reveals car charges, so searching is quite tedious.

Anyway, it appears that there are only two buckets for car transport charges at they seem to be seasonal. There may even be increases or decreases of short duration but finding them would take about 660 individual searches for utter completeness.

I didn't see anything that indicated the car fares to be seasonal.

 

[niemi24s]

I didn't see anything that indicated the car fares to be seasonal.

I did.

 

[Dakota 400]

This is not a complaint. But, it's interesting how my original post has evolved into the current discussion. OK by me. I keep learning from the discussion.

 

[cpotisch]

This is not a complaint. But, it's interesting how my original post has evolved into the current discussion. OK by me. I keep learning from the discussion.

I was thinking the same thing. Probably not too unlikely that Penny or PRR push these posts over to a separate topic and lock this one.

 

[Allypet]

I have taken the AT round trip dozens of times over the years. I can tell you that there is no round trip discount. I have have always looked the the prices individually on amsnag and booked round trip. The prices are the same regardless.

In regard to the original post, I just tried to book my next AT trip online. After many errors I gave up and called. I believe the final error was my NARP discount. I have a family plan but it wouldn’t take the same number for both passengers. But on the phone it was no problem.

 

[Arctifox]

To purchase an Amtrak ticket you just enter origin and destination on amtrak.com, choose the connection and class, and then enter your credit card information.
After you booked the train, you will get an electronic ticket in PDF format via e-mail that you can then print and show to the Amtrak staff on paper (you can also show it on your phone, either through the Amtrak app or just the PDF). Every booking you make will have a booking reference similar to a plane ticket which you can use to change or cancel the ticket online or via phone. You don't need a US address for booking Amtrak tickets, nothing is going to get physically shipped to you.