Booking Sleepers Online vs. Calling Amtrak

[jhjr]

I am fairly new to Amtrak but in booking a sleeper on the Empire Builder I got a dramatically lower price when I called than the price quoted online. Is this normal or a fluke? Thanks.

 

[Ryan]

Fluke, or you weren't comparing apples to apples (different day, different endpoints, etc).

 

[Devil's Advocate]

As you might expect it's hard to speculate without a lot more information.

 

[the_traveler]

It's also possible that when you checked online or by phone (I don't know which one you called first), by the time you checked with the other one, the (fare) bucket may have rose!

If you find a good fare, book it AT THAT TIME! (If before 7 days, you can cancel without penalty.)

 

[Tony]

Fluke, or you weren't comparing apples to apples (different day, different endpoints, etc).

If this happened to me, my first thought would be that the phone service rep, was making a mistake (wrong day, wrong endpoints, wrong accommodations, etc).

 

[Pastor Dave]

For most of my trips I visit an agent at either TRE or PHL. Don't know if it saves me anything, but I feel more comfortable speaking face to face with a live person (also, they have some pretty interesting stories to share).

 

[zephyr17]

For most of my trips I visit an agent at either TRE or PHL. Don't know if it saves me anything, but I feel more comfortable speaking face to face with a live person (also, they have some pretty interesting stories to share).

I check prices on the web, but book with an agent. Mostly because I am a bit picky about the room locations.

 

[Cliff]

I will try to call Amtrak next time I book a sleeper because of my experience.

I rode Empire Builder on sleeper twice already. The last time was March 2009. Both going from Portland to Chicago and each time I was put on sleeper not facing the Columbia River!

I plan to ride this route once more and want to see the Columbia River on my sleeper.

 

[Guest]

I will try to call Amtrak next time I book a sleeper because of my experience.

I rode Empire Builder on sleeper twice already. The last time was March 2009. Both going from Portland to Chicago and each time I was put on sleeper not facing the Columbia River!

I plan to ride this route once more and want to see the Columbia River on my sleeper.

While the agent would like to be helpful in assisting you with this, there is never a guarantee as to which direction the car will be facing, so they can't predict which side of the train any specific room will be facing when the train departs.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I will try to call Amtrak next time I book a sleeper because of my experience. I rode Empire Builder on sleeper twice already. The last time was March 2009. Both going from Portland to Chicago and each time I was put on sleeper not facing the Columbia River! I plan to ride this route once more and want to see the Columbia River on my sleeper.

Maybe I'm just naive, but how will calling help you? So far as I know Amtrak only runs their cars in ad-hock assemblies. However a given car happens to be spotted is how it gets cut in/out with no attention paid to orientation. As nobody will know in advance on which side a given room will be how can they assure you of any particular view? Don't get me wrong, I wish there was a way Amtrak could sell us a specific view, but the extra work it would take to push that car down a wye or spin it on a turntable would apparently cause all hell to break loose. Taking this into account you can still purchase a family room with windows on both ends or buy two roomettes on either side of the car or simply spend your time in the lounge.

 

[pennyk]

For most of my trips I visit an agent at either TRE or PHL. Don't know if it saves me anything, but I feel more comfortable speaking face to face with a live person (also, they have some pretty interesting stories to share).

I check prices on the web, but book with an agent. Mostly because I am a bit picky about the room locations.

Ditto, but sometimes the price quoted by the agent for a particular room is more than it is online. The last time I booked with an agent, the fare went up $700 from the time I began the conversation until she was ready to book.

 

[Train2104]

Ditto, but sometimes the price quoted by the agent for a particular room is more than it is online. The last time I booked with an agent, the fare went up $700 from the time I began the conversation until she was ready to book.

Yikes! That would lead me to reschedule my trip if I could!

Amtrak lets you pick out rooms all the time if you book by phone? I thought it was only if you were booking 2 rooms and wanted them across from each other or in a similar situation.

 

[zephyr17]

For most of my trips I visit an agent at either TRE or PHL. Don't know if it saves me anything, but I feel more comfortable speaking face to face with a live person (also, they have some pretty interesting stories to share).

I check prices on the web, but book with an agent. Mostly because I am a bit picky about the room locations.

Ditto, but sometimes the price quoted by the agent for a particular room is more than it is online. The last time I booked with an agent, the fare went up $700 from the time I began the conversation until she was ready to book.

Yep, that is a risk, but when that happens, I don't book, either...

 

[pennyk]

Ditto, but sometimes the price quoted by the agent for a particular room is more than it is online. The last time I booked with an agent, the fare went up $700 from the time I began the conversation until she was ready to book.

Yikes! That would lead me to reschedule my trip if I could!

Amtrak lets you pick out rooms all the time if you book by phone? I thought it was only if you were booking 2 rooms and wanted them across from each other or in a similar situation.

I always request an odd numbered roomette or Bedroom B on a Viewliner. Every time I have been on the Silvers, those are the rooms that are facing forward. I did not book at the time and waited a day, then booked. Since then, the price went down a bit on one of the trains and I rebooked that train and got a refund for the difference.

 

[zephyr17]

Ditto, but sometimes the price quoted by the agent for a particular room is more than it is online. The last time I booked with an agent, the fare went up $700 from the time I began the conversation until she was ready to book.

Yikes! That would lead me to reschedule my trip if I could!

Amtrak lets you pick out rooms all the time if you book by phone? I thought it was only if you were booking 2 rooms and wanted them across from each other or in a similar situation.

Yes, you can really get into any open room, but sometimes it is tough for the agent to make the price work (they can if they know the tricks, apparently, but not all the agents do). However, to make it easier on everyone, I just ask what room they are assigning when working with them on the reservation. For me, the primary thing to avoid is the trans-dorm, after that, downstairs, and finally prefer not to be in 9 or 10. Anything else I'll take out of the box, otherwise I'll ask what else is available.

And, as others have said, there is no way to know which side your room is going to be on. The car can face either way in any given consist, at least for Superliners.

 

[AlanB]

Don't get me wrong, I wish there was a way Amtrak could sell us a specific view, but the extra work it would take to push that car down a wye or spin it on a turntable would apparently cause all hell to break loose.

Let's look at a scenario as to why Amtrak doesn't do this. An Empire Builder arrives 3 hours late in Seattle and is already barely going to be ready for an ontime departure due to a lack of time to be properly cleaned, since it's a same day turn around. Now, an hour before they are set to roll the train out of the yard, they find that one of the AC units on a sleeper isn't working. That of course means that they're going to set that car out and replace it with another.

You've got to get a switch crew into the engine, cut the bad car out, roll a new one in, and get everything tied in. Power, PA, air, etc.

Would you prefer that the train leave ontime or would you prefer a late departure because the switch crew has to spend an extra 10 to 15 minutes turning that spare sleeper around so that it faces in the correct direction?

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Let's look at a scenario as to why Amtrak doesn't do this. An Empire Builder arrives 3 hours late in Seattle and is already barely going to be ready for an ontime departure due to a lack of time to be properly cleaned, since it's a same day turn around. Now, an hour before they are set to roll the train out of the yard, they find that one of the AC units on a sleeper isn't working. That of course means that they're going to set that car out and replace it with another. You've got to get a switch crew into the engine, cut the bad car out, roll a new one in, and get everything tied in. Power, PA, air, etc. Would you prefer that the train leave ontime or would you prefer a late departure because the switch crew has to spend an extra 10 to 15 minutes turning that spare sleeper around so that it faces in the correct direction?

Hmm, I guess on that specific train on that specific day Amtrak might not be able to give people what they wanted. They'd still have a 50/50 chance of getting it right even in those emergency swap cases though. It seems like something sleeper passengers would prefer if Amtrak was willing (and able) to provide it to them, even if it wasn't possible on every single departure of every single train. Who knows, maybe they'd even pay a little more for it, perhaps even enough to cover the occasional turn now and again. It's nothing more than an idea, just some virtual words on a virtual page. If it's truly impossible then I'm sure Amtrak won't bother with it, but maybe it could be considered for trains that have especially attractive scenery (CS, CZ, & EB). Maybe shifting gears a bit and catering to the leisure market on routes that can support a premium add-on makes more sense now that HSR appears to be slipping further and further from our grasp.

 

[the_traveler]

I will try to call Amtrak next time I book a sleeper because of my experience.

I rode Empire Builder on sleeper twice already. The last time was March 2009. Both going from Portland to Chicago and each time I was put on sleeper not facing the Columbia River!

I plan to ride this route once more and want to see the Columbia River on my sleeper.

While the agent would like to be helpful in assisting you with this, there is never a guarantee as to which direction the car will be facing, so they can't predict which side of the train any specific room will be facing when the train departs.

The last time I was on the EB (SEA section), one sleeper had bedrooms first and the other had the roomettes first. So one was "the right side" and one was "the wrong side"!

BTW, on my last trip to PDX on the EB, the bedrooms (which I was in - remember only 1 sleeper goes to PDX) was on "the wrong side" but because it was the last car, I stood at the "railfan's window" for most of the morning!