Changes to Onboard Sleeper Sales/Upgrades

[Amfleet]

Source Gene Poon and Amtrak from Trainorders.

CHANGES TO ON-BOARD SLEEPER SALES PROCESS
DUE TO HIGH DEMAND AND LIMITED AVAILABILITY, THE PRICE FOR ON-BOARD SLEEPER UPGRADES WILL BE CALCULATED USING A NEW, SIMPLER METHOD THAT WILL RESULT IN HIGHER REVENUE YIELDS.

EFFECTIVE JUNE 15, 2004 AND UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, CONDUCTORS WILL COLLECT THE *PUBLISHED* D-LEVEL ACCOMMODATION CHARGE FROM PASSENGERS WHO WISH TO UPGRADE ON BOARD THE TRAIN, BASED UPON SPACE AVAILABILITY.

IN CASES WHERE A PASSENGER IS UPGRADING FROM A SMALL SLEEPER TO A LARGE SLEEPER (E.G., STANDARD TO DELUXE), AND THE ACCOMODATION CHARGE ORIGINALLY PAID FOR THE SMALL SLEEPER IS GREATER THAN THE D-LEVEL CHARGE FOR THE LARGE SLEEPER, THE PASSENGER MAY UPGRADE TO THE LARGER ROOM FOR NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE.

-source: AMTRAK

(NOTE: under previous policy the charge was calculated as a percentage of the published accomodations charge)

 

[amtrakmichigan]

Does anyone know where price tier "D" is in relation to other price tiers? Is "D" one of the cheeper or more expensive prices?

 

[engine999]

How often are larger sleepers actually cheeper?

 

[Anthony]

How often are larger sleepers actually cheeper?

Say you book the smaller sleeper on the day of departure, as an upgrade at the ticket agent desk. That price could be more than the "D" fare of the larger one, whatever the "D" fare is.

 

[MrFSS]

Say you book the smaller sleeper on the day of departure, as an upgrade at the ticket agent desk. That price could be more than the "D" fare of the larger one, whatever the "D" fare is.

Shouldn't Amtrak therefore just go ahead and upgrade you to the deluxe room without even considering the standard? Or, would you have to ask, again, when you were on board?

 

[Anthony]

Say you book the smaller sleeper on the day of departure, as an upgrade at the ticket agent desk. That price could be more than the "D" fare of the larger one, whatever the "D" fare is.

Shouldn't Amtrak therefore just go ahead and upgrade you to the deluxe room without even considering the standard? Or, would you have to ask, again, when you were on board?

I doubt they would volunteer the bigger room, as someone on board in coach might want to upgrade for the higher bracket, and they get both fares that way.

 

[railman]

There are five tiers of accommodation charges for Amtrak sleepers: S, A, B, C and D. D is the lowest published accommodation charge of the lot with S being the highest or full-rate. These charges are assessed per room, and must be accompanied by a per-person rail fare.

BTW, rail fares are also tiered at five levels, but advance bookings in sleepers are always priced with the lowest published rail fare (per occupant) plus the prevailing accommodation charge (per room) for the sleeper.

This is how an upgrade from Standard to Deluxe could cost nothing. Assume these are the sleeper accom charges for the trip being made:

Standard bedroom

S $100.00

A $80.00

B $65.00

C $50.00

D $40.00

Deluxe bedroom

S $200.00

A $180.00

B $145.00

C $110.00

D $90.00

Now Joe Blow has bought a Standard bedroom for his trip, priced at the S-level accommodation charge ($100.00). He asks for a Deluxe bedroom on board the train and the conductor looks it up (D-level accom charge = $90.00). Since Joe already paid $100.00 for the Standard, he is able to move into a Deluxe at no additional charge ($90 less $100 = -$10 or "no charge").

 

[GG-1]

Aloha

All the discussions about cost of sleeper vs the meal cost has sparked a curisity so I checked the rate of a economy bedroom from LAX to EMY. What I found was $137. This does not match what railman listed in his post. Has somthing changed or is there some reason his list did not match what the amtrak site gave me tonight.

Mahalo

Eric

 

[battalion51]

What railman posted were examples, there are tons of different prices for different city pairs. Looking in the tariff book for the Sunset the prices look like this from ORL to NOL

YOFC 0 88.00

97.00

AOF1 0 70.00

79.00

BOF1 0 56.00

65.00

DOF1 0 45.00

54.00

ES 0 256.00

EA 0 206.00

EB 0 166.00

EC 0 133.00

ED 0 107.00

FS 0 385.00

FA 0 308.00

FB 0 246.00

FC 0 197.00

FD 0 158.00

HS 0 315.00

HA 0 253.00

HB 0 203.00

HC 0 162.00

HD 0 130.00

DS 0 454.00

DA 0 363.00

DB 0 289.00

DC 0 231.00

DD 0 185.00

That's exactly what the fare book looks like (except with all lot more city pairs). But Railman's post is just numbers for the sake of making a point.

 

[GG-1]

What railman posted were examples,  ....  Railman's post is just numbers for the sake of making a point.

Aloha and Mahalo

I suspected this might be the case. Does anyone have such a list between LAX & EMY

Again Mahalo

Eric

 

[battalion51]

I don't know, but 137 sounds like a C or D Bucket to me, and therefore is probably a worthy deal.