Family Room Bucket Prices

[river]

I was looking at Amsnag and have a question about family room prices from CHI to EMY. I checked for a 30 day period (and longer, actually) and all the family rooms were priced at $1186 at low bucket (since both rooms were still available) in mid Jan to mid Feb 2012 on the CZ--EXCEPT for three days in a row (Feb 4-6) where the family rooms were priced at $480.

I am curious why Amtrak would do that. Does Amtrak occasionally have special weekend deals to encourage families to use Amtrak?

 

[SarahZ]

I think that simply means nobody is traveling that weekend. I've never seen family fare deals advertised, personally, but I've only been using the long-distance trains for two years.

Edited to add: I just processed that it's a family room, not a bedroom. WOW, that's a low fare. I would totally grab that, even if I weren't planning to travel that weekend.

 

[river]

I thought maybe it was a low travel time, but wouldn't know why that weekend would be any different than any others. In fact, the regular bedrooms are all out of low bucket prices during those 3 days--at mid level and even high buckets. So, it is still puzzling to me.

Could it be a mistake?? A great deal for sure!

 

[GPSTraveler]

Don't forget that the California Zephyr got an ADDITIONAL Sleeper a few months ago.

It went from being the most expensive train to book a sleeper, to the "wow, there are lower bucket rooms on this train than the other western trains" train.

 

[ColdRain&Snow]

Don't forget that the California Zephyr got an ADDITIONAL Sleeper a few months ago.

It went from being the most expensive train to book a sleeper, to the "wow, there are lower bucket rooms on this train than the other western trains" train.

No, the CZ is not running with an additional sleeper right now. The 33 car running through the entire route was a seasonal add earlier this year. The Zephyr is back to its normal consist of two sleepers and the transdorm.