Forcing a Connection in NY Penn

[rmgreenesq]

Greetings Gang:

I'm off to Miami in March. I'm looking to take the train south from Boston. My schedule says I need to fly back north. As I dink with Amtrak.com, it seems to give me connections in Washington. If I'm (ok my client is) going to plunk down $321 for a viewliner sleeper, I'd like to sit in it from NY Penn thank you very much.

If I build a multi city trip (BOS-NYP & NYP-MIA), will Amtrak.com consider these two seperate trips and price it accodingly? Should I call and talk to Julie? or a human being?

Is there a way to force Amtrak.com to give me a connection in NY Penn?

On a slightly related topic, If I take the connection in Washington and move up to the Acela first class, anybody know if I would be served two meals (one leaving Boston and the other NY Penn)?

Rick

 

[AlanB]

If you want to connect to the Silver Star, then there is no connection from Boston to the Star in NY. The first train out of Boston arrives with only 50 minutes to spare and Amtrak won't guarantee that connection. If you want to connect with the Meteor, then you can connect in NY with no problems. I get that connection via Amtrak.com without problem.

If you build a Multi-city trip to connect with the Star in NY, then yes it will be considered seperate and priced accordingly. And if something goes wrong, you're on your own to deal with it.

Now if you decide on Acela, while you'll have to pay the extra cost as there is no discount for it, then you could connect easily to the Star in NYP. And if you decide to go all the way to DC, then yes you'll get two meals if you want them. Note: The first departure at 5:15 from Boston will get you two breakfasts, the other trains following would net you 1 breakfast and 1 lunch.

 

[rmgreenesq]

Now if you decide on Acela, while you'll have to pay the extra cost as there is no discount for it, then you could connect easily to the Star in NYP.

Thanks for your reply. I had a time restriction on the reservation request that blocked out connecting to the Meteor in NY Penn. I can get it and am getting ready to book it. The client called and the trip is a go.

I connected to the Star last Septermber, but I guess the schedule changed. Also the Star goes over to Tampa and I'd like to avoid that. Not that there's anything wrong with Tampa. I'd just like to avoid the side trip to the west coast.

I wonder why Amtrak.com does not offer me the Acela? It seems that most times I'm building a reservation that goes beyone the Northeast Corridor, the Acela is rarely offered as an option. Any ideas why?

Rick

 

[BobWeaver]

If you want to avoid the Tampa leg of the trip, then why again aren't you taking the Silver Meteor? I read that you had a time restriction on the reservation request, but I'm not really sure what that means

The Meteor leaves 4 hours after the Silver Star does, but arrives into Miami only 50 minutes later.

 

[AlanB]

I wonder why Amtrak.com does not offer me the Acela? It seems that most times I'm building a reservation that goes beyone the Northeast Corridor, the Acela is rarely offered as an option. Any ideas why?

Because when you're connecting to another train, Amtrak heavily discounts the fare for the ride on the NEC. They don't want to give away seats on their premium trains, which routinely run close to capacity at full price if they don't have to.

Just as an example, I can connect to Pittsburgh via the Capitol Limited for $75 one way using train #141 out of NYP. Just booking the Capitol to PGH would cost me $52, so basically Amtrak is only getting 23 bucks for my ride on the NEC on #141. Technically they are allocating the entire $75 across the whole run, but still it's one heck of a discount when compared to the prices below for a normal ride on the NEC.

If I only want to ride train #141 to WAS, it will cost me $90. So with Acela fares coming in at $135 and $168 for the day I picked, Amtrak is unwilling to discount that ticket so much.

 

[rmgreenesq]

If you want to avoid the Tampa leg of the trip, then why again aren't you taking the Silver Meteor? I read that you had a time restriction on the reservation request, but I'm not really sure what that means
The Meteor leaves 4 hours after the Silver Star does, but arrives into Miami only 50 minutes later.

The time restriction means that I told Amtrak.com that I wanted to leave at a specific time. Amtrak.com was putting me on Train #67 (the overnight regional) and connecting with the Star in Washington.

As to Meteor v. Star, I think I've been misunderstood. I'm going to book the Meteor to avoid the side trip to Tampa.

Rick

 

[rmgreenesq]

OK... I picked up my tickets. I'm in room #3 of 9711. I'm assuming that I'm in the second sleeping car from the diner. The sleeper was pulled from the "B" bucket and the price was on the steep side ($321). On my August trip that I purchased a week ago, I was put in the "10" car (2910 & 0310).

Is it fair to assume that the 9710 car is full or the roomettes are all booked?

Rick

 

[AlanB]

OK... I picked up my tickets. I'm in room #3 of 9711. I'm assuming that I'm in the second sleeping car from the diner. The sleeper was pulled from the "B" bucket and the price was on the steep side ($321). On my August trip that I purchased a week ago, I was put in the "10" car (2910 & 0310).
Is it fair to assume that the 9710 car is full or the roomettes are all booked?

Rick

No, it would not be fair to assume that. It would be fair to assume one of two other possible reasons. Either Amtrak starts booking the sleeper farthest from the diner first or that all of the rooms in the 10 sleeper at the lower price buckets have already been sold, so asking for a roomette in the 10 sleeper would have cost even more.