Galesburg Loophole

[rtabern]

It's been awhile since I booked an Amtrak trip... but. glad to see the good ol' Galesburg loophole is still around.

Try playing around with dates.

$108 for 2 people in coach straight thru LAP-CHI

Only $86 for 2 people in coach if you buy a ticket LAP-GBB ($52) and then GBB-CHI ($34)

Not sure why it's $22 cheaper.... i thought maybe it was intra-Illinois and then maybe state-funded... but I don't think the long-distance trains are state funded. Unless I'm wrong?

Still nice to save about 20 percent on fares just by breaking up the ticket combos!!

 

[niemi24s]

Now that you've blabbed about it, what do you think the chances are that this anomaly will soon disappear?

 

[Anderson]

It's been awhile since I booked an Amtrak trip... except when the Dome Car was on the Hiawatha in November. Combination of factors (one more year left of the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass, AGR 2.0, downgrades in food/service, etc.)

Anyhow... glad to see the good ol' Galesburg loophole is still around.

This is for #4 (Southwest Chief) on Sunday, June 24, 2018 using the Saver Fare for both examples.

$108 for 2 people in coach straight thru LAP-CHI

Only $86 for 2 people in coach if you buy a ticket LAP-GBB ($52) and then GBB-CHI ($34)

Not sure why it's $22 cheaper.... i thought maybe it was intra-Illinois and then maybe state-funded... but I don't think the long-distance trains are state funded. Unless I'm wrong?

Still nice to save about 20 percent on my fares just by breaking up the ticket combos!! I've been pulling this one for years.

(1) There are a number of known oddities like this, usually involving Chicago (the "Dyer Shuffle" comes to mind), though the old Atlanta/Anniston situation comes to mind as well. Basically, there are some places where Amtrak is trying to "nudge" passengers one way or another or trying to take advantage of popular city pairings and it results in strange behavior.

(2) IIRC there's an odd arrangement with IL regarding some of the LD trains there due to the overlap with the LD routes.

 

[laurenpl]

There may be a portion of your trip that offers the saver/value fare. So when you break it up and select the least expensive fare category, it will give it to you. However, if you book it as one full trip, it will give you the fare category that is consistent and available throughout your entire trip, which is generally a higher category. JMHO

 

[railiner]

So....the lesson is that 'the whole may not be the sum of its parts'............

 

[Anderson]

There may be a portion of your trip that offers the saver/value fare. So when you break it up and select the least expensive fare category, it will give it to you. However, if you book it as one full trip, it will give you the fare category that is consistent and available throughout your entire trip, which is generally a higher category. JMHO

Though not necessarily the case, this could line up with some sort of state arrangement carrying over to the LD trains (e.g. there's a "saver" fare that's a result of some state deal being in place which doesn't apply to the whole route). An example of where this would apply outside of a state arrangement would be some of the "SmartSeats" fares that I'd occasionally see down in Florida (often trying to fill space on the Meteor south of Jacksonville).