How to get a lowest fare by reservation?

[chuchu]

Does anyone know how many days one can get a lowest fare by reservation in advance, at least 21, 30 days or what else?

 

[Gingee]

Not sure if I am understanding this right but your best bet is book as far in advance as you can. I booked last fall for next month.

 

[sechs]

Amtrak uses a simple bucket system for fares. Unless someone cancels or some unusual circumstance, prices only go up.

This is to say that the cheapest prices are available as soon as a seat is available to book. Since there is no penalty for canceling if you did not print your tickets, book as soon as you have a good idea what your plans are.

 

[lrdc9_metroplitan_sub]

Another idea . . .

If you search almost a year in advance, it will give you an idea what the lowest fare bucket is so that you have a baseline for flexible dates where you have many options.

 

[jackal]

My best post to-date on Amtrak fare buckets and on-board upgrade prices. I need to rewrite it, but for now, here's the direct link to the post.

http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?...st&p=115069

I think I'll add it to my signature... (Hey, it took a lot of work!)

 

[the_traveler]

Because Amtrak sells seats via the bucket system, it depends on how tickets are selling FOR THAT TRAIN! If a train in 3 months is selling fast, but on leaving today is not, it is possible that the train departing in 5 hours costs less than the one departing in 3 months!

But I wouldn't count on that. It is still best to make a reservation well in advance to get the lowest fare!

 

[chuchu]

It is impossible to search almost a year in advance because its online just displays this year calendar. However, it seems the fare on Saturday and Sunday is higher than other days.

 

[meatpuff]

It is impossible to search almost a year in advance because its online just displays this year calendar. However, it seems the fare on Saturday and Sunday is higher than other days.

The farthest ahead you can book Amtrak tickets is 11 months. So this is the farthest out the reservation system will accept for quoting you a fare.

If the calendar pop-up is giving you problems, just enter the date manually on the reservation page. If you enter a month that we has already passed in 2008, it treats that as a 2009 date.