I thought Amtrak prices only went up...

[Chuckles]

...so I booked early for CHI-GRI on CZ for 8/31/2003. Roomette was $502. Within a week, the roomette is down to $407.

I assume I can reticket by paying the 10% fee?

 

[AlanB]

You can reticket and get 100% if you take the refund in a voucher good towards future travel. You only pay the 10% penalty if you ask for a refund.

And in the past it used to be that prices pretty much just went up. But Amtrak has gotten more pro-active about revenue management. So prices often start out higher when a train first opens up new dates for sale, then go down a bit, especially if sales are lagging. And drops have been seen closer to departure too, if things aren't selling well.

 

[Anderson]

On some routes I think Amtrak starts fares out in a middle bucket and adjusts as sales happen (or don't). Also, I've seen some last-minute nosedives on fares on one end of a route or another if the train sells out somewhere in the middle. For a good example of this, if the Meteor sells out in the Carolinas (it runs Miami-New York), you'll see roomettes showing up for <$100 RVR-NYP since they can't sell the room further south...but the additional sale on the end of the trip is still an incremental sale on top of what they got for the sale further south.

There's a little bit of voodoo at work, but in general Amtrak follows a reasonably coherent pattern based on expected demand. On some routes (the Cardinal comes to mind), "low bucket" is a sort of mythological beast since Amtrak can usually sell the rooms onboard at a higher rate. On other routes, they'll put the starting fares somewhere based on what they expect to happen and then move them up (on busy days) or down (on slow days, since even the busiest train has days that for one reason or another just won't sell).

 

[KrazyKoala]

You only pay the 10% if you are within 15 days of departure, which you are not.

 

[PRR 60]

You only pay the 10% if you are within 15 days of departure, which you are not.

No. The 10% penalty applies to sleeper refunds made 15 days or more prior to travel. Sleeper reservations are non-refundable within 15 days of travel, although you can get an eVoucher.

From Amtrak:

Sleeper Travel: If canceled 15 or more days before scheduled departure, refund fee applies. If canceled 14 days or fewer before scheduled departure, but before the scheduled departure, ticket is not refundable but the value may be applied within one year toward future travel. If not canceled before scheduled departure (“no show”), entire amount is forfeited.