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hankster211

hankster211

Train Attendant
Joined
Mar 13, 2013
Messages
51
Location
Knoxville, TN
We are booked in a roomette later this month from CHI to Wenatchee WA where my daughter is living, but today she informed me she is moving to Leavenworth WA, which is the next stop west.

Do you think I will be able to easily book the roomette for the next stop? (for additional fare, of course). It's only about 30 minutes farther, and will allow my daughter to pick us up in her new

town rather than driving to WEN at 5:00 am.
 
i would call amtrak and discuss your situation. i doubt too many people are getting a roomette out of wenatchee for the short ride to seattle. if you are told it will be substantially more to stay in your roomette to leavenworth (which i suppose is theoretically possible if the sleepers are full) i would just ask to ride coach from wenatchee. i bet they will leave you in your roomette for scant extra fare. but call amtrak and let us know
 
As said, just book a coach fare for that short stretch. Then once you're on the train, talk to your sleeping car attendant (SCA) and explain what you want to do. I can't say it's 100% that you can stay in your room, but I'd say the chances are better than 95% that your SCA will let you. I have, and many others have, do so many times!
 
Is this one of those it all depends on whether the agent knows what they are doing cases?

I had booked a roomette MTP to DEN, then decided to board in GBB, two stops earlier. The phone rep I talked to wanted over $150 for the roomette alone for the two stops (I had paid 190 for the roomette all the way from MTP to DEN. I said no thanks and bought a coach ticket.

If the agent was correct, this is clearly a case where the revenue management people shot themselves in the foot. The odds of anyone booking a room from between CHI and Galesburg to Burlington or Mount Pleasant is nil. Whatever they could have gotten out of me would have been gravy.

I've often wondered whether pricing takes this sort of thing into consideration. Space between CHI and MTP, for example, is valuable to Amtrak until someone books it MTP anywhere west. Then it is almost worthless.
 
On my recent round trip originally booked from Flagstaff, Az to the east coast, I called and explained that I wanted to extend it from and to the next station west, Williams. This was done for only $10 additional. I do not recall if this additional segment read coach or not, but I boarded the sleeper at Williams Jct. the rest of the trip, while very enjoyable, was an expensive undertaking.
 
I got into this situation down in FL once: I was booked DLD-RVR, but because of scheduling issues I wound up needing to board at WPK. What I did was buy a coach ticket WPK-DLD, board, and then explain the situation to the staff...who let me get into my roomette within a few minutes.
 
I've dealt successfully with this also - extended CZ westbound from SAC to MTZ. Agent (in Durham) collected an additional $11 from me - totally reasonable. Rebooking at that late date would have cost me at least $100 extra. Be polite, but be very very firm and don't hesitate to ask for a supervisor. A lot of times the agent (station or phone) honestly doesn't know how unusual things can be done. Most of the time they're happy to bring a supervisor (or Amtrak corporate) into the discussion as the agent learns something useful in the process.
 
Thanks for the replies. So looks like the best option is to get online and book a coach ticket from Wenatchee to Leavenworth?
 
Yes!

You should have no trouble, as long as you communicate with your SCA. As said before, most will not have any problem letting you stay in your room during a short stretch, if the room is not occupied by another passenger. Especially if it's near the beginning or end of a route. If in the middle of the run, and especially if someone new is occupying it at the next station and they have to prepare it, the chances could be iffy.

The important thing is to talk with your SCA and ask his or her help!
 
hankster211 said:
Thanks for the replies. So looks like the best option is to get online and book a coach ticket from Wenatchee to Leavenworth?
Click to expand...
The best option is to call Amtrak and ask them for the cost to change your reservation from Wenatchee to Leavenworth. It is possible that the fare buckets have not changed and that the cost to make the change will be nothing or something nominal. It is even possible that the agent may protect your room price at your originally reserved fare level.

If the cost to change your sleeper reservation is more than $14 (the cost of two one-way coach tickets), then you can book the coach option. If it is less than $14 (or just a little bit more), you can change your reservation and eliminate even the remote possibility that you will have to vacate your room and move to coach.
 
As someone already said, just be sure the agent doesn't try to rebook the whole trip! Tell them not to cancel your trip, just check on how much it will be to add the additional segment. Apparently agents vary greatly in their knowledge of how the system works.

I have no experience making such changes. but have read many, many posts here on the topic. So many that I now have a bad case of "phone-agent-phobia."
 
just checked the online price for coach WEN to Leavenworth. $7 for one, but.............$18 for two passengers..................wonder how come?
 
Maybe there's only one seat left at the $7 bucket and by looking for two you bumped it up to $11 bucket.

Edit: PaulM got the math right.
 
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hankster211 said:
just checked the online price for coach WEN to Leavenworth. $7 for one, but.............$18 for two passengers..................wonder how come?
Click to expand...
I'm sure the answer you will get here is that purchasing 1 ticket moves you up to the next higher price bucket. The only way to verify that is to buy one ticket at $7, if it's still available, and then see if 1 ticket costs $11.
 
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