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johnny.menhennet

johnny.menhennet

Conductor
Joined
Apr 17, 2011
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1,425
Location
Solana Beach, CA
Hi everyone. As many of you know, my dad and I are taking a trip to the EC in April. On Thursday, April 12th, we need to travel between Boston (South) and NYP/Newark. The prices from Boston to either Newark or New York are the same, but we haven't decided what would be easier for our friends in South Orange yet. Anyway, that is not the point. What I am trying to say is that we know we are leaving Boston on the 8:15A Regional. We would like to stop for a few hours in New Haven to have me tour Yale, since I will be seeing Harvard while in Boston and Princeton in NJ. We are not sure what train we will take yet from NHV to NYP, but the buckets are all the same for right now, so that is not important yet. For both of us to go direct BOS-NYP, it would be $73.50. Stopping in NHV would make it $96.60. I tried dong both two one-ways and the same itinerary sing multi-city, but it was still $96.60. I guess what I'm trying to ask is if there is any way to receive the direct price while being able to stop over at an intermediate point for about 6 hours. Bonus points to anybody who tells me if the NHV station would hold bags for us.
 
Normally, if a stop is less than 24 hours, there is no additional fare. However, that is based on a "Full" fare. The lower fare you are seeing is a 14 day advanced fare that is 25% off the full fare! (AAA or NARP discounts only 10%!)
 
I'm guessing you know that Amtrak has a special for a parent traveling with a student who is checking out colleges. I think the parent gets 1/2 off rail fare.
 
Johnny, according to amtrak.com, New Haven does have checked baggage service but does not offer baggage storage. However, if the bag room is like the one in Providence, they might be super nice and hold your bags for you anyway. But I can't guarantee that. Another option would be to precheck your bags to NYP a day ahead of the day of travel and just keep a backpack or something over night with your stuff. That way your stuff would go down to NY on the 67 and you could pick them up there. I don't knwo if anyone else has any other suggestions - the only problem is that sometimes the 66/67 just doesn't have a baggage car. If that is the case than the bags get stuck and have to wait for the next day.
 
Ugh. I read the link, and I was getting very hopeful when... (wah-wah-wuh)... you have to be a high school junior or senior. Freshman do not qualify. So I guess I'll go back to what I was originally trying to get at. Is there a way to get the direct price with a stopover in between for no more than 6 hours?
 
johnny.menhennet said:
Ugh. I read the link, and I was getting very hopeful when... (wah-wah-wuh)... you have to be a high school junior or senior. Freshman do not qualify. So I guess I'll go back to what I was originally trying to get at. Is there a way to get the direct price with a stopover in between for no more than 6 hours?
Click to expand...
YES - but the problem is that the fares you are looking at right now on the NEC are the "E" bucket advance purchase rates which are 25% off. You can't get THAT particular rate with the stopovers. You can only get the regular low bucket rate, which is why the rate you are looking at on multi-city is the higher one.

Same thing if you buy business class tickets. The base rail fare jumps up to low bucket and removes the 25% discount on the coach fare.
 
Actually, contrary to the above, you can book <24 hour stopovers (considered connections) even on the 14-day advance YE fares. I've even done this on the 3-day sale YF fares.

I'm guessing that the OP has chosen one train that has E availability and another with only D availability, which brings the entire trip up to D bucket. To get the 14-day advance fare for a NEC trip with brief stops, you need E bucket available on each leg.
 
Whoops - sorry for the misinformation. Gatelouse, thanks for the gentle correction on the E bucket fare.
 
Re-reading the OP's situation I'm more confused. All legs are at low (E) bucket and the price jumps with the stopover? A pair of one-ways price out the same as a multi-city fare? (They most certainly shouldn't.)

Johnny, can you double-check that you didn't accidentally put in different dates for the two legs of your multi-city booking? This is one of few ways on the NEC that a multi-city would price out the same as two separate one-way segments. [Another is to link two trains with incompatible fare plans, like an Acela and a Regional. Even Regional to Vermonter to Keystone works as a through fare for WAS-BAL-PHL-NYP as all use the same fare bases along on the NEC.]
 
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All I can say is that I'm beyond perplexed. I just did a test booking BOS-NHV-NYP, 1 adult and 1 child, and got the YE ($73.50 for the party) fare with a 22-hour stopover. (A 26-hour stop results in the same fare as single tickets.)

A 6 hour break shouldn't be an issue. Now I'm really wondering what's going on. Can you try a test booking on a different day or with different trains? Your multi-city booking ought to work; many of us have taken stops along the corridor on numerous occasions.
 
I made it work. Thanks for everybody's advice! The problem was adding AAA discounts to an E bucket fare raised it to a D bucket w/discounts, which is actually higher than the E w/o. So I'll be able to get the fare I asked for!
 
Ah yes, that is correct Johnny. If you try to put in AAA or the student advantage card discount you lose the E bucket discount and the ticket actually becomes MORE expensive. That also happens if you try to book business class while the coach fare is at E bucket - the coach fare jumps to D bucket as you can't combine the E bucket fare with BC (which is ridic, but whatever).

Glad you made it work. Enjoy your trip to the East Coast!

Do you like pizza? If so, may I suggest a visit to Pepe's or Sally's pizza in New Haven. They are both on Wooster Street. It is the best pizza I have ever had. I prefer Pepes.
 
As one who grew up and went to high school in New Haven before heading south to Williamsburg for college, falling in love with a native Virginian and staying in the Old Dominion ever since, I second the recommendation for Pepe's. There used to be quite a rivalry between Sally's and Pepe's (and I thought I'd heard Sally's was no more) and kids in my high school were either Pepe's fans or Sally's fans but seldom both. What really makes them both awesome pizzas are the coal-fire brick ovens they make them in. It's gives the thin crust an amazing flavor.

Wooster Sqaure is a neat are of the city too, with some staggeringly expensive housing. I do hope to return to New England for good one day.

Sally's website.

Pepe's website.

Blue skies ..
 
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