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R

Rex

Guest
Hello Fellow Railers,

Does anyone know if Amtrak offers unclaimed sleeper accomodations eityher beforte the train departs or ont he train at discounted prices once travel begins? Sure hope so, as the prices are a bit sttep otherwise.

By the way, I'm traveling to California via the Southwest Chief on March 31st.

Thanks,

Rex
 
Upgrades to sleepers can be bought onbord or right before departure(if it is a staffed station). The sleeper is generally sold at the price based on availability. Amtrak uses a bucket system, so the more bedrooms booked, the more it costs for the remaining ones.
 
Have you ever heard of discounts being offered in order to "fill" the sleppers? I could have sworn a reservations agent told me that this was done at one time.

Thanks,

Rex
 
From time to time people have been called by Amtrak with offers of a discounted sleeper if a particular train has had very poor sales of its sleeper inventory. This doesn't happen all too often though, so I wouldn't count on it.

As for waiting to the last minute, as 999 mentioned Amtrak works on a demmand pricing system. As sleepers are sold, the price increases to the next level or bucket. There are five buckets for sleepers.

It would be most unusual to find that a ticket agent can get you a sleeper at the lowest price on the day of departure. They aren't supposed to do that in the station. However, once you are on board the conductor is allowed to sell you an upgrade to a sleeper at the lowest bucket price for that train, assuming that one is available. This would most likely be the best way to try and get a sleeper.

If the price is still too high for you, then consider riding the first night in coach and then asking to upgrade on the second night. That would drop the price considerably. You should also consider that having a sleeper includes your meals in the dining car, so include that fact when you calculate if it's worth taking the on-board upgrade.

The conductor can take either cash or credit card to pay for the sleeper. So you don't have to worry about carrying around a bunch of cash.
 
Rex said:
Hello Fellow Railers,
Does anyone know if Amtrak offers unclaimed sleeper accomodations eityher beforte the train departs or ont he train at discounted prices once travel begins?  Sure hope so, as the prices are a bit sttep otherwise.

By the way, I'm traveling to California via the Southwest Chief on March 31st.

Thanks,

Rex
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You mean you do not want to pay $513 for a roomette Chicago to LA? I don’t blame you.

Amtrak really should have a means of selling unsold rooms within 48 hours of travel at a reduced charge. It would be a net revenue gain for the rail line at very little incremental cost. Airlines and hotels do it. US Airways charges $50 to $150 at the gate for non-elite upgrades to first (with the gate agent getting a commission). But, as has been described, the only way to get a discounted room at the last minute is to wait until you board, ask the crew for the price of an upgrade, and hope that rooms are still open and that the crew is willing to make the effort to sell them (sometimes they do not want to be bothered: would a commission solve that?).

What a way to run a business.
 
Speaking of upgrades, does anyone know if this can be done on the Canadian? We have upper & lower berths for our 5/3 trip, but I wonder if I could upgrade to a bedroom once we get on board, if it is available.
 
For MrfSS question about the Canadian, the best thing to do is to call 1-888-VIA-RAIL.

And note that their reservation service is not 24/7 like ours but more like about 7 a.m to about 11 p.m.
 
The pricing system of Amtrak sleepers seems to have no rhyme or reason. Over $500 for a roomette on the Chief is outrageous..but people will pay the price, and so it goes. Cheapest roomette prices are on the Sunset,theEmpire Builder and tge City ofNew Orleans.

Im travelimg to LAfrom New York in August. Instead of going to Chicago and to LA on the SW Chief,Im riding coach to Jacksonville and picking up the Sunset Roomette is only $210..and thats one more night thanthe Chief for half the price..the more train time the better!
 
Guest_Rick said:
The pricing system of Amtrak sleepers seems to have no rhyme or reason. Over $500 for a roomette on the Chief is outrageous..but  people will pay the price, and so it goes. Cheapest roomette prices are on the Sunset,theEmpire Builder and tge City ofNew Orleans.
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Well the rhyme or reason is the American way, its called supply & demand. The more popular that route, the higher the starting price is. Then as the bedrooms start to sell out on that particular train for that day, the price goes up from there.
 
2 weeks ago out of D.C. on the Silver Star they announced that they had plenty of sleepers left.

What would have cost me $400.00 for a Viewliner Bedroom had I bent over and booked it cost me $125.00 to Deerfield Beach on the train.

Needless to say I was elated as the coach I was in was packed and unruly to say the least.
 
bmlock said:
At the very least, how about offering Amtrak Guest Rewards members deep discounts for day of travel upgrades to sleepers.
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I like that idea! Maybe Select and Select Plus members could get the upgrade in station or on the phone on the same day of departure for the same price as it would be offered onboard, and regular Guest Rewards members could get a percentage discount somewhere in the middle of the going rate and the lowball price.
 
AlanB said:
Guest_Rick said:
The pricing system of Amtrak sleepers seems to have no rhyme or reason. Over $500 for a roomette on the Chief is outrageous..but  people will pay the price, and so it goes. Cheapest roomette prices are on the Sunset,theEmpire Builder and tge City ofNew Orleans.
Click to expand...
Well the rhyme or reason is the American way, its called supply & demand. The more popular that route, the higher the starting price is. Then as the bedrooms start to sell out on that particular train for that day, the price goes up from there.
Click to expand...
And if Amtrak were adequately funded, they could add equipment where and when demand was high enough to support it, as long as they could still fill the train at a sufficient price point.

I recently bought deluxe sleeper accomodations for October at $280 each way, and they're already up to $490 for the same accomodation. If I would have waited, it could have costed me another $420 round trip! I've seen them go up another $200 for the same route (different days) above that.

It would be interesting to see just what their pricing structure is; where the prices start, at what point the go up and just how much they go up.
 
jccollins said:
bmlock said:
At the very least, how about offering Amtrak Guest Rewards members deep discounts for day of travel upgrades to sleepers.
Click to expand...
I like that idea! Maybe Select and Select Plus members could get the upgrade in station or on the phone on the same day of departure for the same price as it would be offered onboard, and regular Guest Rewards members could get a percentage discount somewhere in the middle of the going rate and the lowball price.
Click to expand...
Being a regular guest rewards member, I'd like to see us all get the same treatment on this deal.
 
Hello Again,

The price has now gone up to $592. Whew.....a little too steep for my tastes! I sure hope something discounted comes along.

Rex :(
 
What is the "Select" and "Select Plus" in regards to Amtrak Guest Rewards? I have not heard of this. I have used an AMTRAK GUEST REWARDS card for many years, but have missed this.
 
Guest_SouthernServesTheSouth said:
What is the "Select" and "Select Plus" in regards to Amtrak Guest Rewards? I have not heard of this. I have used an AMTRAK GUEST REWARDS card for many years, but have missed this.
Click to expand...
If you earn 5000 points on rail travel (i.e. not bonuses, credit card, other points) in a year, you get Select status. The description of this is available at www.amtrakguestrewards.com. If you earn 10000 points, you get Select Plus. For some reason, Select Plus isn't really mentioned on the AGR website (though it was mentioned in a press release on Amtrak's site).

Another tangent (perhaps someone knows the answer), the Amtrak site says that Select status gives you coupons to access Clubacela or the Metropolitan Lounge, however AGR only refers to the Clubacela. Does anyone know whether you can use those coupons for the Metropolitan Lounge as well? I'm within 600 points of reaching Select status, and being in Milwaukee, wouldn't have any use for a Clubacela-only coupon, but could make some use of the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago, if possible.
 
rmadisonwi said:
Another tangent (perhaps someone knows the answer), the Amtrak site says that Select status gives you coupons to access Clubacela or the Metropolitan Lounge, however AGR only refers to the Clubacela. Does anyone know whether you can use those coupons for the Metropolitan Lounge as well? I'm within 600 points of reaching Select status, and being in Milwaukee, wouldn't have any use for a Clubacela-only coupon, but could make some use of the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago, if possible.
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Unless they changed the rules starting this year, in the past the coupons were only good for Club Acelas. Now if you can achive Select Plus status then you are entitled to unlimited access to all Club Acelas and all Metropolitan lounges, no coupons needed. Just show your card to get in.
 
The Amtrak web site has a news release (linked here) that says Select coupons are good for Metropolitan lounges. However, the AGR site only says Clubacela. It would be nice for the message to be consistent.
 

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