Sleeper Upgrade for Part of the Trip

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mlanoue

mlanoue

Service Attendant
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Messages
139
Location
Joliet, Illinois
It's difficult to know exactly what search terms to use for this question. I know it has been discussed before, but I can't quite find what I'm looking for.

If I already have a coach ticket from TRI to PCT (Trinidad to Princeton) on the Southwest Chief, but would like to upgrade to a roomette for just the Trinidad to Kansas City segment, do they really need to toss out my original reservation and book it as a two separate segments? I can get a good deal on the price of a sleeper for that part, but the price of a roomette and then coach for KCY to Princeton is incredibly more expensive.

The agent I spoke to didn't quite know what I was asking to do, but once she understood it, that was the only option she gave me.

So, is it not possible to just ad a roomette fare to an already existing coach fare for a portion of the trip?

Thanks!
 
the_traveler said:
If you already have a reservation and need to change something, the magic word is that you need to MODIFY your reservation! Some agents may want to cancel it and start over. If they do, ask for a supervisor.
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Okay, good. So, I guess my question is--are they able to modify my reservation to just add a roomette for part of the trip without changing my coach fare? Because just the KCY to PCT coach segment already costs quite a bit more than my current TRI to PCT coach fare. It's not the end of the world if they can't do it, but the price of the roomette is nice on Amsnag, so if I can do it, I'd like to.
 
What you may be overlooking is that you may have "the lowest fare" level on the coach ticket you purchased. If that is not the standard coach fare, you cannot add any sleeper or business class accommodations. Such upgrades can only be added to standard coach fares(AAA or senior discount allowed for only the coach fare portion of ticket). I have found using Amsnag 2 will give you the correct whole fare thus more usuable that getting Amsnag 1 accommodation charge and adding to appropriate coach fare. Here is clickable link to AMSNAG 2
 
Tennessee Traveler said:
What you may be overlooking is that you may have "the lowest fare" level on the coach ticket you purchased. If that is not the standard coach fare, you cannot add any sleeper or business class accommodations
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This "lowest fare" is 20% below the Standard fare and is called the Saver Fare. The standard coach fare (aka the low bucket coach fare) is what any sleeping accommodation is added to. At present, the Saver Fare from TRI to PCT is $94 and the low bucket (standard) coach fare is $118. If you paid $94, no sleeper can be added because that's the Saver Fare.
 
Makes sense. I paid $106 with my NARP discount, so it would be the standard fare. I certainly don't mind relinquishing the $12 if I had to in order to add the sleeper--though I don't think that's the issue here. But, the coach price increases quite a bit when they break it into two separate segments--probably because without the roomette I would be paying a higher bucket coach fare for the KCY to PCT stretch. I talked to Guest Rewards and they were nice, but it sound like that's just the way it works. You can't just pay for a sleeper upgrade on it's own for part of the segment.
 
Wow. They just called me back and said they would honor the $106 coach fare and just charged me $146 for the roomette. That's some great customer service!
 
When I took the Cardinal last year in June I took coach from Washington to Cincinnati which is mostly daylight. And then I got a seventy dollar sleeper from there on to Chicago. All on one reservation.
 
Seaboard92 said:
When I took the Cardinal last year in June I took coach from Washington to Cincinnati which is mostly daylight. And then I got a seventy dollar sleeper from there on to Chicago. All on one reservation.
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I'm taking the Cardinal next month and jumped on a low bucket roomette from Maysville to Chicago while keeping coach from NYP to Maysville. Thanks for the tip!
 
FreeskierInVT said:
Seaboard92 said:
When I took the Cardinal last year in June I took coach from Washington to Cincinnati which is mostly daylight. And then I got a seventy dollar sleeper from there on to Chicago. All on one reservation.
Click to expand...
I'm taking the Cardinal next month and jumped on a low bucket roomette from Maysville to Chicago while keeping coach from NYP to Maysville. Thanks for the tip!
Click to expand...
Your welcome. It pays to check every station down the line sometime.
 

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