Unbelievable Southwest Chief Prices

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printman2000

Engineer
Joined
Nov 9, 2005
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3,785
Location
Amarillo, Texas
I know, i do this every year. I finish one vacation and immediately start planning next years. Last year I was complaining about much higher opening prices on the Southwest Chief between Chicago and Lamy. Roomettes were opening at $408. They eventually went down a few months after opening. But for me, who gets to plan very early, that is just horrible. I use to be able to buy the low bucket tickets on the day they opened and still can on other trains. But not the Southwest Chief.

So looking at next years prices, roomettes are opening at $620 for Chicago to Lamy. $620! One way!

Dates before March 31st, 2014, the price drops to $250.

I can do the Texas Eagle from Chicago to Fort Worth for $177 for a roomette. Shoot, I can go all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles on the Eagle for $460.

Going Lamy to Chicago, the prices open at $435.

I know there is nothing anyone here can do, but I needed to vent. I am sick and tired of Amtrak messing with the Southwest Chief like this. The Texas Eagle and California Zephyr are not having this happen.

Unbelievable.
 
One reason is Amtrak does not have enough sleepers to have more then three in the summertime.
 
amtkstn said:
One reason is Amtrak does not have enough sleepers to have more then three in the summertime.
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Number of sleepers does not really have anything to do with it. The prices will come down three months later. It is more Amtrak trying to gouge people who are willing to give them their money 11 months before travel.

Right now, I have to either wait the three months and hope that the dates I need are still low bucket, or plan to drive 6 hours to Fort Worth or Denver (instead of four to Lamy).
 
It could be that travel agencies book those in advance and then release them. That happens occasionally.

I've been holding off on Christmas because roomettes were $350+, and they just fell back to $250 last night. That's low-bucket, so I'll probably get our tickets this weekend.
 
printman2000 said:
The prices will come down three months later. It is more Amtrak trying to gouge people who are willing to give them their money 11 months before travel.
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Sorcha said:
It could be that travel agencies book those in advance and then release them. That happens occasionally.
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Put these two together. High open prices discourage the agencies from scarfing up all the low bucket rooms.
 
Well, again, you would think that would be the case on more than this train. Especially the California Zephyr. Not to mention the new cancellation policy probably took care of a lot of the travel agency issues.
 
Ryan said:
printman2000 said:
The prices will come down three months later. It is more Amtrak trying to gouge people who are willing to give them their money 11 months before travel.
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Sorcha said:
It could be that travel agencies book those in advance and then release them. That happens occasionally.
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Put these two together. High open prices discourage the agencies from scarfing up all the low bucket rooms.
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Ohhhhh... that makes sense. ^_^
 
printman2000 said:
Well, again, you would think that would be the case on more than this train. Especially the California Zephyr. Not to mention the new cancellation policy probably took care of a lot of the travel agency issues.
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No, I'm seeing this happen on the Auto Train and I believe I've seen it on the LSL. I really haven't checked other trains that much.

As for the return policy, travel agents are not bound by the same terms & conditions that we individual travelers are bound by.

Furthermore, travel agents have access to the inventory before it goes on sale to us.
 
Craig: The High Prices on the SWC, and the CZ are perhaps a factor in the continuing increase in Ridership and Prices on the TE/Sunset to/from California ! I like the SWC myself but those Prices are not affordable for me!.(unless I use AGR Points) it's good that we have amsnag.net to use as a tool for those of us that be flexible in our travel dates! I've always thought that the LSL and EB were too Expensive(I understand Supply and Demand) and now the Cap Ltd. and the Silver Trains seem to be joining the Race to High Bucket Advance Fares! :(
 
Could it be a simple matter that the SWC is faster and I would guess more popular than the TE traveling CHI to LA? Supply and demand and if passengers are buying tickets, why not.
 
If I went ahead and booked on the Texas Eagle at a low price, and then a few months later the Southwest Chief prices came down, can I switch trains without paying the refund penalty? If I understand the policy, I can. But wanted to see what other think/know.
 
If the net result of moving from the Eagle to the SWC is a refund is due, then you will still pay the 10% penalty if you take a refund. If you take it in a voucher, then no penalty.

If it's an even swap in costs or if you owe a bit more, then no penalties are involved by cancelling the Eagle to exchange for the SWC.

This of course all assumes that you're outside the 15 day no refunds rule. Then you'd have no choice but to take a voucher if Amtrak owed you money after the swap.
 
AlanB said:
If the net result of moving from the Eagle to the SWC is a refund is due, then you will still pay the 10% penalty if you take a refund. If you take it in a voucher, then no penalty.
If it's an even swap in costs or if you owe a bit more, then no penalties are involved by cancelling the Eagle to exchange for the SWC.

This of course all assumes that you're outside the 15 day no refunds rule. Then you'd have no choice but to take a voucher if Amtrak owed you money after the swap.
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That is what I thought. Thanks
 
AlanB said:
If the net result of moving from the Eagle to the SWC is a refund is due, then you will still pay the 10% penalty if you take a refund. If you take it in a voucher, then no penalty.
If it's an even swap in costs or if you owe a bit more, then no penalties are involved by cancelling the Eagle to exchange for the SWC.

This of course all assumes that you're outside the 15 day no refunds rule. Then you'd have no choice but to take a voucher if Amtrak owed you money after the swap.
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What about AGR? One way of my trip will being using AGR. I assume no issues at all changing. Correct?

This would all be done 7-8 months in advance of traveling.
 
If you booked with AGR points, they'll just apply the points to the SWC. No penalties.
 
Sorcha said:
It could be that travel agencies book those in advance and then release them. That happens occasionally.
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The more I thought about this the more I am pretty certain this is not the case. Simply because every date 11-9 months out is at this extremely high price. Surely travel agencies are not buying tickets every day for three months all year long.
 
In the past, I have been on record (here at AU) stating I think Amtrak should charge what they can get. Even if it is really high. And I still believe that. However, I take issue at trying to get such high prices so far out. I cannot believe that is is making them much, IF ANY money. People would be crazy to pay those high prices 11 months out.

I guess it comes down to not trusting Amtrak to make the best decisions.
 
stntylr said:
Just do what I do and ride coach. :)
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Okay, that brought a smile to my face. :) I have done coach overnight before and I pretty much vowed to not do it again. Was not horrible, just not good.

However, upon checking, the same thing is happening with coach prices. Chicago to Lamy opens at $170 whereas low bucket looks to be $136. Course, that is not two and half times the cost like with the roomettes.
 
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printman2000 said:
In the past, I have been on record (here at AU) stating I think Amtrak should charge what they can get. Even if it is really high. And I still believe that. However, I take issue at trying to get such high prices so far out. I cannot believe that is is making them much, IF ANY money. People would be crazy to pay those high prices 11 months out.
I guess it comes down to not trusting Amtrak to make the best decisions.
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The ridership and revenue numbers we're seeing point to the fact that it is actually making them money.
 
Ryan said:
The ridership and revenue numbers we're seeing point to the fact that it is actually making them money.
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There is no way to tell that they are selling any rooms at these really high prices. Ridership numbers only tell you how many were on the train. Not when or how much they paid for their tickets.
 
That's why I said ridership AND REVENUE.

Generally speaking, revenue is increasing faster than ridership. You can debate how much of that is just a function of overall higher prices versus opening at low bucket, but without any hard data to suggest otherwise Amtrak's revenue management seems to be having the desired outcome.
 
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