When planning First Class Travel Check all Room fares

[Ispolkom]

It also guarantees that the room *won't* go to a family.

Yeah, some other single may come along and snag it, but maybe not.

What are the chances of one event or the other?

How many singletons are looking for sleeping car accomodations?

How many families?

Just of the nature of things, I would expect that the singletons outnumber the families, probably by a fair margin. Say that there are three single, hairy-faced railfans (or a pair of them) to each deserving family. If I book the roomette instead of the family bedroom, that gives me a 75% chance of being a sucker to a 25% chance of being a nice guy. Sorry. Even after 22 years of marriage to Mrs. Ispolkom, those seem bad odds to me.

I can understand that you're a better man than I, and that for you the pain of realizing that you were a sucker is much less for you than the searing feeling I feel, so for you the calculation is different. But that's how it is.

In any case, we can all agree that if this is a problem, the obvious answer is for Amtrak to up the price of family bedrooms, which they have done. For my sins, I keep close track of the price of sleeper accommodations between St. Paul and Minot. Back in 2010, a low-bucket roomette was $84, and a low-bucket family bedroom was $169. Push the roomette to the second bucket, and the difference in price wasn't very great. Now the usual price of a roomette is $144 (2nd bucket) and that of a family bedroom is $548.

My apologies in advance to any bearded members of the forum who might take offense at my example.

 

[the_traveler]

How about an example of fuel for your car. One station on one corner has gas for $4.50 a gallon but right across the street is a station offering gas for $3.20 a gallon. Will you buy from the higher priced station just so someone else can go to the lower priced station? :huh: (BTW: Both station owners make the same 3-5¢ per gallon.)

So how is this different than a Family room costing $320 or a Roomette costing $450. I'm sorry but I have to agree with the others on this.

 

[Texan Eagle]

If I'm a single, there are 20 rooms per car that suit my needs.

If I'm a family of 4, there's 1 room per car that suits my needs.

I don't think that it's too much to ask to be considerate and not take that one room if other accommodations on the train will work for you..

Nobody is being inconsiderate. If the Family Room and Roomette were priced at the same level, I would definitely take roomette and leave the Family Bedroom for a family.

Heck, I even suggested that after I click on booking Family Bedroom, if the booking engine can suggest me price match and offer roomette at same price as Family Bedroom, I will gladly switch.

But if taking a Family Bedroom saves me my hard-earned money over roomette fare, I am gonna take it. No doubt about it. Its not being inconsiderate, its just opting for the lowest priced option available legally.

 

[Eris]

Speaking as one who travels by LD rail with my two growing children (they're 9 and 12 now), and who freakin' LOVES that family bedroom but can almost never afford it (we've slept three to a roomette, though, as recently as December 2013), I come down firmly on the side of, a FB less than a roomette? HOW does that happen?! Why does that never happen for me? I doubt it's because some old selfish prig always grabs it before me- cripes, if you see that deal, and it's in your budget, take it! I can only imagine it happens when the roomettes are way up there in buckets and the FBs on the train are for some reason unbooked, so you're still probably paying too much for the trip, and that poor hypothetical family you snaked it from should perhaps have booked further ahead.

 

[Ryan]

It also guarantees that the room *won't* go to a family.

Yeah, some other single may come along and snag it, but maybe not.

What are the chances of one event or the other?

If I'm traveling alone and take the Family room, there's a 0% of it going to someone that needs it.

I have no idea what the odds are of a family coming along behind me are, but it's higher than zero and "someone else might take it without needing it, so I may as well do it first" doesn't really sit right with me.

How about an example of fuel for your car. One station on one corner has gas for $4.50 a gallon but right across the street is a station offering gas for $3.20 a gallon. Will you buy from the higher priced station just so someone else can go to the lower priced station?

The day is still early, so you might be beat, but this is currently atop the "dumbest thing I've read today" leaderboard. How is a gas station that has thousands of gallons of fuel to sell and very rarely (if ever) runs out of fuel anything like a train that has 2 or 3 rooms to sell and frequently sells out?

Look, if you want to save yourself some dough and take the family room in the rare occasions where it's cheaper, by all means go for it. I don't stay in them, so I don't have a dog in the fight. But don't try to pretend that those actions don't have consequences for other people. I'm just completely blown away that "maybe you should take other people into account when making decisions" is such an unpopular position.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I wouldn't make my decision (to take the FB room) based on "well, another single rider will probably take it if I don't", I would base it on "I don't need the larger room and perhaps some family will."

I agree that it would be nice if Amtrak could treat the family room like the handicap room. Keep it available only for families with small children until 14 days before departure.

 

[rrdude]

Ryan, if you could get a penthouse suite, for the same or lower price than a standard room with a queen, at hotel X, wouldn't you?

That's not really a good comparison for two reasons:1. Getting the Penthouse Suite in a hotel doesn't really increase the sleeping capacity. Family Bedroom does.2. If I want a suite, and can't get one at the Hilton, I can look at other hotels in town. With Amtrak, there's one train a day and 2 (or 3) Family Bedrooms available.So yeah, I'd probably take the Good Deal on the penthouse, but wouldn't book the family bedroom if I didn't need the space.Disclaimer: I did take one once when it was just the 3 of us traveling. We'd never travelled in a sleeper before and took a Family Bedroom on the Auto Train one way and a regular bedroom the other way. Learned on that trip that we did just fine in a regular bedroom and have just booked them ever since.

MODIFICATION: All other hotels in Raton, NM are booked-solid. No place else to go.....

I know u have a good heart Ry, a lot of AU Posters/members do. I "get" your argument, and wish tht Amtrak WUD put some capacity restrictions on it. Heck, all Amtrak has to do is treat it like an H room, problem solved.

 

[Ryan]

Raton, you say?

I've got a tent, a backpack and two feet. Let's hit the trail! What else could a guy need?

 

[jimhudson]

I don't care for being downstairs on a Superliner,hence I'm with those who say that Antrak's Revenue Wizards can fix this by setting capacity limits or pricing the Family room with the Bedrooms! Of course occasinaly (very rarely) a Bedroom shows up in a Lower Bucket than a Roomette and I think none of us have a problem booking the Bedroom when this happens!

I think its a matter of economics rather than trying to get over or keeping a family from getting the room!

 

[Eris]

I *really* don't think the Family Bedroom is (or should be) treated like the H bedroom. Families have other options- they can (presumably) climb stairs. They can get two bedrooms (or, one bedroom for a family of three), or two roomettes (or one, for an idiot family of three like me). A person needing the H bedroom presumably has fewer options, and more need of the specific amenities offered by that room.

 

[JayPea]

I wouldn't book a family room under almost all circumstances not, alas, because I am any great paragon of virtue but for a more practical reason: I, like Jim, don't care for the lower level on the Superliners. I would only buy the F room if it happened to be the last room on the train or if it was a ridiculously lower price than that of a roomette.

 

[Ispolkom]

Look, if you want to save yourself some dough and take the family room in the rare occasions where it's cheaper, by all means go for it. I don't stay in them, so I don't have a dog in the fight. But don't try to pretend that those actions don't have consequences for other people. I'm just completely blown away that "maybe you should take other people into account when making decisions" is such an unpopular position.

It is possible to know that one's actions have consequences for others, yet not arrive at the same conclusions as to what actions to take. In this case, I think that reasonable people can differ, but you are welcome to regard me as dumb and selfish. It is the Internet, after all.

 

[rrdude]

Look, if you want to save yourself some dough and take the family room in the rare occasions where it's cheaper, by all means go for it. I don't stay in them, so I don't have a dog in the fight. But don't try to pretend that those actions don't have consequences for other people. I'm just completely blown away that "maybe you should take other people into account when making decisions" is such an unpopular position.

It is possible to know that one's actions have consequences for others, yet not arrive at the same conclusions as to what actions to take. In this case, I think that reasonable people can differ, but you are welcome to regard me as dumb and selfish. It is the Internet, after all.

Wait, I want to be dumb and selfish too. So you aren't alone Ispolkem. I do stand By my opinion that the family bedroom should have the same type of reservation restrictions as the H room, obviously not "H" requirements, but the same type of booking questions that are asked such as a minimum of two people or something along those lines

 

[Reality_Check]

I never said that families (or groups) were any better than anyone else.

If I'm a single, there are 20 rooms per car that suit my needs.

If I'm a family of 4, there's 1 room per car that suits my needs.

I don't think that it's too much to ask to be considerate and not take that one room if other accommodations on the train will work for you.

But God forbid I suggest that people use a little bit of thoughtfulness towards others. That's not the American way. Take what you want and screw the other guy.

The way I look at it, is that if there is one and only one room that can fully fit your needs, you better not procrastinate. Be thoughtful and make your reservation early. As they say, he who hesitates is lost.

Plus, your family of 4 could still be easily accommodated in two roomettes. Its not like you are completely shut out of sleeper accommodations in that car.

 

[user 1215]

And, if we want to be frank here, two roomettes cost about what a family bedroom SHOULD cost.

I've already been called a nitwit, so I'll be happy to be dumb and selfish, too.

I really like the idea of modifying the software to allow only parties of 3 or more to book a Family Bedroom until two weeks out. AND I like the idea of if you are a single occupant that it immediately price matches a roomette (if it's by bucket more expensive) and same with a double occupant to a bedroom.

Of course, where could Amtrak possibly come up with the money to modify that software... hboy:

 

[Ryan]

 

[chakk]

I wouldn't make my decision (to take the FB room) based on "well, another single rider will probably take it if I don't", I would base it on "I don't need the larger room and perhaps some family will."

I agree that it would be nice if Amtrak could treat the family room like the handicap room. Keep it available only for families with small children until 14 days before departure.

Maybe we should start a thread on this Forum where singletons who have booked the Family Room on a future trip offer it up to a Family wishing to taking that same travel date in exchange for the Family agreeing to purchase a reservation in the higher-priced Roomette and then trading it to the Singleton for the use of the previously-booked Family Room?