When the Destination Doesn't Matter

[Sproutis]

Does anybody have any pro tips on how to search out good prices (sleeper) when the destination is less important than the trip itself? It's easy enough to search for fares when you know a start and end point, but is there a good method to search for good fares when the start and end point aren't known, but the travel window is? My son and I travel by train whenever and wherever we can. It's all about the journey and we've never yet ended up some place where there wasn't something interesting to see or do or something good to eat. He's an eager traveler, adores spending as much time as possible on the train watching the world go by, and, once we get to a place, wants to live and eat like a local. We don't mind retracing steps, having already covered a fair amount of east coast on the Crescent (down and back), CONO, LSL, CL, Northeast Regional, Acela, and the Vermonter, but we don't have any limits on destinations or travel time. If we must, we can hop a plane to get to the starting point, but we'd more than likely figure out how to train the entire distance

Expert advice is most welcome!

 

[tricia]

That's a question that I'd guess a good many folks on this forum will become more interested in when the Amtrak Guest Rewards program changes in January. In the past, I've relied on AGR redemptions being zone-based, rather than fare-based, to come up with the best bargains on trips for which I value the train ride itself as much as any destination. In the future, with points redemptions tied to fares at the time you book the trip, Sproutis's approach will be what's needed.

Anyone here have any suggestions?

Sproutis: If you haven't yet discovered Amsnag you might ought to check it out. You do have to choose two endpoints, but the program will display current fares and routing options between those points for up to 30 days of any dates you choose, up to 11 months out.

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

If you are only interested in lowest price for 'EACH" train using Amsnag you might divide your search putting only end points for each train and plan stopover at the connection points before continuing on the next train on whatever day gives you the lowest price. For instance to travel New Orleans to Seattle via Chicago do a research on Amsnag for NOL to CHI for the lowest price then follow that by research for end points CHI to SEA to obtain lowest price for the second leg which may be several days later. Otherwise you can reseach the full trip NOL to CHI for up to 30 days at a time looking for the best combination on each of the trains. Most times this fare is less than the cost of hotel rooms in downtown Chicago. Just a suggestion.

 

[willem]

Amsnag is a great tool. To be clear, it collects information from amtrak.com and presents it, which explains the 11 month window.

Any difference between fares shown on Amsnag and amtrak.com is most likely due to misunderstanding how the information is presented. Amsnag separates the rail fare and the accommodation charge, while amtrak.com combines them. Also, Amsnag shows the lowest available coach fare without discounts, such as NARP or AAA, and for one person. Note that the Saver fare on amtrak.com is usually (always?) lower than the rail fare that sleeping car passengers pay. In short, Amsnag does not present a final fare and sometimes cannot be used to calculate a final fare.

Sad to say, I have no answer to the question of comparing fares for different end points other than brute force interrogation of amtrak.com, perhaps by using Amsnag.

 

[caravanman]

I think Amtrak prices have increased recently, but relative bargains can still be found. Keep in mind that there will always be a minimum price to pay, below which the fare will not fall. This is known as "low bucket price". If you go to Amtrak dot com and look at some random midweek dates in Jan or Feb, you should get an idea of these lowest prices.

Chicago to New Orleans was a pretty good deal, as was New Orleans to Los Angeles a few years back... not looked recently.

Chicago to Seattle was always cheap too, off peak, but increased train ridership may mean the sleeper prices have risen.

(An example of what I call a bargain fare is the Zephyr roomette price from Chicago to Emy some dates in Jan @ $441. )

One point to note is that with Amsnag, you have to add the roomette/bedroom price shown to the basic coach seat price to get the correct fare. I tend to look on Amsnag, then double check that date on Amtrak dot com...

Cheers,

Ed

 

[neroden]

First principle is to travel during unpopular time periods.

January (after New Year's traffic is over) and February are the cheapest months overall.

The Florida trains, however, still have pretty strong traffic in January and February.

Also, usually you want to travel midweek (Tue / Wed / Thu).

Second principle is to take the less popular trains.

The Lake Shore Limited and the Florida trains are consistently busy relative to most of the other "long distance" trains.

The trains with the most "seasonality" (ridership drops off most in the winter) are the Chicago-West Coast trains.

But all the snowbelt trains drop off more in the winter relative to the sunbelt trains.

The Empire Builder is more popular than the other transcontinentals.

So your absolute best bet for a 'good deal' is the California Zephyr, midweek, in late January.

But you'll have to poke around with Amsnag to see what's actually available.

 

[Eric308]

I think Amtrak prices have increased recently, but relative bargains can still be found. Keep in mind that there will always be a minimum price to pay, below which the fare will not fall. This is known as "low bucket price". If you go to Amtrak dot com and look at some random midweek dates in Jan or Feb, you should get an idea of these lowest prices.

Chicago to New Orleans was a pretty good deal, as was New Orleans to Los Angeles a few years back... not looked recently.

Chicago to Seattle was always cheap too, off peak, but increased train ridership may mean the sleeper prices have risen.

(An example of what I call a bargain fare is the Zephyr roomette price from Chicago to Emy some dates in Jan @ $441. )

One point to note is that with Amsnag, you have to add the roomette/bedroom price shown to the basic coach seat price to get the correct fare. I tend to look on Amsnag, then double check that date on Amtrak dot com...

Cheers,

Ed

I'm holding a roomette ticket on the EB from CHI-SEA on 01/05 for $406 ($255 low bucket roomette plus $151)....fares bounce all over the place in January.

 

[niemi24s]

. . . is there a good method to search for good fares when the start and end point aren't known. . .

Short answer: No.

Long answer: No, because one of the things that determines a fare is the start and end points. However, please be advised that Amsnag can and will provide fare data for journeys requiring more than one train, so it's not necessary to do an Amsnag search for each leg of that type of trip. As an example, an Amsnag search for NYP to EMY just turned up a total of thirteen different routings.

And while some others feel there are patterns in sleeper fares that can be used to search for the lowest fares, I'm not so sure. For instance, several forum members have stated the lowest sleeper fares can be found during the week for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday travel dates. However using Neroden's example of the California Zephyr from now until the end of January, Amsnag shows lowest sleeper fares are available only 35% of the time during the week but available over the weekend 65% of the time.

But when you look at low bucket sleeper fares for each type of CZ sleeper out to the end of January you'll find:

• Low bucket Roomette fares are continuously available for the last two weeks, but

• Low bucket Family Room fares are not available during those last two weeks and

• Low bucket Bedroom fares are available for about half of that last two week period.

 

[Sproutis]

Thanks all. I grok the Amsnag pricing presentation and it's a groovy way to look at all the fare data. I hear you about off-peak travel times. We did well traveling to Chicago this past spring break. While everybody was headed to FL in March, we were headed for the windy city!

One does wish there was a way to query, "Dear Amtrak - take me someplace, any place at all!"

We're pretty new to rail travel and, reading here, it seems like it used to be more luxe or have more amenities "back in the day." For what it's worth, coming to it fresh off the plane, if you will, it still feels to us remarkably luxurious and exciting and, well, human. Hopefully a cheering perspective to know that, despite the changes or failings of the last few years, new fans are still being made.

 

[Seaboard92]

I actually wish Amtrak marketing and the chambers if commerce could work with an idea I just had. Mystery destinations. You pay say three hundred to go from New York to Orlando. But amtrak sells you a ticket to a mystery destination as a stop over. And package it with a hotel. And it could be an interesting little program.

 

[caravanman]

Glad you are enjoying the trains, Sproutis... Certainly the space, seats, viewing and cafe cars and the ability to walk around are luxurious aspects of the train, compared to flying.

I don't need luxury, in terms of expensive non essentials... just need an economic and reliable service for me to be happy!

Ed.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Glad you are enjoying the trains, Sproutis... Certainly the space, seats, viewing and cafe cars and the ability to walk around are luxurious aspects of the train, compared to flying.

I don't need luxury, in terms of expensive non essentials... just need an economic and reliable service for me to be happy!

Ed.

Says he who crossed the pond to the Colonies on one of the "Queen" Cruise Ships!

 

[caravanman]

Hi Dave,

My one and only sea voyage, certainly a luxury ship, but I did bag a very discounted price...

Having said that, I note that there is another similar offer on for December... tempting!

Hope you are keeping well,

Ed

 

[Eric308]

Hi Dave,

My one and only sea voyage, certainly a luxury ship, but I did bag a very discounted price...

Having said that, I note that there is another similar offer on for December... tempting!

Hope you are keeping well,

Ed

Ed...read your two blog links I was wondering if you have some sort of cruise report available. I enjoyed both, btw!