Amtrak Fare and Availability Discussion Thread

[ryanov]

Therefore, the Business car must be an Amfleet I while the coach cars are Amfleet IIs?
All Amfleet IIs are either coach or diner-lites today.
Seating capacity of an Amfleet II coach is 59 , Amfleet I coach is 72, and Amfleet I business is 62. There's 14 tables, capable of sitting 4 each, in the full Amfleet I dinette. An Amfleet II coach is less crowded than an Amfleet I business.
http://www.on-track-on-line.com/amtk-ro ... #Amfleet-I

The train, starting from where I was sitting, was two Amfleet II coaches, two Amfleet I coaches, a full Amfleet I dinete, and then whatever the business class car was. Don't know what was behind me.

[Ken W2KB]

My mid-June mid-week business meeting roundtrip Newark, NJ to Washington, DC Acela business class $484.00

By way of comparison, United Airlines coach $769.60

Door to door time would be about the same either way.

[Jeff Smith]

Got a question for you all. Someone recently had posted about reserving a bedroom on one of the LD's out of Penn to Arlington, then just getting off at Union Station. With my upcoming trip on the Star (relatively short: Savannah to Deland and back), I was wondering how the roommette/bedroom situation worked on such a short distance. I checked a few dates, the prices varied a bit but ranged in the $200's. I was looking more out of curiousity than desire.

How do the room prices vary? I know fares generally go up the closer you get to the date of travel. Would rooms work the same way, or the opposite?

[Jeff Smith]

Hiawatha fares going up: http://www.jsonline.com/news/regbrfs07- ... 48555.html

Amtrak raising Hiawatha fares


Amtrak is raising fares on its Milwaukee-to-Chicago Hiawatha line.

Effective Tuesday, the cost of a one-way ticket will rise from $23 to $24 between downtown Chicago and either downtown Milwaukee or Mitchell International Airport. Ten-ride passes will increase from $173 to $180, and monthly passes will rise from $374 to $390.

[Jeff Smith]

Quick question for you guys. I'm going to take the Star up to New York Penn (from Sav). It's quoted at $118 today, and $175 for a roommette.

I thought as an alternative I'd use points for a Regional (4,000 pts) and get off at Union. It saves me about $51 (after additional ~$10 NARP discount). Most of that is savings on the Roommette; the savings on fare is only $20. My view? Not worth it. So I'm going to book it the whole way and not be bothered with the hassle.

Just thought I'd put this observation out there in case you want to comment.

FYI, no difference in fare on the Meteor, which has a better schedule, but the roommette was $240.

Incidentally, the web-sites, both Guest Rewards and Ticketing, do not work well with each other. There should be a single sign in, and they should not time out so quickly.

[Tadman]

You can link your rewards and ticket accounts. It took a bit of doing, but I did just that a few months ago. Now I still think the rewards program kinda sucks. It looks like I can book a corridor ticket with my rewards, and I enter CHI-KCY. It only suggests the Chief, and then tells me I don't have enough points. Hmmm, I just clicked on the link that told me I DID have enough points. Also, the link told me to select a corridor train and then only shows 3/4...

I'm headed for union station tomorrow to see what the exciting faces can do for me there (ever work with a CUS ticket agent? The culture clearly came from the PRR side, not the Burlington side).

Grace! GRRRRRRRRRRRACE!!!

[chuchubob]

I tried to upgrade to Business Class on train 172 from PHL to BOS today using a free AGR Select Status upgrade coupon. I declined when informed that the free upgrade would cost $29 because my original ticket was purchased with the 20% 14-day NEC advanced purchase discount, and that discount no longer exists.

[Jeff Smith]

If you go direct from the guest rewards to the reservation system it will sign you in; it won't sign you in if you open them up separately.

[chuchubob]

I dealt with a ticket agent at 30th Street Station.

[Jeff Smith]

Wanna ride for cheaper? 3-day sale: 3-Day Sale

Take advantage of our lowest Northeast Regional fares when you book September 25 - September 27 for travel November 28 - December 13, 2012.

Travel to/from:
Philadelphia and New York for $25
Wilmington, DE and New York for $29

In addition to the savings, you'll also enjoy the convenience of hassle-free boarding before relaxing with Amtrak amenities such as comfortable seating, plenty of luggage space and outlets for your electronic devices.

The special $25 fare is also available on the Keystone Service between Philadelphia and New York.

Be sure to book today — these savings are only available through Thursday, September 27, 2012.

[Clearfield]

AMTRAK posted hastily printed, non-logo'd notices dated 10/9/12 in Lancaster this morning that fares for ALL Keystone corridor trains are going up by 3% effective today.

Nothong on the website about it, but fares from PHL - LNC are now $16, up $1 since yesterday.

Surprise!

[25Hz]

Till we boot the tea party out of Harrisburg, amtrak will have to make due with possible lower state subsidy. Thankfully we have some state reps up for election this year that could begin to turn the tide in amtrak's favor. There are a few reps that want to make the pennsylvanian 4 daily round trips funded with state money.

Also, fares in 42-44 land still seem pretty reasonable, and are competitive vs bus & driving.. 68 bucks round trip phl-lew (state college).

I guess we will have to wait till nov 7th to see what the damage is here in the keystone state.

[Suburban Station]

AMTRAK posted hastily printed, non-logo'd notices dated 10/9/12 in Lancaster this morning that fares for ALL Keystone corridor trains are going up by 3% effective today.

Nothong on the website about it, but fares from PHL - LNC are now $16, up $1 since yesterday.

Surprise!

that's a 6.7% increase, not to nitpick, second one in what, three months? what happened to the talk of making it an 80 minute ride to get a little more value for the money?

the pennsylvanian is $104 RT Philly to Pittsburgh and 90 minutes longer than the bus (Which is $74 RT). it's relatively competitive with driving given tolls, provided there's only one of you

[neroden]

Till we boot the tea party out of Harrisburg, amtrak will have to make due with possible lower state subsidy.

Bingo. See the following article for context:

http://articles.philly.com/2012-10-08/b ... stone-line

It's pretty clear that the state has asked Amtrak to increase the fares.

Combine the state "negotiating with Amtrak to avoid service cuts" with this line:

"Given the unwillingness of Gov. Corbett to address the lack of dedicated funding for local and regional mass transit, we are skeptical that he'd be willing to provide a boost in funding to maintain current service levels on the Keystone," Sharpe said.

From this I conclude that the state is trying the option of increasing fares.

Amtrak probably wants to see what the ridership results of increased fares are NOW, while a crash in ridership would still allow a case to be made to the state government that the subsidy is needed, rather than seeing the results very suddenly in October 2013.

After all, if raising fares works, then until October 2013 it's more money in Amtrak's pocket -- and if it doesn't, then they can point out to the state that raising fares didn't reduce the needed state subsidy.

[Suburban Station]

let's just hope they don't raise fares and cut service. reschedule trains that are empty (like the early morning westbound on saturdays, that train was empty BEFORE it was $16) and add ones that do well (like a later saturday evening out of nyp.. if they keep raising fares 6-9% per year and cut service without improving trip times, they've wasted the $145 million investment (which was only half of what was supposed to be invested but Amtrak cut that short after Gunn was fired)