I might attend a conference in San Antonio in October. So I priced a trip from Modesto to San Antonio - two options came up: 1) MOD to BFD, bus to LA, Sunset Ltd to SAS (roomette), roughly $320; 2) Same to LAX, but Texas Eagle to SAS (roomette), roughly $640. Same proportional difference if no roomette ($150 vs. $300). Am I missing something? isn't it the same train to SAS? Why the huge price delta?
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Supply and demand of each car line; so far as Amtrak's reservation system is concerned, #2 and #22 are separate trains.
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
Before Amtrak did "bucket pricing", I don't think these anomalies would show up like this. But whenever you book a train that is actually two in one (such as the Empire Builder), if your travel is between two places that the entire train goes to (such as, say, Spokane, WA to Chicago, IL) it definitely pays to check the fare on #28 and #8 because it's entirely possibly that the exact same train will have completely different pricing because in the 28 sleeper, maybe there is only one room left, while in the 8 sleeper, maybe there are 5 rooms left. I know it seems strange, but that's how their computer is setup to give fares.
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
I sampled fares for a 'quickie' ride later this week on the Texas Eagle between Alton, IL and St. Louis. The better fare came back for train #321 which is the one additional coach carried on the rear between Chicago and St. Louis.
Posted by RR4me (Member # 6052) on :
All uderstandable, I guess, but I booked on the Sunset Ltd. (duh). Excited about finally taking another trip, and on a train I've not ridden.