posted
I think I may have made a mistake in not purchasing my Amtrak ticket the first time I looked at prices a week or so ago.
I'm planning a round trip from Eugene, OR to Los Angeles, CA from April 12 - 16. The first time I priced the tickets with a roomette it was around $675, two days ago it was in the mid-$700's now tonight it's well over $800. I guess it's like Costco, you see something you like you should buy it then and not wait!
Any chance of the price going down? I can keep my fingers crossed but I doubt it will happen.
Bil
Posts: 15 | From: Cottage Grove, OR | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
There is a particular time of night that is recommended to phone Amtrak. I forget the time - and don't remember the timezone anyway! Something to do with cancelations being loaded onto the system and released at that time.
If you're feeling adventurous you could buy just a coach seat and then attempt to upgrade onboard the train. Depends whether you can live without a bedroom for a night really.
-------------------- Geoff M. Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Yes . . . at 3 am EST the cancellations are cleared on Amtrak's computers and you can score a sleeper room if one becomes available. But I don't believe the bucket fares go down at all. The sleeper rooms are, I think, available at the current bucket fare.
You can also phone Amtrak ticketing and ask to be put on a wait list for a sleeper room on the date you want to depart. But the bucket fare will be high.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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posted
As a general rule, as the sleepers fill up, the price goes up. Being that you are traveling in one month's time, chances are unlikely that people will be cancelling out this late in game. You could maybe wait a few more days, but I wouldn't wait any longer than that...JMHO
Posts: 332 | From: Long Island, NY USA | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
Concur with Mr. Kisor; the 'clean up time' for expired reservations is 3AM ET. I can recall times in the past, particularly for an August 2003 CHI to MEM trip (not a joyride; needed a one-way ride to drive back to Chi with a friend), when I somehow became a somnambulist (no; I'm not on Lunesta), fired up the computer, and "got lucky".
Now will a clean up necessarily affect the 'bucket' (I think that term is Amtrakese)? That would depend upon how many rooms or seats, as the case may be, are released.
Finally, while some here and elsewhere may hold demand pricing is some kind of bane, every passenger transport and lodging company of note has such in place. Next stop will be some kind of reservation service selling such a program to independents like the hotel in Winslow AZ Mr. Kisor plans on staying at - and for that matter a Bed & Breakfast near School (Cornwall Inn) I plan to stay at for (my 50th) Reunion come June. And who knows, will the stop after that be a restaurant giving you the Menu on some kind of Kindle device that instantly adjusts prices to reflect demand?
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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