# California Zephyr - Cost of bedrooms



## Peregrine66 (Dec 8, 2009)

I'm currently planning a trip for my father and myself on the California Zephyr from Chicago to Emeryville for summer 2011. Having tried some dummy bookings for various dates, the basic fare is constant at $145 each, but the cost of the bedrooms varies widely from around $500 to over $1300 for the trip. For some reason it's the furthest dates currently available (Nov 2010) that seem to be among the most expensive fares - all of the dates I tried are over $1000. I could understand that if it was peak travel time, but November?

I know that the cost of bedrooms is divided into different "fare buckets", but I can't find any information as to how much the different fares actually are, and how many places are available for each train in each bucket. Is there anywhere on-line that this is published?

Also, what time of day do the new tickets go on sale? If it's midnight EST or whatever, if I make a booking at 12:01am am I likely to get the lowest fare bucket for that day or will there be lots of competition for those cheapest fares?


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## AlanB (Dec 8, 2009)

There is no place online that the various buckets are shown, short of just checking dates until you find all 5 levels. The range on the Zephyr from Chicago to Emeryville for a Bedroom can go from a low of $554 to a high of $1377. The number of rooms at each level varies depending on anticipated demand for that date. Additionally, while they aren't like the bouncing ball that airline prices can be, Amtrak can and does sometimes vary the number of rooms at each level if demand isn't meeting expectations.


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## PaulM (Dec 8, 2009)

I've encountered this phenomenon also, but with roomettes for late January vs early February. I could only conclude that when a train came inside the reservation window, rooms are put in the high bucket, hoping to catch the unwary. Then about a month later, they move to a lower bucket if enough tickets have not been sold. Not a bad strategy on Amtrak's part.

As a test I looked at roomette (accomodation only) prices LAX to CHI for several dates:

Nov 7, 2010: $611. (As far out as system will go)

Oct 7: $611

Oct 3,4 & 5: $716

Mar 3: $295

So, this small test shoots down my theory; and reinforces the theory taught in Bucketology 101.


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## saxman (Dec 8, 2009)

November can still be a pretty busy month. Make sure its not too close to Thanksgiving. I would September after Labor Day or January and February for some sample dates


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## spot1181 (Dec 8, 2009)

I tried making a reservation at 12:01 am EST online, but it wouldn't let me. By phone the agent said it was 9pm PST and I would have to wait until their midnite. By the way, it was for the Coast Starlight. At 3am my time, it was good to go. Now booking Cincinnati to Seattle everything was peachy at my 12am.


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## Shanghai (Dec 8, 2009)

In the Amtrak route book, there is a page in the back of the booklet that shows the range of fares for long distance train routes.


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## pennyk (Dec 8, 2009)

A couple of months ago, I started making my reservations for my cross country trip exactly 11 months prior to departure. The first night that I tried to make a reservation, I attempted at 12:01 eastern time (for the Silver Meteor). The agent with whom I spoke said the reservations were not yet loaded in the system and to try again at 3am, which I did. The reservations were not loaded at 3am either. I was able to make the reservation around 5am. For the next leg of the trip, I first started trying at 3am. It turns out the the computer system was down for repair until 6am that night. Because I have many segments of my trip, I made numerous phone calls and most of the time, I was able to get the reservation shortly after midnight, eastern time. I believe that I received the lowest bucket that was available for the dates of my travel (late August, early September 2010). I believe the bucket price I am paying on the California Zephyr is more than the bucket price one would pay during the off season, even though I booked my tickets at the earliest possible time.

I chose to speak to an agent rather than make the reservations on line for a couple of reasons: 1. I am old fashioned and like to speak to a human when conducting a complicated transaction 2. I wanted to be able to choose my bedroom number.

I think it was worth a few nights with interrupted sleep to get the reservations I wanted and what I think were good prices.


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