Free upgrades?

northnorthwest · Dec 15, 2024

I've been taking the occasional sleeper trip, always in a roommette, for over a decade. Recently, I had a roundtrip (with companion) booked in a roommette. In both directions, I got an e-mail on the day of the trip saying the trip was updated. The first time, it was upgraded from a roommette to room H. The second time it was upgraded from a roommette to bedroom A. No charge. No bidding. It was just updated both times to these new much larger rooms. This was my first time in either of these configurations. Is getting upgraded just a thing that I never knew about? Any particular system or method to when and why this might happen? Does it relate to your AGR status? (Am I dreaming?)

trimetbusfan · Dec 15, 2024

northnorthwest said:
I've been taking the occasional sleeper trip, always in a roommette, for over a decade. Recently, I had a roundtrip (with companion) booked in a roommette. In both directions, I got an e-mail on the day of the trip saying the trip was updated. The first time, it was upgraded from a roommette to room H. The second time it was upgraded from a roommette to bedroom A. No charge. No bidding. It was just updated both times to these new much larger rooms. This was my first time in either of these configurations. Is getting upgraded just a thing that I never knew about? Any particular system or method to when and why this might happen? Does it relate to your AGR status? (Am I dreaming?)

I’ve been regularly traveling on Amtrak over the last few years and have never received a free upgrade to a bedroom ‘just because.’

However I have heard of others getting upgrades due to their being a mechanical issue with the room you were originally assigned which could include any number of things that can’t easily be fixed (such as the upper bed not working as intended, the door latch not working)

Bob Dylan · Dec 15, 2024

northnorthwest said:
I've been taking the occasional sleeper trip, always in a roommette, for over a decade. Recently, I had a roundtrip (with companion) booked in a roommette. In both directions, I got an e-mail on the day of the trip saying the trip was updated. The first time, it was upgraded from a roommette to room H. The second time it was upgraded from a roommette to bedroom A. No charge. No bidding. It was just updated both times to these new much larger rooms. This was my first time in either of these configurations. Is getting upgraded just a thing that I never knew about? Any particular system or method to when and why this might happen? Does it relate to your AGR status? (Am I dreaming?)

You didn't indicate if there was more than one Sleeper on your train when you received the Upgrades.

The usual reason this happens is due to a bad ordered Sleeper or Room, or someone booking more than 1 Roomette and wanting to have their party together in the Sleeper.

I've had this good fortune happen a few times in my over 50 years of riding Amtrak, but it is rare!

Far more often passengers are downgraded from Bedrooms to Roomettes, or from.Roomettes to Coach, mostly due to bad ordered equipment or late connections!

PaTrainFan · Dec 15, 2024

northnorthwest said:
I've been taking the occasional sleeper trip, always in a roommette, for over a decade. Recently, I had a roundtrip (with companion) booked in a roommette. In both directions, I got an e-mail on the day of the trip saying the trip was updated. The first time, it was upgraded from a roommette to room H. The second time it was upgraded from a roommette to bedroom A. No charge. No bidding. It was just updated both times to these new much larger rooms. This was my first time in either of these configurations. Is getting upgraded just a thing that I never knew about? Any particular system or method to when and why this might happen? Does it relate to your AGR status? (Am I dreaming?)

Have you also had success in the lottery? Seems like the same amount of luck is involved!

northnorthwest · Dec 15, 2024

There were at least 2 sleepers on the first trip and 3 sleepers on the second trip. We were moved to different sleepers once the updates happened. From what I could see, there were a good number of unoccupied roomettes. For the first trip we were moved to an old H room (viewliner I) and for the second the new bedroom A (viewliner II). I was happy to get these upgrades, but I did find that I prefer the sleeping position of the roomette to the sideways position of these larger rooms. Also, the water would not get hot in the shower or sink in the viewliner II. The SCA told us we have to wait "real long" for it to heat up on these new cars, but since we had already waited 10 minutes, that doesn't seem reasonable. Ended up showering in the end-of-car shower in the other old sleeper, which worked fine. It also seemed like the bedroom A in the new viewliner was already falling apart--lots of visible sealant in various spots and cracks in various places. Plus the shower/toilet floor was not designed well, so the water would not drain and just stayed there after use with a mini pool. Seems there are so many basic design flaws in so many products in the US now and things are not built to withstand basic wear and tear. For a railroad, this is not a good plan! But...like I said, I appreciate the upgrades however they come!

SubwayNut · Dec 15, 2024

northnorthwest said:
Also, the water would not get hot in the shower or sink in the viewliner II.

I had that same issue tying to take a shower in the main shower room (I was in a Roomette) on the Viewliner II in the Boston Sleeper of the Lake Shore Limited last weekend. I ended up not really showering (I was an hour form getting off being home so it wasn't a big deal).

John Santos · Monday at 6:42 AM

The VL2 sleepers have one fewer roomettes because the one at the end (across from the shower) on a VL1 is now 2 shared toilets on a VL2. If the car you were booked in was changed from a VL1 to a VL2 and was full, they would have to bump one roomette. Maybe you just got lucky?

Steve4031 · Monday at 10:08 AM

I got upgraded once on the Lake Shore Limited. I was traveling from Boston to Chicago. So, only one sleeper. Upper-level managers were traveling, and I think one of them was assigned to my roomette, and I was upgraded to a bedroom. They mostly sat in the lounge car and socialized. I received the upgrade a couple of days before the trip. I booked about ten days out because of an icky staff development experience at my school. The choice was a train trip or smacking the crap out of someone. I chose the train trip.

fillyjonk · Monday at 10:44 AM

trimetbusfan said:
I’ve been regularly traveling on Amtrak over the last few years and have never received a free upgrade to a bedroom ‘just because.’

However I have heard of others getting upgrades due to their being a mechanical issue with the room you were originally assigned which could include any number of things that can’t easily be fixed (such as the upper bed not working as intended, the door latch not working)

I once got moved to an empty H room because when I asked the SCA to help me put down the bed, he found that there was something broken in the mechanism. He said I could either use the upper berth or move. I chose to move.

zephyr17 · Monday at 11:34 AM

fillyjonk said:
I once got moved to an empty H room because when I asked the SCA to help me put down the bed, he found that there was something broken in the mechanism. He said I could either use the upper berth or move. I chose to move.

I got moved to an H room once on the Buider. The wall heat in my roomette was running away uncontrollably and it was like being in a toaster. On the other hand, the heat in the H room had failed. The attendant gave me a choice and I chose the H with extra blankets (it was December and around zero in North Dakota).

MccfamschoolMom · Tuesday at 7:58 AM

zephyr17 said:
I got moved to an H room once on the Buider. The wall heat in my roomette was running away uncontrollably and it was like being in a toaster. On the other hand, the heat in the H room had failed. The attendant gave me a choice and I chose the H with extra blankets (it was December and around zero in North Dakota).

You were lucky the outdoor temperature was only 0F. I went to college just across the river from Fargo, and we'd routinely have at least one -30F day in January, after returning from Christmas break; usually a couple of -20F days, too. (And the campus never closed -- all of us students in the dorms still needed to be fed.)

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