2 or 3 zone business class?

[Rail Freak]

Where would it be possible to book a 2 or 3 zone business class trip?

Excuse me, I'm still in the learning phase!!!

RF

 

[chuljin]

Where would it be possible to book a 2 or 3 zone business class trip? Excuse me, I'm still in the learning phase!!!

RF

I covered this before...

...and I mean that not in the sense of 'use the search, you dummy', but rather 'damn, I wish I could find it myself now'.

As far as I can tell, there are no business-or-coach services that cross three zones, and in eyeing the zone map, the only single service that crosses a zone boundary (thus making it 2-zone) is the Blue Water, and even then, of all the stations it serves, only Port Huron is in the eastern zone. Even with that, it's a moot point, as the Blue Water is a 1000-(1500-)point Special Route anyways.

Again in eyeing the map, with the one single exception above, there is no single-reservation-without-multi-city-trickery combination of B-or-C services that could get you across 3 zones or even 2.

I think that there's no such thing, but that 2-zone and 3-zone business are listed in the redemption charts just to be comprehensive and/or in anticipation of some future service (like perhaps something on LD trains that is slightly better than coach, but still merely a seat, but less expensive than sleeper).

 

[Rail Freak]

Where would it be possible to book a 2 or 3 zone business class trip? Excuse me, I'm still in the learning phase!!!

RF

I covered this before...

...and I mean that not in the sense of 'use the search, you dummy', but rather 'damn, I wish I could find it myself now'.

As far as I can tell, there are no business-or-coach services that cross three zones, and in eyeing the zone map, the only single service that crosses a zone boundary (thus making it 2-zone) is the Blue Water, and even then, of all the stations it serves, only Port Huron is in the eastern zone. Even with that, it's a moot point, as the Blue Water is a 1000-(1500-)point Special Route anyways.

Again in eyeing the map, with the one single exception above, there is no single-reservation-without-multi-city-trickery combination of B-or-C services that could get you across 3 zones or even 2.

I think that there's no such thing, but that 2-zone and 3-zone business are listed in the redemption charts just to be comprehensive and/or in anticipation of some future service (like perhaps something on LD trains that is slightly better than coach, but still merely a seat, but less expensive than sleeper).

WOW, Thanx, but a little sorry I asked,LOL :lol: !!!!!

But, do appreciate it!

RF (I'm REALLY A ROOKIE!)

 

[Upstate]

As far as I can tell, there are no business-or-coach services that cross three zones, and in eyeing the zone map, the only single service that crosses a zone boundary (thus making it 2-zone) is the Blue Water, and even then, of all the stations it serves, only Port Huron is in the eastern zone. Even with that, it's a moot point, as the Blue Water is a 1000-(1500-)point Special Route anyways.

Port Huron is a zone split so it is both eastern and central. Also the blue water is not a special route.

 

[chuljin]

As far as I can tell, there are no business-or-coach services that cross three zones, and in eyeing the zone map, the only single service that crosses a zone boundary (thus making it 2-zone) is the Blue Water, and even then, of all the stations it serves, only Port Huron is in the eastern zone. Even with that, it's a moot point, as the Blue Water is a 1000-(1500-)point Special Route anyways.

Port Huron is a zone split so it is both eastern and central. Also the blue water is not a special route.

Sorry! I remembered that one of the Michigan routes was among the newly-minted Special Routes, but I'd forgotten which one, and without confirming, assumed it was the Blue Water. Sorry about that.

When I look again at the map, I'm not sure whether Port Huron is called out specifically because it's a boundary city, or to show that it's definitely (and only) eastern. With that kind of doubt, I give up and just trust you!

 

[Upstate]

As far as I can tell, there are no business-or-coach services that cross three zones, and in eyeing the zone map, the only single service that crosses a zone boundary (thus making it 2-zone) is the Blue Water, and even then, of all the stations it serves, only Port Huron is in the eastern zone. Even with that, it's a moot point, as the Blue Water is a 1000-(1500-)point Special Route anyways.

Port Huron is a zone split so it is both eastern and central. Also the blue water is not a special route.

Sorry! I remembered that one of the Michigan routes was among the newly-minted Special Routes, but I'd forgotten which one, and without confirming, assumed it was the Blue Water. Sorry about that.

When I look again at the map, I'm not sure whether Port Huron is called out specifically because it's a boundary city, or to show that it's definitely (and only) eastern. With that kind of doubt, I give up and just trust you!

I did a test booking Port Huron-Chicago and it only wanted 5500 points for a one zone award. The map is kind of ambiguous on it, I suspect they just ran out of room.

 

[the_traveler]

A 2 or 3 zone BC award at first glance doesn't make sense, but if you think about it, it actualy does!

Here's an example: You get a 3 zone BC award from PVD to SAN.

1. You take a Regional PVD-WAS in BC
   
2. You go coach on the CL and SWC to LAX
   
3. You go BC LAX-SAN on a Surfliner
   

You just made a 3 zone BC award!

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

Another example:

HAR-PGH BC on the Penny, then coach on CL/EB to SEA and BC on the Cascades down to PDX!

 

[Ispolkom]

I'll grant that you guys are ingenious, but I'm betting that Chuljin is right: the real reason for the 2 and 3-zone business class listings is just to make the redemption chart look complete. I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't been on the redemption chart since AGR started.

If you take the position that AGR is completely focused on the NEC (and perhaps to a lesser extent California), and completely ignores routes long-distance routes, lots of strange things make more sense. This would include:

1) why AGR allows routing on circuitous routes (it happens so rarely that it's easiest just to tell the clerks to book anything that amtrak.com shows);

2) the odd pricing differences between roomette and bedrooms: a 1-zone bedroom costs 1/3 more than a roomette, while a 2-zone bedroom costs 1/2 more, and a 3-zone costs 2/3 more (so few redemptions are made for 3 zone bedrooms that they don't care);

3) even the fact that AGR seems to have forgotten about sleeper passengers on their latest promotion.

 

[AlanB]

I'll grant that you guys are ingenious, but I'm betting that Chuljin is right: the real reason for the 2 and 3-zone business class listings is just to make the redemption chart look complete. I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't been on the redemption chart since AGR started.

Two and three zone BC has been on the chart since day one.

Personally I think that the answer is quite simply that the person who wrote up the chart had no idea what types of classes Amtrak offers on all trains. They just looked at the NEC, saw coach, BC, FC, and of course knew that Amtrak offered sleepers. But where and on what trains those various services were offered, they had no idea.

 

[the_traveler]

Here's a semi-likely 2 zone BC award that someone may do. (They may not want to redeem for a roomette for a few hours trip.)

• Altoona to Pittsburgh in BC on the Pennsylvanian
  
• Pittsburgh to Toledo in coach on the CL
  
• Toledo to Detroit on a Thruway bus
  
• Detroit to Ann Arbor in BC on the Wolverine
  

A 2 zone or 3 zone BC award does not have to be on the same train! It just means you are riding in BC in 2 or 3 zones!