amtrak.com Changes

[SubwayNut]

Stupidly I've been experimenting with my NARP discount on lines with 'Saver' fares that require the 2 week book ahead rule ect. Strangely you have to physically now remove your discount to get the saver option to appear (you have to start as an Adult). If you start with NARP you get the only more expensive discounted 'Value' fares, not just Saver.

I think this new option makes mostly sense once Amtrak iron outs the kinks. (such as displaying Saver options when you look up a trip with everyday discounts they can't be applied too)

Multi-City tickets (that I normally book to add short stopovers for extra AGR points) displays haven't changed and still give the discounted 'through' fares luckily!

 

[Ryan]

Hmmmmm! Looks like another Surprise!!! from Amtrak to it's Best Customers! Perhaps they should have given some notice and/or had a Test/Trial Period to work out any "Bugs" that are sure to show up! h34r:

How do you know they didn't?

While presenting the total cost is just fine for a lot of people, they should still be showing the room price SOMEWHERE. I certainly would not say showing the room price is irrelevant. The way it is now there is no way to know how much you are paying for a room!

They do show it on the very next screen.

I'm still not sure why it matters. What matters is the total cost of the trip, who cares how that cost is split between "room charge" and "rail fare"?

 

[guest]

Removing refundability from low bucket fares without warning us first is a huge disappointment.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Hmmmmm! Looks like another Surprise!!! from Amtrak to it's Best Customers! Perhaps they should have given some notice and/or had a Test/Trial Period to work out any "Bugs" that are sure to show up! h34r:

How do you know they didn't?

Ryan:Well, they must have done it in Secret h34r: since there was No Notice on Amtrak.com/ the AGR Site/Flyer Talk/train orders/OTOL etc. etc. And from the Posts I'm reading sounds like Frequent Riders are surprised and Don't like it !

Ive already seen lots of "Bugs" in the Test Fares like amamba used in her Post (for sure snagginga FC Acela Ride Cheaper than a Flexible Business Class Fare sounds like a "Bug" to me!) The Rest of your Post is Spot on!

 

[Ryan]

Up until today coach reserved seat tickets were fully refundable, i.e. it was only sleepers that had the refund fee.

It seems as though that's still the case. Reading further:

Refundable Seats - Saver, Value and Flexible Fares

Coach class tickets sold as a Saver fare are non-refundable. Coach class tickets sold as Value and Flexible fares are fully refundable prior to train departure and a 10% refund fee applies after train departure.

It looks like the cost increase for a flexible fare is pretty significant, 20%-20% based on some quick browsing.

Why would someone buy that ticket when the refund penalty is 10%? Same flexibility, right?

Yeah, I do agree there - I don't really see a compelling reason to book a flexible fare. Maybe there's a use case out there that it does make sense for.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I think, as someone else implied, the Saver price is the NEC's (and others?) 25% discount if booked 2+ weeks out. I just did a test and the Saver fare is not available for today.

 

[jebr]

I like the redesign for the most part...makes it easier to tell what the true price will be. Even includes my discounts automatically when I'm signed in. I wish it spelled out the options more for the rooms, but that could be fixed easily enough.

I don't see the point in the "flexible" bucket unless you're worse than me in terms of keeping coach reservations. The prices seem to be double (or more) and the only difference is that instead of a 90% refund you get a 100% refund. Both still have eVouchers, and the flexible fare seems to offer no further benefits. If it included something like meals, food voucher, maybe lounge access, or something like that, I could see it being useful and nice on some trips. But for a 10% difference in the refund amount? Not worth double the fare.

 

[roadman3313]

Looking at a CS fare for today, there are no Value Fares available, just flexible. Maybe closer if there are not many seats available you can only book a Flexible fare? The Flexible fare is at $113, which is about $12 higher than the previous high bucket fare which appears to be a $58-101 value fare range.

Maybe Value Fares (which appear to be the bucket fares we are used to) aren't always available so one must book a flexible fare if they would like a seat? It says there are only 2 seats left at that price...

 

[AmtrakBlue]

So maybe Flexible fares are only the high bucket fares? And that may be why Premium fares (on the NEC, at least) might be lower. I've read on AU that sometimes Acela's are cheaper than high bucket regionals if the regionals are selling out faster than the Acela's.

 

[the_traveler]

I think that the "saver" fares are the "E" bucket (14 day advance purchase) fares.

 

[afigg]

Even a booking on the NEC is now more complicated at first look with the different options of Saver, Value, Flexible, and Premium. I don't see that Flexible offers enough of a benefit with the full refund versus 10% fee over Value to make it worthwhile to most. My guess is that the idea is that corridor business travelers on an expense account who may want to change will select Flexible. Which will mean more revenue.

This is a step towards what the airlines do with multiple options and service levels, all carefully constructed to squeeze out additional ticket revenue from those willing to pay a little more.

 

[jebr]

So, if there's value fares available, is there any reason to book a flexible fare? Or is the flexible fare just "high bucket" and they throw in refund ability after departure as a little bit of a difference to make it look better?

 

[Blackwolf]

I feel this will be interesting to watch over the course of the next few months as the Holidays come and go (and so does Amtrak's peak ridership for the year.) I imagine that there will be considerable movement in the revenue management department when it comes to fares, finding just how much the market can bear. Yes, we've just witnessed a marked increase in base fares with this roll-out and I think we'll see them increase again (possibly by a substantial amount on some routes.) Will this price Amtrak out of some people's budgets? I say "Yes" with strong belief. And I think this is intentional by Amtrak as they run into capacity issues; the company is likely willing and driven to alienate and drive away some of their most "loyal" but lowest paying passengers in exchange for getting someone else who'll pay more for the same seat/accommodation.

Also, this change in the website makes it a whole lot less complicated for the non-savvy Amtrak passenger. It is much more in-line with an airline website now, as are the refund and pricing policies. Yes, a disadvantage for those of us who were used to the former setup and certainly more restrictive in some ways, but Amtrak is probably looking over our heads intentionally.

I'll reserve my opinion until things have settled out by January.

 

[the_traveler]

I think, as someone else implied, the Saver price is the NEC's (and others?) 25% discount if booked 2+ weeks out. I just did a test and the Saver fare is not available for today.

I think that the "saver" fares are the "E" bucket (14 day advance purchase) fares.

A test booking showed that is what it is!

 

[amamba]

Stupidly I've been experimenting with my NARP discount on lines with 'Saver' fares that require the 2 week book ahead rule ect. Strangely you have to physically now remove your discount to get the saver option to appear (you have to start as an Adult). If you start with NARP you get the only more expensive discounted 'Value' fares, not just Saver.

I think this new option makes mostly sense once Amtrak iron outs the kinks. (such as displaying Saver options when you look up a trip with everyday discounts they can't be applied too)

This is a really interesting point. Once I logged into my amtrak.com account, I didn't see saver fares on ANY trains on the NEC - no matter what day I looked.

Once I logged out, then the saver fares were visible again.

that seems like a pretty big bug to me. Maybe I still want the E bucket fares because those are still cheaper than the AAA discount on the NEC.

So is the only difference between Value and Flexible fares the fact that they the flexible fares are refundable AFTER the train's departure? That is not something that I am willing to pay for.

 

[DebMep]

Another AAA question? I set up a account on the Amtrak site, and played around with destinations and dates. How do I get 2 AAA discounts for myself and husband. The new web site shows 1 adult full fare and 1 adult AAA discount.

 

[PRR 60]

Stupidly I've been experimenting with my NARP discount on lines with 'Saver' fares that require the 2 week book ahead rule ect. Strangely you have to physically now remove your discount to get the saver option to appear (you have to start as an Adult). If you start with NARP you get the only more expensive discounted 'Value' fares, not just Saver.

I think this new option makes mostly sense once Amtrak iron outs the kinks. (such as displaying Saver options when you look up a trip with everyday discounts they can't be applied too)

This is a really interesting point. Once I logged into my amtrak.com account, I didn't see saver fares on ANY trains on the NEC - no matter what day I looked.
Once I logged out, then the saver fares were visible again.

that seems like a pretty big bug to me. Maybe I still want the E bucket fares because those are still cheaper than the AAA discount on the NEC.

So is the only difference between Value and Flexible fares the fact that they the flexible fares are refundable AFTER the train's departure? That is not something that I am willing to pay for.

It appears that if you have a standard discount built into your Amtrak.com profile (AAA, senior, etc.), the new system assumes you want to use that discount. In the case of saver fares, those fares are not applicable for standard discounts, so the new system will not show the fares. Not a good assumption because (1) you might want to use the saver fare or (2) you could even be booking for someone else.

 

[PRR 60]

The new booking pages have a "swa.com" look and feel to them. I'm becoming more and more convinced that Amtrak really wants to be an airline.

 

[Shanghai]

I found the Senior selection and did a test booking on a trip we are taking next Tuesday (NYP to PHL & return BC) on 43 & 42,

I selected 2 senior and the price was exactly the same as when I booked the trip last week. I will take some practice, but

I'm happy at this time. Did our Anthony have anything to do with this change??

 

[SarahZ]

Another AAA question? I set up a account on the Amtrak site, and played around with destinations and dates. How do I get 2 AAA discounts for myself and husband. The new web site shows 1 adult full fare and 1 adult AAA discount.

Strange. I just tried a fake booking, and it didn't give me the drop-downs for "discount type" either. I kind of rushed it, though, so I'll look closer the second time.

It also looks pretty wacky in Chrome, but I think that's a style sheet issue. I refuse to use IE, so I'll put up with the weird fonts and the buttons being misaligned.

They've expanded the rental/hotel suggestions on the next page. Irritating, but I can see how it would be helpful for travelers planning trips to Chicago, NYC, and other places they're unfamiliar with. It reminds me of the bundling on Travelocity and Expedia.

 

[benjibear]

So is everyone in agreement that the "value" column is what the normal pricing was prior?

I think all these choices could confuse the new or occasional rider.

 

[TinCan782]

Didn't the previous site remember your discount status (AAA, senior, etc)? I had to change from regular to senior when creating a test reservation.

As I typically travel with one particular person, it would be nice if it would "remember" that other person's info...name, discount status, AGR number, etc. and include it if you state 2 passengers.

A while back I suggested via AGR, a way to link two AGR accounts...easier if gifting or transferring points or, just checking their point balance without having to log off as one person and then back on as the other!

 

[Anderson]

Just a thought, but this is almost identical to VIA's system. For what it's worth, VIA has buckets on the Corridor as well (from what I can tell, at least...on a peak-hour train the "cheap" fare will often be higher than on an off-hour train, sometimes to the point that the cost of getting the "full fare" ticket was negligible and more than offset by their Preference point bonus...as Charlie and I found out this summer).

The biggest plus to this overhaul, IMHO, is that nobody gets forced into non-refundable tickets anymore. That was the biggest issue with the "E" tickets on the NEC: You couldn't opt not to get the restricted 14-day fare, which is an issue if you've got arrangements that are at all soft.

The biggest negative is the lack of any explanation from Amtrak either in advance or in concert with it.

All that being said, I'm happy: Stupid roomette tricks seem to be alive and well.

Edit: One other item of note: It seems that "value" fares can run out (check Tuesday's Meteor RVR-NYP), so this might be a "stealth re-bucketing" in some fashion.

Edit2: This may also allow them, eventually, to offer a refundable and a non-refundable room fare.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Didn't the previous site remember your discount status (AAA, senior, etc)? I had to change from regular to senior when creating a test reservation.

!

The problem with the new site is it won't show the Saver price if it uses your discount. The old way it would tell you, after you added a train to your cart, if the cost with the discount is higher than the already discounted ticket (eg the 25% off on NEC 14+ day advanced purchase).

 

[Anderson]

Another obvervation: The availability of RVR-NYP "saver" fares is exceedingly spotty. Usually you can get one on 66, but on the morning trains? Good luck...in early October, I'll either find 0, 1, or 2 of the 4 morning trains (often the 0600 and 0700 ones) with these fares available.