amtrak.com Changes

[mignyc]

But the AAA discount doesn't show up.

Confused.

 

[mignyc]

Ah.

I both

(1) added my AAA Number to my account, and

(2) planned the whole trip from the "other discounts" tab

And now the AAA fares show up. But I can't tell which change made it work.

 

[guest]

AAA members (and other discounters) gonna be peeved when they realize the lowest NER fares are being hidden from them (when available) automatically. Having to flip back to "Adult" on every search is way annoying.

 

[gaspeamtrak]

Anybody know where to enter the ISIC or AAA discount? I'm not seeing it anywhere - _ -

On the homepage where you're entering your search criteria, you'll see a new tab labeled "Other Discounts." If you click on that, you'll see a drop-down menu at the bottom for Passenger #1 where you can select from a variety of discounts.

Just went on the Amtrak website and had it for a minute then it disappeared!?????

It is there now. "other discounts"

 

[SarahZ]

The "Other Discounts" tab is not intuitive at all. It never would have occurred to me to click on that if I hadn't read it here. I'm so used to entering that information on the Passenger screen or (on other websites) just before you click "Purchase". It makes so much more sense to have it at the end just like every other website in the entire world.

I understand that some people want to see the discounted fare before they start choosing trains and upgrades, but for the average bear, it's just... weird.

Also, I was pretty "rawr" when it took me forever to figure out that "Premium" is "business class". I kept looking for the upgrade under the regular columns and ending up picking a date waaaaaaaaaaaay in the future to get "business class" to show up. Now I get it.

 

[John Bobinyec]

Also, I was pretty "rawr" when it took me forever to figure out that "Premium" is "business class". I kept looking for the upgrade under the regular columns and ending up picking a date waaaaaaaaaaaay in the future to get "business class" to show up. Now I get it.

I wonder if Amtrak is going to start painting "Premium" over "Business" on its rolling stock which proclaims "Business Class".

jb

 

[printman2000]

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"?

Because when you are looking for low bucket rooms, it is much easier to see the room cost on the first screen.

Why can't you just look at the overall cost? Railfare is always going to be the same (unlike the old screen), so the info is still there, the numbers are just a little different.

Okay, an example...

I have three adults and one child going from Lamy to Washington DC on May 2, 2014 in two roomettes. This would be the Southwest Chief and the Capitol Limted. Total cost on that is $2194.50.

Now I know low bucket for a roomette on the SWC for a roomette on this is $250. There is now no way to know if I am getting low bucket on the SWC. In fact, I cannot even tell the price I am getting on either train. Is the Southwest Chief room price the cause for the high price or is the Capitol Limited room price the cause for the high fare? No way to tell.

 

[amamba]

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"?

Because when you are looking for low bucket rooms, it is much easier to see the room cost on the first screen.

Why can't you just look at the overall cost? Railfare is always going to be the same (unlike the old screen), so the info is still there, the numbers are just a little different.

Okay, an example...

I have three adults and one child going from Lamy to Washington DC on May 2, 2014 in two roomettes. This would be the Southwest Chief and the Capitol Limted. Total cost on that is $2194.50.

Now I know low bucket for a roomette on the SWC for a roomette on this is $250. There is now no way to know if I am getting low bucket on the SWC. In fact, I cannot even tell the price I am getting on either train. Is the Southwest Chief room price the cause for the high price or is the Capitol Limited room price the cause for the high fare? No way to tell.

Did you try to book it to the end? Is there a breakdown between trains when you get that far?

 

[mignyc]

AAA members (and other discounters) gonna be peeved when they realize the lowest NER fares are being hidden from them (when available) automatically. Having to flip back to "Adult" on every search is way annoying.

Hm, what do you mean? How can I see what you're talking about?

 

[guest]

Premium is probably more appropriate for NER. Calling it "business" has always been a stretch.

 

[Ryan]

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"?

Because when you are looking for low bucket rooms, it is much easier to see the room cost on the first screen.

Why can't you just look at the overall cost? Railfare is always going to be the same (unlike the old screen), so the info is still there, the numbers are just a little different.

Okay, an example...
I have three adults and one child going from Lamy to Washington DC on May 2, 2014 in two roomettes. This would be the Southwest Chief and the Capitol Limted. Total cost on that is $2194.50.

Now I know low bucket for a roomette on the SWC for a roomette on this is $250. There is now no way to know if I am getting low bucket on the SWC. In fact, I cannot even tell the price I am getting on either train. Is the Southwest Chief room price the cause for the high price or is the Capitol Limited room price the cause for the high fare? No way to tell.

That still doesn't explain why that info is important to you. There's nothing you can do to change it.
Looking at your trip details, if you go a day earlier you can get the same trip for $1824.50. Is it because the SWC is cheaper or the Cap? Why does it matter, it's not like you'll be able to do anything differently other than travel a different day. If there are multiple routes, the 'all in' price is displayed for each of them right there on the page for you to choose from.

I can see as a railfan trying to dig into the depths of Amtrak pricing and understand how pricing works why one may want to break things down in terms of rooms vs railfare and one train vs another. Since you can't really do anything with that info, I'm not sure why it matters, but whatever. On the other hand, for the vast majority of the traveling public, this is a huge improvement, since the correct 'all in' price is what you're presented on the search results page.

 

[zephyr17]

I can understand the utility of the "all in" price, and I think that the Save, Value, Flexible, and Premium columns make it have similar look and feel to current airline websites, which most people are much more accustomed to. However, I do think the distinction between Value and Flexible, while no different in policies today, don't portend well for the future. I think we may be headed for airline style restricted fares fares soon, based on this redesign.

The real problem I have is with the "other discounts" tab in the beginning. That is really not obvious, with the website coming up with "TICKETS" as open tab, most people won't notice the other tabs (I didn't). I think that part of it is not a good user experience design. Otherwise, while I liked the old way, I see the point of making it look more like an airline website. I also noticed that while the presentation differed, the fares themselves are about the same (although it looked like they may have done a small fare increase at the same time).

 

[printman2000]

That still doesn't explain why that info is important to you. There's nothing you can do to change it.
Looking at your trip details, if you go a day earlier you can get the same trip for $1824.50. Is it because the SWC is cheaper or the Cap? Why does it matter, it's not like you'll be able to do anything differently other than travel a different day. If there are multiple routes, the 'all in' price is displayed for each of them right there on the page for you to choose from.

I can see as a railfan trying to dig into the depths of Amtrak pricing and understand how pricing works why one may want to break things down in terms of rooms vs railfare and one train vs another. Since you can't really do anything with that info, I'm not sure why it matters, but whatever. On the other hand, for the vast majority of the traveling public, this is a huge improvement, since the correct 'all in' price is what you're presented on the search results page.

Of course I cannot change it. But I would like to know how it might change. With just the whole trip cost, I don't know if the price might go down or if that is all low bucket and that will be the cheapest rate possible. If it showed me that the SWC roomette price was $415, then I would know there is a chance the price might come down.

 

[Anderson]

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"?

Because when you are looking for low bucket rooms, it is much easier to see the room cost on the first screen.

Why can't you just look at the overall cost? Railfare is always going to be the same (unlike the old screen), so the info is still there, the numbers are just a little different.

Okay, an example...
I have three adults and one child going from Lamy to Washington DC on May 2, 2014 in two roomettes. This would be the Southwest Chief and the Capitol Limted. Total cost on that is $2194.50.

Now I know low bucket for a roomette on the SWC for a roomette on this is $250. There is now no way to know if I am getting low bucket on the SWC. In fact, I cannot even tell the price I am getting on either train. Is the Southwest Chief room price the cause for the high price or is the Capitol Limited room price the cause for the high fare? No way to tell.

That still doesn't explain why that info is important to you. There's nothing you can do to change it.
Looking at your trip details, if you go a day earlier you can get the same trip for $1824.50. Is it because the SWC is cheaper or the Cap? Why does it matter, it's not like you'll be able to do anything differently other than travel a different day. If there are multiple routes, the 'all in' price is displayed for each of them right there on the page for you to choose from.

I can see as a railfan trying to dig into the depths of Amtrak pricing and understand how pricing works why one may want to break things down in terms of rooms vs railfare and one train vs another. Since you can't really do anything with that info, I'm not sure why it matters, but whatever. On the other hand, for the vast majority of the traveling public, this is a huge improvement, since the correct 'all in' price is what you're presented on the search results page.

Actually, if your trip isn't time-sensitive on one end but is on the other, with a difference that big it might make sense to stay a day in Chicago under the right circumstances. $300 is nothing to sneeze at.

Edit: It might be time to seriously look into posting buckets for more than just the NEC, especially if we're looking at a more complex regime of fare rates coming into play.

 

[daveyb99]

Seems like a reasonable change. My complaint is that each room typle should have their own column, not have to be clicked through via the small "change" arrows.

 

[SarahZ]

Printman - could you do each trip separately?

For example, when I check the price for the EB next March, the Value column (coach) says $174, and the Premium column (roomette) says $528. That tells me the roomette is $354.

Or wait... are they already discounting the rail fare instead of calculating it when you hit "Add to Cart"?

Ooh... they are... the price didn't change when I added it to my cart.

Is there a set discount on the rail fare when you add a room? If so, then it's still pretty easy to calculate the room charge.

 

[SubwayNut]

No, there isn't a set discount when you add a room, the Railfare always drops to the lowest bucket.

 

[TinCan782]

No, there isn't a set discount when you add a room, the Railfare always drops to the lowest bucket.

Lowest bucket...that's what I thought happened.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

What all can't the [amtrak.com] do in terms of booking a reservation? Modifying a reservation can be an exercise in frustration, but that's a lot rarer than booking a reservation, and I doubt would make a huge difference in terms of cost per ticket. Most people buy their ticket and go without doing a whole lot.

Last I checked Amtrak.com cannot change my room or my car or even tell me what room and car are being selected on my behalf. It cannot create or accept vouchers or credits. It cannot book awards in sleepers or across connections. If there's only one or two rooms left it often can't book them, either because it's showing phantom availability or because it can't figure out which rooms are actually free and when. It also can't list my upcoming trips with any accuracy. More recently it's having difficulty finding the lowest fare as well. Those examples are just off the top of my head based on my own experiences. Amtrak.com's ticketing system has improved over time, no doubt, but it's still far behind the likes of fully functional customer service portals such as Southwest.com.

 

[tonys96]

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"?

Because when you are looking for low bucket rooms, it is much easier to see the room cost on the first screen.

Why can't you just look at the overall cost? Railfare is always going to be the same (unlike the old screen), so the info is still there, the numbers are just a little different.

Okay, an example...
I have three adults and one child going from Lamy to Washington DC on May 2, 2014 in two roomettes. This would be the Southwest Chief and the Capitol Limted. Total cost on that is $2194.50.

Now I know low bucket for a roomette on the SWC for a roomette on this is $250. There is now no way to know if I am getting low bucket on the SWC. In fact, I cannot even tell the price I am getting on either train. Is the Southwest Chief room price the cause for the high price or is the Capitol Limited room price the cause for the high fare? No way to tell.

That still doesn't explain why that info is important to you. There's nothing you can do to change it.
Looking at your trip details, if you go a day earlier you can get the same trip for $1824.50. Is it because the SWC is cheaper or the Cap? Why does it matter, it's not like you'll be able to do anything differently other than travel a different day. If there are multiple routes, the 'all in' price is displayed for each of them right there on the page for you to choose from.

I can see as a railfan trying to dig into the depths of Amtrak pricing and understand how pricing works why one may want to break things down in terms of rooms vs railfare and one train vs another. Since you can't really do anything with that info, I'm not sure why it matters, but whatever. On the other hand, for the vast majority of the traveling public, this is a huge improvement, since the correct 'all in' price is what you're presented on the search results page.

Can't change it for sure, but can change the pax options, as in maybe taking coach for one segment or the other and roomette for the remaining segment. Which segment has the best value? Can't tell easily, you have to scroll through all the possibilities on both segments to see if you can figure it out.

 

[PRR 60]

How is this rationalized?

First, Amtrak says this:

Value Fares

Value Fares are refundable with a 10% fee. Value Fare reservations can be canceled and modified for the full value of the ticket saved as an eVoucher that can be used for future Amtrak travel or as a money back refund after a 10% refund fee. The Value Fare is available on all trains or buses.

Then, on the same screen they say this:

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.

So, which is it? Are Value Fares 100% refundable prior to departure, or are Value Fares subject to a 10% refund fee?

Fixed by Amtrak. Value Fares in reserved coach and Acela Business are 100% refundable up to 24 prior to departure, 90% refundable after.

That AGR Insider guy is great! :lol:

 

[Debmep]

Finally figured everything out & am not a fan of the new "improved" site. Thanks, Sarah for the help link of a few days ago. I book our May trip this morning using our AAA discount. We will be leaving GRR to CHI, then on to NOL on the CONO in a roomette round trip. We got # 5 roomette both directions, which is fine. I was getting really paranoid as the roomette available numbers shown decreased by one each way for our dates. I didn't get low bucket fare for the roomettes but close enough, since we are leaving GRR on a Tuesday, then leaving NOL on Friday returning to GRR on Saturday.

 

[boxcarsyix]

Found this on the rules and restrictions pop-up yesterday. I cannot find it today :help:

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.

 

[Bob Dylan]

That AGR Insider guy is great! :lol:

True this! ^_^

 

[TinCan782]

Seems like a reasonable change. My complaint is that each room typle should have their own column, not have to be clicked through via the small "change" arrows.

I agree with that observation. When I first tried it out, it appeared that only roomettes were available!