Amtrak long distance fares 2021-2023

[plane2train]

Don't forget as well that there are fares and then there are buckets. It's altogether possible for one fare bucket to have several fare changes over a year. This year, I got lucky by waiting to book until the fares came down. I believe I ended up booking like 3 months out or something. But I had to check pretty frequently. You have to ask yourself what your sweet spot is and wait for it if you can or try different dates.

 

[KiraPi]

I booked a trip for October back in April. For funzies, I occasionally check to see how much it costs if I were to book it now. So far, I'm saving $637 on the trip from Seattle to NYC. Plus, I applied for the Amtrak BoA credit card so I also got $100 off the fare and enough points to get tickets for a trip to Baltimore for my and my husband.
If I were to book the trip now, I wouldn't be doing it. The cost got crazy at some point.

 

[Sidney]

Always wanting to ride,I looked into April dates. I did get a roomette from Lax to Klamath Falls for $288,and Coach for $38 to Pdx. 24 hours in a roomette,three meals and I usually am in the SSL car during the day so saving $70 for the seven hour ride to PDX was worth it.

I then checked roomette fares to Lax from Pa. and back after Pdx. Way too high for me. A $850 rate from Chicago to Albuquerque in a roomette over $1100 to LA.Somebody will pay that. I won't. I'll fly to Lax on Southwest for $125 to $150 from BWI and fly back from Pdx for $150 to $175 and get a train ride in the middle.

I have been doing circle trips on Amtrak for over thirty years. Trying to get low buckets that connect is getting harder and harder..and this is for April 2022.

 

[Old MM]

I've been perusing roomette prices out of North Carolina (Raleigh and other stations) either to NYP or South Florida for a while now. In a nutshell, the rooms are selling and I'm priced out of that market.
OTOH the rail options between Charlotte and Durham are quite appealing, only $25 Coach. Of course, if going to one of the airports there'd be ancillary Uber or Bus cost. If the Carolinian and Piedmonts are decently reliable this is going to be a good option when I'm in the area which will be happening. Same for service as far as WAS - 7 hours, daytime, which would be about my limit in Coach and quite reasonable fares. Bottom line Roomette pricing seems to really depend on the city pair and personal judgment as to whether it's worth it. I'd still pay the low bucket on the LSL, but the Florida trains are out of the question.

 

[JC_620]

Looking at booking a post cruise trip home across the country from Seattle to Boston in June of 2022. What is going on with Amtrak!? By that, I mean, Amtrak used to preach about booking early! We used to hear 'You better book early for the best fares!' That is entirely false when, looking now, a bedroom on the Builder starts out at $2,396 for June 2022??

My questions:
Is that the "low bucket"?
Subsequently, if that is the "low bucket" fare, then what is the "high bucket" fare? Does anyone happen to have the 4 or 5 "buckets" that used to be out there as a general reference to what was being charged for a roomette or a bedroom?

$2,400 about 10 months out?

Really Amtrak...

 

[pennyk]

I travel in bedrooms routinely. Because of Covid, more passengers are opting for bedrooms to avoid public restrooms, causing the demand for bedrooms to increase. The fares are increasing as demand is increasing. I compared an early December 2019 cross country trip (booked 2-3 months in advance) with an early December 2021 cross country trip (booked 5 months in advance). The 2021 fare is more than double the 2019 fare. Not only has demand increased, the supply has decreased since many of the consists have been shortened.

 

[niemi24s]

Current high/low bucket one adult fares for SEA to BOS are:

• Roomette $1822/$929
• Bedroom $3781/$1600

 

[JC_620]

Current high/low bucket one adult fares for SEA to BOS are:

• Roomette $1822/$929
• Bedroom $3781/$1600

Nuts. My guess is it's COVID possibly but also it is just Amtrak's way of trying to recoup what they lost when they went to tri-weekly service.

 

[niemi24s]

I compared an early December 2019 cross country trip (booked 2-3 months in advance) with an early December 2021 cross country trip (booked 5 months in advance). The 2021 fare is more than double the 2019 fare.

What you paid may have more than doubled, but that doesn't mean the value of the fare buckets has more than doubled. The following extreme case comparisons are for a Bedroom from MIA to SEA

• The high bucket fare in 2019 would have been $4740 and the low bucket fare in 2021 would have been $2515 or 53% of the earlier fare. At the other extreme...

• The low bucket fare in 2019 would have been $1450 and the high bucket fare in 2021 would have been $5378 or 371% of the earlier fare.

• And somewhere in between these two extremes there'd probably be some combination of buckets that would add up to very little difference between the 2019 and 2021 trip.

But the basic bucket structure for this trip has increased only (!) 28% in that two year period. FWIW, the Bedroom fares for MIA to SEA now range from $3088 to $5129 for a three segment trip during the first ten days of December.

 

[niemi24s]

Sorry for this, but there's an error in the second bulleted item, above, and edit time has expired. It should read...

• The low bucket fare in 2019 would have been $2302 and the high bucket fare in 2021 would have been $5378 or 234% of the earlier fare.

Bear in mind that sleeper fares doubling is possible even within a few days (much less a few years) if the fares jump from low to high bucket. It's been like that since late 2015 when I started collecting fare data.

 

[TracyH]

I had a similar reaction when trying to book a roomette from Glacier National Park to Chicago on the Empire Builder for June 2022. The discussion is here:
https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/sudden-roomette-price-increase.79433/#post-910881

 

[niemi24s]

Those not familiar with the Amtrak fare bucket system would probably have a similar reaction. Unfortunately it seems few have that familiarity. But for the California Zephyr...



...the ratio between the high and low bucket sleeper fares (for 1 adult) is about 2.0 to 1. Other trains a bit more, others a bit less. But each of those fares includes the Coach fare followed by the ">" symbol, so what really changes from day to day when fares routinely change is the accommodation charge for the particular sleeper. When that $224> is deducted, the ratio between high and low bucket accommodation charges (only) increases to about 2.4 to 1.

For plain old Coach fares the ratio between the highest and lowest is 2.5 to 1.

This is why if there's any flexibility in travel dates, it pays to shop. But shopping doesn't always save as the fares offered by Amtrak are often stuck at high bucket and sometimes low bucket is never offered.

 

[TracyH]

Thanks. Although I don't have extensive familiarity with the fare bucket system, the fares are all currently high (or at least much higher than they were when I was looking last month) for roomettes from Glacier to Chicago, no matter what the date is...so travel flexibility doesn't seem to apply in my case.

 

[Larry H.]

Why don't they return to the way railroad fares used to always be. A set cost for the room and you knew what you were paying. Of course they fares were far, far cheaper in those days. Why couldn't they use and average cost and just make that the set price?

 

[zephyr17]

They could. Of course fares are no longer regulated as they were in those days, and yield management, if done right, ought to provide much greater returns on the limited and perishable inventory.

And, allowing for inflation, today's accommodation charges in the mid buckets are roughly equivalent to Pullman's in days gone by. They were only "far, far cheaper" if you assume the dollar's value held steady, which, of course, it hasn't. Sleepers were never cheap.

 

[Larry H.]

I think that is a myth often stated here! A Pullman fare was maybe a third more than coach and very affordable. I Know, I never made much money but could easily afford the sleeper extra charge. Compared to the difference in fares between coach and so called first class is many times higher than the coach fare, I would guess at least 5 times more and that is probably low. And as to the charges overall, if this is public transportation why do we have to sock it too people for the very highest rates possible most of the time. Yes people travel that way, and I do as well, but maybe its because we don't or can't fly. The fares are also a problem because Amtrak is using the excuse of not having sufficient equipment so they have to charge more. Maybe thats true I would say, but where are the plans now to run enough sleepers that when people try to book a room they don't get a sold out screen. That has been going on forever with them and also produces a skewed result as to how many people are supporting a train. We can't really say a line isn't making much money or carrying enough passengers if half the time or more you can't even get an accommodation on the route?

 

[dlagrua]

The LD sleeper fares are what they are and if you can afford them you buy but if not you drive or fly. I just wonder if the sleepers are really selling out at these exhorbitant high fares?. If they are it must be that the rich are the primary customers but if they are expecting Orient Express type first class service they will be sorely disappointed. We would like to take the train again for our LD trips and hope that the fares relax a bit. In the meantime we are shut out of the system. We just completed a first class air trip (NJ-Arizona) and it was a horrible experience but at 1/4 the price of an Amtrak bedroom we will grit our teeth and bear it for now. At $1600 for two R/T, it fits the budget.

 

[neroden]

Someone did a careful comparison of recent fares vs. historic fares, adjusting for inflation. Bottom line: coach fares have actually gone DOWN after adjusting for inflation. Sleeper fares have gone up somewhat. I think it's pretty obvious Amtrak has a severe shortage of sleeper cars, and needs to add more.

But right now they aren't even running everything they have, due to what I can only assume is malicious mismanagement by someone who values sabotaging-the-sleepers over making-a-profit. Even as a monopoly, right now they'd be better served economically by running more sleeper cars at slightly lower prices -- they'd still fill up.

 

[joelkfla]

But right now they aren't even running everything they have, due to what I can only assume is malicious mismanagement by someone who values sabotaging-the-sleepers over making-a-profit. Even as a monopoly, right now they'd be better served economically by running more sleeper cars at slightly lower prices -- they'd still fill up.

I thought it was due to a labor shortage. There have been reports of job postings for OBS at multiple locations.

 

[Exvalley]

It would not surprise me if sleepers are selling well even with high fares. Lots of people have not spent anything on travel for the past year and a half - so they can afford to spend more right now. Whether or not people are willing to spend that sort of money for all future travel is another question.

 

[niemi24s]

We can't really say a line isn't making much money or carrying enough passengers if half the time or more you can't even get an accommodation on the route?

So when, pray tell, CAN we say a line isn't making much money or carrying enough passengers?

 

[Larry H.]

So when, pray tell, CAN we say a line isn't making much money or carrying enough passengers?

Hopefully your joking.. All we ever here is the long distance are big time loosers money wise. My point being if your not able to sell all the accommodations people want then your getting a false picture of what the train might really carry if it had the equipment to meet the needs. You really shouldn't be in a position of turning passengers away like so many have over time reported full bedrooms or roomettes for months out.

 

[Tlcooper44]

I’ve been planning an EB trip in Feb 2022 for some time now. When I checked roomette prices a month ago, they were VERY reasonable (~500) but I just recently checked back in, and they’re roughly double what they were back in late June.

My guess is that there will be a time window (probably brief) where the prices go down before February. I hope to act then and get the ticket, and just use a companion coupon for my fiancé.

 

[zephyr17]

Keep checking. You don't know when they'll review sales figures and adjust the allocation of inventory across the buckets.

 

[Cal]

But right now they aren't even running everything they have, due to what I can only assume is malicious mismanagement by someone who values sabotaging-the-sleepers over making-a-profit. Even as a monopoly, right now they'd be better served economically by running more sleeper cars at slightly lower prices -- they'd still fill up.

My guess is for a mix of reasons:
-Backlog of maintenance
-Refreshing Superliners
-OBS Shortage