Amtrak long distance fares 2021-2023

[Devil's Advocate]

The airlines show fares for each day for a month? When did that start?

The first time I saw a monthly fare calendar was on Southwest.com sometime in the early 2000's. Not every airline provides their own monthly calendar but most of them publish real time fares to a global booking service which can be read by third parties. Google's travel service is based on the ITA engine and shows several months of fares from hundreds of airlines with lots of user customization that puts Amtrak's clumsy low effort booking process to shame.

https://www.google.com/flights

 

[Qapla]

I have seen Greyhound and MegaBus showing a week of fares, not a month ... even that would help if Amtrak would follow suit.

 

[zephyr17]

Most airlines you can get a week of fares.

 

[Nick Farr]

If you select "My Dates Are Flexible" on pretty much any airline, you'll get a view like this:

 

[MilwaukeeRoadLover]

If you select "My Dates Are Flexible" on pretty much any airline, you'll get a view like this:

View attachment 24331

I use this feature all the time

 

[dwebarts]

I use this feature all the time

Same here, in conjunction with flexible dates views for hotel rates.

Sometimes, I'll choose the higher airfare if the hotel rates are significantly more or less for a given date range. Certain cities are more expensive for weekdays than weekends and vice-versa. Events play a bigger role in accommodations pricing than transportation pricing in general.

 

[20th Century Rider]

With Amtrak it's not so easy... especially if you want to put together an extensive itinerary. There are some agents who are really good at this... but that involves the luck of getting that good agent or persistence to call back... waiting on hold each time... yet that time spent can save good money sleeping accommodations.

 

[Nick Farr]

With Amtrak it's not so easy... especially if you want to put together an extensive itinerary. There are some agents who are really good at this... but that involves the luck of getting that good agent or persistence to call back...

YES ALL OF THIS.

With the exception of a missed flight, I've never had to call and airline to deal with a ticketing issued.

Everything I've needed to take care of (even on a train) has involved calling Amtrak.

 

[20th Century Rider]

YES ALL OF THIS.

With the exception of a missed flight, I've never had to call and airline to deal with a ticketing issued.

Everything I've needed to take care of (even on a train) has involved calling Amtrak.

Ah ha! And now they've added a new step for all of us who want to access the website... another authentication mandate which is not sent to my Yahoo mail that I use, but to Safari which I don't use.

Woah... Too much. So me too! I gotta call Amtrak res and hope for a decent agent... or call again... wait on hold... in hopes of getting that good agent... or try again!

 

[nferr]

So, evidently, your opinion agrees with mine - they are too expensive ... thus the need for the prices to "come down some"

No. The prices are higher than I want to pay, but since they're basically selling out they obviously don't need to "come down some". I'm sure you understand the concept of supply and demand. That said I think the current prices will drop some in the future when travel returns to somewhat normal.

 

[Ryan]

another authentication mandate which is not sent to my Yahoo mail that I use, but to Safari which I don't use.

This makes no sense whatsoever. Safari is a web browser. You don't sent emails to a web browser.

 

[Old MM]

I'm seeing some Roomette prices trend lower for the fall, on the Capitol Ltd, than they were this summer. On certain days. Not booking anything, because there's no same day connection to Raleigh, NC. Still good to see some viable travel options if the right situation presents itself.

Edit: It might be these are lower bucket fares that simply weren't available before.

 

[Sidney]

I'm seeing some Roomette prices trend lower for the fall, on the Capitol Ltd, than they were this summer. On certain days. Not booking anything, because there's no same day connection to Raleigh, NC. Still good to see some viable travel options if the right situation presents itself.

Edit: It might be these are lower bucket fares that simply weren't available before.

Calif Zephyr and Empire Builder roomette fares from Chi to Pdx or Chi to Sac are about $860 no matter how far out you book. Even for next August it says only one room left at this price. If the date has just been added,how can rooms have been booked?There are a few $623 fares on the SW Chief from Chi to LA for next summer.

I miss the days when I could plan a circle trip ten or eleven months ahead at low bucket for every leg. I did luck out getting $505 senior roomette on the EB last week. I booked that in March. In case you didn't know,the Texas Eagle and SW Chief no longer have identical fares. I booked Bloomington to LA for $449 earlier this year. Now it's $654. Still better than paying $860 from Chicago. $13 Coach to Bloomington

 

[Ziv]

The Flex Date feature is a great one to know about! I used to have to do it manually, inserting each potential travel date manually. I have been looking at traveling to Tokyo later this year and on some days the price is $1631 and on other days it is $666. Being able to choose the day you fly is a huge plus if you can see what days are cheapest!
My Kayak price comparison is attached below.

I use this feature all the time

 

[20th Century Rider]

Calif Zephyr and Empire Builder roomette fares from Chi to Pdx or Chi to Sac are about $860 no matter how far out you book. Even for next August it says only one room left at this price. If the date has just been added,how can rooms have been booked?There are a few $623 fares on the SW Chief from Chi to LA for next summer.

I miss the days when I could plan a circle trip ten or eleven months ahead at low bucket for every leg. I did luck out getting $505 senior roomette on the EB last week. I booked that in March. In case you didn't know,the Texas Eagle and SW Chief no longer have identical fares. I booked Bloomington to LA for $449 earlier this year. Now it's $654. Still better than paying $860 from Chicago. $13 Coach to Bloomington

Same thing here... have two journeys coming up with booking the TE well in advance between LAX and SPI [well before Chicago] in a sleeper... is always above $679 // $659... and even though it's three nights it's still high. The dining up to SAS makes that somewhat worthwhile... but then it's flex for a day and a half. :-(

 

[20th Century Rider]

The Flex Date feature is a great one to know about! I used to have to do it manually, inserting each potential travel date manually. I have been looking at traveling to Tokyo later this year and on some days the price is $1631 and on other days it is $666. Being able to choose the day you fly is a huge plus if you can see what days are cheapest!
My Kayak price comparison is attached below.

This sounds like a good idea and I tried it... but they said they are 'adding' more features to the train search. It would be nice if that included roomettes and bedrooms... similar to the bucket charts.

Please send along any other tips you have with Kayak... much appreciated!

 

[niemi24s]

In case you didn't know, the Texas Eagle and SW Chief no longer have identical fares.

In case you didn't know, they do indeed still have identical fares - at least between their common endpoints. And between any two other points, there's no reason for those two trains to have identical fares (except by happenstance) because no stations other than CHI and LAX are common!

In addition to that, that 46% fare increase you noticed was probably just due to a simple two bucket jump in the fare offered. There has been no change in the overall Roomette fare bucket offerings for the TE or SWC (or any other LD train except the AT) since last Fall.

 

[Qapla]

My Kayak price comparison is attached below.

Regardless of how cheap the fare may be ... that is a long way to row for any price !!!

 

[20th Century Rider]

Regardless of how cheap the fare may be ... that is a long way to row for any price !!!

Yes but is there a way to use KAYAK for Amtrak? When I tried there was a note saying they were working on placing it in their system to include seats as well as sleeper options.

 

[Ziv]

Sorry, 20th CR, I was kind of replying to Nick's post about his post regarding Delta Airlines flexible date booking pages. As far as I know there is no Amtrak flexible date search capability nor sleeper reservations, so far, on Kayak. Not sure why not, but I haven't been able to find a way to make the reservation request use flexible dates.
It would be nice to have, now that Amsnag is no more.
On the upside, Qapla, you don't HAVE to paddle the whole way unless you want to!
;-)

This sounds like a good idea and I tried it... but they said they are 'adding' more features to the train search. It would be nice if that included roomettes and bedrooms... similar to the bucket charts.

Please send along any other tips you have with Kayak... much appreciated!

 

[Sidney]

In case you didn't know, they do indeed still have identical fares - at least between their common endpoints. And between any two other points, there's no reason for those two trains to have identical fares (except by happenstance) because no stations other than CHI and LAX are common!

In addition to that, that 46% fare increase you noticed was probably just due to a simple two bucket jump in the fare offered. There has been no change in the overall Roomette fare bucket offerings for the TE or SWC (or any other LD train except the AT) since last Fall.

The low bucket on the TE between Chi and LA went up $250 a few months ago. It was $600 when I rode in May.

 

[zephyr17]

The low bucket on the TE between Chi and LA went up $250 a few months ago. It was $600 when I rode in May.

Well, we've said it before. The actual low bucket and the price on any given day for a departure are not the same thing.

There may not be any inventory at all in low bucket for long periods of departure dates. That does not mean the buckets themselves changed.

You are seeing a bucket jump.

Sigh.

 

[Ryan]

The low bucket on the TE between Chi and LA went up $250 a few months ago. It was $600 when I rode in May.

No it didn’t.

 

[Sidney]

No it didn’t.

I have checked every date over the last few weeks and there are no $623 roomette fares to be found between Chicago and LA and return on the Texas Eagle. If $623 is low bucket,why aren't there any fares at that price?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I have checked every date over the last few weeks and there are no $623 roomette fares to be found between Chicago and LA and return on the Texas Eagle. If $623 is low bucket,why aren't there any fares at that price?

How far in advance are you looking? The closer you are to a travel date the less likely there will be a low bucket fare.