August Los Angeles-New York Trip Planning

[asherman93]

So there's an event going down in New York in August and I'm considering going. I was wondering when the best time to buy tickets would be if I do decide to go.
COVID caused me to get bitten by the travel bug, and I've always preferred the rails to the air, but I'm hoping there's a way I could get sleeping car reservations for relatively cheap if possible.

 

[zephyr17]

So there's an event going down in New York in August and I'm considering going. I was wondering when the best time to buy tickets would be if I do decide to go.
COVID caused me to get bitten by the travel bug, and I've always preferred the rails to the air, but I'm hoping there's a way I could get sleeping car reservations for relatively cheap if possible.

Well, "cheap" is relative. The very cheapest you could possibly get a sleeper for the whole trip is $947, low bucket on the SW Chief and LSL. It may be a few dollars cheaper since Amtrak usually lowers the rail portion of the combined fare a bit for through connections.

But the chances of the lowest bucket becoming available in August are pretty slim.

We are in what I've found to be the period, 4 to 5 months out, that Amtrak yield management may review and reallocate inventory, so a drop to a lower bucket from a high bucket is quite possible. I'd start checking fares right now, and be as flexible as you can be with dates. A difference of one day can mean hundreds of dollars in savings.

If you cannot find fares right now that suit you, keep checking, but my experience is if at 3-4 months out, if you cannot find a lower bucket now that we're well into the window, you aren't going to until possibly shortly before departure, like a week, a couple at the outside.

If you are willing to book coach and take a chance at BidUp, or that the prices drop shortly before departure and do a straight upgrade, that's a valid strategy. But you have to be willing to do coach if you don't succeed. The odds are a bit against you, but not really long.

 

[neutralist]

So there's an event going down in New York in August

Is that by any chance the Pokemon GO Fest?

 

[asherman93]

Is that by any chance the Pokemon GO Fest?

...yes.
I have family that live around the area, so lodgings won't be an issue.
So my main focus is getting there, period, and then getting the ticket.

The very cheapest you could possibly get a sleeper for the whole trip is $947, low bucket on the SW Chief and LSL.

What if I only do sleeper on the Chief, but coach on the Limited?

If you are willing to book coach and take a chance at BidUp, or that the prices drop shortly before departure and do a straight upgrade, that's a valid strategy. But you have to be willing to do coach if you don't succeed. The odds are a bit against you, but not really long.

How does BidUp work?

 

[zephyr17]

What if I only do sleeper on the Chief, but coach on the Limited?

That would bring the lowest possible fare down to $713, $623 for a low bucket roomette on the SW Chief and $90 for a Saver coach fare on the Lake Shore.

Again, the chances of getting a low bucket on the Chief during peak travel season is pretty small, and we are in the middle or late in the window that my experience says it would be likely to appear, if at all, for August travel. So start checking immediately and be flexible as possible on dates.

One technical point, a few months ago the website was having a consistent problem with booking an itinerary of mixed accommodation types (bedroom/roomette, roomette/coach, etc). It didn't throw an error message, the "continue" button just did not respond on the second segment with the different accommodation from the first. I don't know whether they fixed it or not in the interim. You may have to enter the segments separately to get pricing and call to actually book if they haven't.

How does BidUp work?

Well, once you have a reservation, if it qualifies you'll have an option to BidUp. There will be a minimum and maximum bid and you only get one shot at any given accommodation type. Bids close 37 hours before departure on sleeper bids.

However, as I think about it, this trip won't quality. Only single segment cash trips do. Multiple segments, Rail Pass, and AGR point trips don't and this itinerary has two segments. I do not think it is wise to break up a reservation just to have a chance at BidUp, since that endangers the connection guarantee. That is especially fraught when connecting from any western LD at Chicago.