Your only chance would be if someone who booked at that fare cancels AND you call or check at the right time! Do you need to really travel that day?Amsnag is showing as low as $167.00 in October...I'm hoping to snag one at that price.....
I'm confused!
Fair question. Here's what happened (and you guessed wrong on my train, too, btw):I'm confused!
You do not purchase a sleeper for say 2 PM to 7AM. You purchase the sleeper from say CHI-DEN. Even if it is hours late, and does not arrive into DEN until 5 PM, the room is your's until DEN. They do not kick you out at 7 AM! So why did you have to pay extra when your train was delayed?
How odd. I've never been unsuccessful in seeking an onboard upgrade to sleeper - 4 or 5 times - unless you count the time the conductor said I had to wait a couple stops before a room became available (which I don't).
That's how I see it as well, but maybe they figure that if they refuse coach passengers will simply give up and buy a room at double or triple the lowest bucket next time?
Maybe I'm just not doing the special handshake properly. :lol:
Honestly: calling Conductors "lazy" is a little insulting. I would say selling an onboard sleeper upgrade to someone who is too cheap to buy one in advance is LOW on the priority list, somewhere behind Train Safety and Eating Popcorn.
Yes, the on-board upgrade fare is the difference between what you paid and the low bucket sleeper far, If it under a $50 difference, you are still charged IIRC $50.
I generally try to avoid booking coach these days but occasionally all the roomettes are sold out on the days I can travel and the next cheapest bedroom is around $500 or more for what amounts to a day trip for one person. On those sorts of occasions I have sometimes chosen to ride in coach class and then attempted to upgrade on-board. Out of my half-dozen attempts so far it has always failed. I've also tried asking more than one conductor on the same train and received the same canned auto-response. If I'm talking to a brand new conductor from some random seat in the lounge car then how exactly does he even know where I'm going in order to give me an instant auto-answer about sleeper availability? If I then kindly explain that Amtrak.com is still showing multiple bedrooms available to my specific destination why can't he call it in at some point to double-check? I'm not expecting the conductor to immediately drop everything and secure me a room. I'm merely expecting him to follow his own employer's published policies. If it takes a while for him to get done with whatever he's doing and check on inventory before getting back to me that's perfectly fine. If any of this sounds like an especially "cheap" or unreasonable position then I'd like to know why you think so.
One of the conductor's duties is Revenue Management. They are responsible for ensuring that everyone on the train has paid and has a valid ticket, as well as trying to maximize revenue for Amtrak. So it technically is their job to promote selling those empty rooms, if they exist.
That sounds like the price is currently at the middle bucket, low bucket would be $169 for a roomette. That's before adding on the railfare.
