Is Multi-City booking gone on Amtrak.com?

[BCL]

https://tickets.amtrak.com/itd/amtrak/ComplexRail
I can't find it anywhere, but Julie gives the link. However, it just redirects to the main page. Not sure if they can do multi-city with a phone call, but it looks like it's gone now for online booking.

 

[zephyr17]

Still in the menu drop down available beside "One Way" on the full, desktop version of the site. Didn't check the mobile version. Never has been on the app. But it is still there for online booking if you use the full version of website.

 

[moosejunky99]

If you click on the Add Trip it will convert you to multi-city as well..

 

[zephyr17]

Unformtunately, both take you to the rotten new UI now. That's new.

 

[Train2104]

The new multi-city doesn't offer the benefit of the through fare anymore. No idea if deliberate, or a bug.

 

[blueman271]

https://tickets.amtrak.com/itd/amtrak/ComplexRail
I can't find it anywhere, but Julie gives the link. However, it just redirects to the main page. Not sure if they can do multi-city with a phone call, but it looks like it's gone now for online booking.

This past Saturday night I booked a multi city ride from Norfolk to Providence in late October. I wanted to ride Acela for the first time so I’m going from Norfolk to DC on a Regional then transferring to the Acela for the rest of the trip. It was fairly easy to book the trip through Amtrak.com though I did have some problems finding the multi city option.

 

[thully]

The new multi-city doesn't offer the benefit of the through fare anymore. No idea if deliberate, or a bug.

Yeah - when I was looking at Empire Builder itineraries split between 28/8 (because 8 was sold out), it was giving me pricing higher than the highest bucket I saw on either train direct. I was going to call and see if they could do something to get through pricing, but a roomette on 8 opened up and I was spared that…

 

[niemi24s]

Yeah - when I was looking at Empire Builder itineraries split between 28/8 (because 8 was sold out), it was giving me pricing higher than the highest bucket I saw on either train direct. I was going to call and see if they could do something to get through pricing, but a roomette on 8 opened up and I was spared that…

What do you mean by "through pricing"?

 

[Arctifox]

What do you mean by "through pricing"?

When you book a multi-city trip now, it looks like it just adds up the prices for the individual trips (as if you booked them separately), while in the past you could get a lower price for the overall trip compared to the sum of the individual trips .

 

[BCL]

What do you mean by "through pricing"?

Where splitting up a trip into separate segments (with a break) may cost the same as booking all the way through. Something like Emeryville-Reno-Denver, where one might have been able to book it at about the same "through price" as just Emeryville to Denver. Back when there was a 100 point AGR minimum, that was a way to double or even triple the points by breaking it up into separate segments that yielded 100 points each. With multi-city I could even add a promotional code and there were some crazy deals.

The other thing I remember multi-city being used for was to be able to force certain bus segments. In California that may be important because there was a law that didn't allow the booking of most Amtrak bus segments alone, but one could book them as long as they were booked along with a train segment. In the past I did some things like book an Emerville to Santa Clara-GAC segment in the morning, plus a San Francisco to Emeryville bus segment in the evening. I used Caltrain to get to San Francisco. That law had been repealed, but I can't really find a way to book it separately by myself. I do remember missing the Coast Starlight to Salinas in Emeryville, and then asking a station agent what my options were. She said that my ride could be cancelled and she could actually book a bus only ride from Emeryville to Salinas. However, I couldn't find it online, as I could have modified my trip, which was purchased with AGR points. Then she said it was probably something that only an Amtrak agent could do. I think a call to AGR could have done it too, but the waits for an agent were so long. I just cancelled the whole round trip before I got declared a no-show after two hours and rebooked with a train-bus to Salinas and Coast Starlight back to Emeryville.

 

[jebr]

The new multi-city doesn't offer the benefit of the through fare anymore. No idea if deliberate, or a bug.

Noticing this as well. I abhor this change - I wouldn't use it much, but it was really nice to be able to do a stopover in Milwaukee to/from Chicago for a few hours. I also did this once on the NEC where I was able to get the through WAS - BOS fare while doing sub-24 hour stopovers in PHL and NYP (or maybe it was NWK - I forget exactly how I ticketed it.)

There's basically no point to it now, and of course now I'll also be comparing Amtrak to bus trips on each segment instead of timing my stopovers. Might wind up being a bit less revenue for Amtrak in the long run because a segment or two is cheaper on the bus than the train, and there's no incentive for me to do the train the full trip.

 

[BCL]

When you book a multi-city trip now, it looks like it just adds up the prices for the individual trips (as if you booked them separately), while in the past you could get a lower price for the overall trip compared to the sum of the individual trips .

It was kind of complicated because of bucket pricing, but certainly on corridor routes with fixed pricing it was pretty consistent. And I'd mix it up with promotional codes too. I remember once there was a 50% discount because of a knitting/sewing convention at the Santa Clara Convention Center. It just required any booking to/from GAC on specific days and required use on those specific days. But I used multi-city once to get a break and also get double the AGR points.

It was kind of odd how they divided up the dollar value to each segment though. That didn't necessarily matter when they were all pretty small where the 100 point AGR minimum applied, but I'd think these days it does matter since the minimum are gone.

 

[BCL]

There's basically no point to it now, and of course now I'll also be comparing Amtrak to bus trips on each segment instead of timing my stopovers. Might wind up being a bit less revenue for Amtrak in the long run because a segment or two is cheaper on the bus than the train, and there's no incentive for me to do the train the full trip.

I used to use it to force bus segments in California where there was that requirement that they be booked with a train segment. Sometimes the bus segments theoretically only cost $1 or $2 and I'd throw in a totally unrelated bus ride just because it barely cost anything extra. A few passengers just wanted a bus ride (maybe to avoid using a segment from a USA Rail Pass) from San Francisco to Emeryville. and might just book something like SFC-EMY-BKY, although I think that could have been booked without multi-city.

 

[Train2104]

Where splitting up a trip into separate segments (with a break) may cost the same as booking all the way through. Something like Emeryville-Reno-Denver, where one might have been able to book it at about the same "through price" as just Emeryville to Denver. Back when there was a 100 point AGR minimum, that was a way to double or even triple the points by breaking it up into separate segments that yielded 100 points each. With multi-city I could even add a promotional code and there were some crazy deals.

I don't remember this working for a daily train - at least the last time I did it, the layover had to be LESS THAN 24 hours, so it would only work on trips in corridors where there was more than one train a day.

 

[BCL]

I don't remember this working for a daily train - at least the last time I did it, the layover had to be LESS THAN 24 hours, so it would only work on trips in corridors where there was more than one train a day.

I remember trying this once for a proposed ride and compared it to paying for both segments separately and then without a stop and got the same price, or at least off by less than $1. I remember the 24 hour thing, but it was a little bit more complicated than daily trains not benefitting from it.

I remember once I actually sliced and diced a ride into 4 segments. Might have been Sacramento to Santa Clara, but SAC-DAV-EMY on one day then EMY-FMT-GAC two days later where that was actually my commute to work. For some reason it cost the same as SAC-GAC.

 

[thully]

I don't remember this working for a daily train - at least the last time I did it, the layover had to be LESS THAN 24 hours, so it would only work on trips in corridors where there was more than one train a day.

That would still allow switching between sleepers when a through sleeper is unavailable. Now, you don’t even get the through fare for that when it is offered through normal one-way/round trip booking.

 

[freejak]

Is this now limited to just two segments or am I missing something? Never mind, just noticed the "Add Trip" sort of button. I'm all for elegant web interfaces, but is it asking too much to make critical interface elements like buttons more obvious than being apparent plain text?

 

[zephyr17]

Is this now limited to just two segments or am I missing something? Never mind, just noticed the "Add Trip" sort of button. I'm all for elegant web interfaces, but is it asking too much to make critical interface elements like buttons more obvious than being apparent plain text?

It's Amtrak IT. Enough said.

 

[SubwayNut]

Bumping this thread because it appears that this definitely hasn't been fixed, and I'm finally considering some Amtrak trips with short layovers to get more content for my website SubwayNut.com and am feeling disappointed.

Has anyone tried to book a multi-city ticket with a less than 24 hour stopover, by calling an Amtrak agent or stopping by at a ticket office and still gotten the through fare?

Here is an (extreme) example of a trip I'm considering: On Labor Day I'm going to be in New York and will need to get home to South Bend. A one-way coach fare from NYP to SOB is $55 on the Lake Shore. I'm thinking about making a same-day stopover (would check my bag through from NYP to SOB, assuming Amtrak would still allow this, otherwise my time at the fair is kind of ruined) at the New York State Fair which I've always wanted to take the train too.

This would result in me taking the Maple Leaf or Empire Service from NYP to the New York State Fare for most of the afternoon or at least 3 hours, taking the evening 7:06pm Empire Service train one stop to Rochester layover from 8:09pm to 11:29pm and then probably a nearly all nighter in an aisle seat in coach (that would be worth it to me for the adventure of stopping at the State Fare) home to South Bend. I'm having a hard time with the no longer through cost of $110, when in the past I know I could have booked it for roughly ~$54.

 

[niemi24s]

Nothing at all unusual about total fares for multi-segment trips to increase by 50% or 100% or more over a one train trip. No need to have a hard time with this as it's been this way for ages.

If you wanted to add another leg to your trip and spend the night in Cleveland, the total fare would go up to $143.

But all of this depends on the particular route. F'rinstance:

• Taking the CONO directly from NOL to CHI on 1 Feb 2024 would cost $110 in Coach. However, breaking this same trip up into 11 segments of roughly equal length would cost only $139 or 26% more.

• But doing that same thing on the Zephyr from CHI to EMY will see the Coach fare rise from $146 to $361 (up 147%).

 

[SubwayNut]

It hasn't been this way for ages if your stopovers were less than 24 hours, this only used to happen if your stopover was more than 24 hours.

It used to be if you were stopping over for less than 24 hours (the route needed more than 1 train a day) the stopover used to be free! I can think of so many examples of when I used to do this. Like in 2012 I went NFL-BFX (spent the night but got off the Maple Leaf bit boarded the second Empire Service train of the morning) spent 4 hours in Rochester got on the Maple Leaf one stop to Syracuse, spent the night, took that mornings Empire Service train to New York. The trip cost $49, the cost of a one-way ticket. If I had taken the Maple Leaf and spent 24 hours in Syracuse the cost would have been like $80 or more.

 

[niemi24s]

I finally got your point. Looks like the length of the stopover makes no difference in the total fare these days. Tried NYP to BFX starting 1Feb 2024:

• The ML or ES direct were $68
• 6 segments, less than 24 hrs twixt trains was $140
• Same 6 segments, more than 24 hrs twixt trains also $140

Fun to reminisce, eh?