Roomette Booked for One: Spouse Joins After Booking?

[Explore]

Since the roomette charge is presumably the same for one or two persons, is it just a question of the spouse purchasing a coach fare?

In my case it may be easier, since the roomette was purchased on points. Can the wife join without any extra charge? If so, how to ticket?

Thanks....

 

[gswager]

You'll need to purchase a rail fare for each person plus a roomette for either one or two person.

 

[tricia]

Call AGR and ask to have your wife added to your ticket. They'll charge you points for her "open sleeper" fare; you've already paid for yourself and the roomette. (I've done this before, IIRC, as recently as last fall.)

Edit to add: I think Amtrak's currently running a free-companion-in-roomette sale for tix booked in the next few days. If so, and if you call now, you shouldn't have to pay anything extra for your wife to join you.

 

[caravanman]

If you don't have sufficient points, you can just buy your spouse an "open sleeper" ticket for the same price as a low bucket coach fare, that entitles to meals etc too. I think you have to call up to get this, not seen that option on the Amtrak website?

 

[PVD]

open sleeper is an agent phone call

 

[sjgiss]

Call AGR and ask to have your wife added to your ticket. They'll charge you points for her "open sleeper" fare; you've already paid for yourself and the roomette. (I've done this before, IIRC, as recently as last fall.)

Edit to add: I think Amtrak's currently running a free-companion-in-roomette sale for tix booked in the next few days. If so, and if you call now, you shouldn't have to pay anything extra for your wife to join you.

Did the same thing years ago Just called AGR they sent new tickets for both of us no additional points were needed at that time

 

[IndyLions]

We just travelled this way in mid-March - and it got screwed up.

The Open Sleeper (Coach) Ticket MUST BE A PAPER TICKET. Make your phone call to an Agent if you haven't already done so - and if they can't mail you the ticket directly - be prepared to pick it up from a Ticket Machine or an In-station Agent.

 

[willem]

you can just buy your spouse an "open sleeper" ticket for the same price as a low bucket coach fare

I believe the rail fare is now equivalent to the second bucket coach fare. It used to be low bucket.

 

[caravanman]

I believe the rail fare is now equivalent to the second bucket coach fare. It used to be low bucket.

Oh? I thought sleeper passengers always paid the equivilent of the low bucket coach, plus the sleeper premium? Things change!

 

[jis]

Oh? I thought sleeper passengers always paid the equivilent of the low bucket coach, plus the sleeper premium? Things change!

Willem might be saying that the Coach fare is not the Value fare, which is a discounted fare, but a standard fare low bucket.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Willem might be saying that the Coach fare is not the Value fare, which is a discounted fare, but a standard fare low bucket.

Right,this is the current policy!( and when it comes to using AGR Points for Rooms, the 2nd( and 3rd) person "pays" for Rail Fare, unlike under AGR I!

 

[caravanman]

I think I might go for a lie down in a dark room for a while...

 

[willem]

Willem might be saying that the Coach fare is not the Value fare, which is a discounted fare, but a standard fare low bucket.

No, I was saying the rail fare is two steps above Value fare and one step above low bucket coach fare. However, I don't know. I got my information from posts by niemi24s, whom I assume is correct, but that is an assumption. These two are from 2019.
10-20+% accommodation fare increase?
10-20+% accommodation fare increase?
This is from earlier this year, but it isn't clear if the rail fare is second or third low bucket. It is clear that it isn't low bucket.
Sleeper Pricing?

 

[jis]

No, I was saying the rail fare is two steps above Value fare and one step above low bucket coach fare. However, I don't know. I got my information from posts by niemi24s, whom I assume is correct, but that is an assumption. These two are from 2019.
10-20+% accommodation fare increase?
10-20+% accommodation fare increase?
This is from earlier this year, but it isn't clear if the rail fare is second or third low bucket. It is clear that it isn't low bucket.
Sleeper Pricing?

Only @niemi24s can clarify what he meant. But that seems to be at variance with what has been stated Amtrak policy. But policies can also change and who knows whether they have held constant over three or four years?

 

[Bob Dylan]

Only @niemi24s can clarify what he meant. But that seems to be at variance with what has been stated Amtrak policy. But policies can also change and who knows whether they have held constant over three or four years?

It's easier to get info out of the CIA than from Amtrak!

 

[tricia]

It's easier to get info out of the CIA than from Amtrak!

Sometimes it is. A clever librarian once arranged an (unclassified) interlibrary loan for me from the CIA's library in Langley.

 

[railiner]

Sometimes it is. A clever librarian once arranged an (unclassified) interlibrary loan for me from the CIA's library in Langley.

I hope you didn't say anything inappropriate or compromising, while you held that book from them....

 

[Bob Dylan]

I hope you didn't say anything inappropriate or compromising, while you held that book from them....

As Julia Robert's Character said in the Remake of " Ocean's Eleven",
" ..Someone is always watching.."

 

[willem]

Certainly I neither speak for niemi24s nor know what he or she meant, but I did check the fares for Sep 14. (This was my choice for a date for a midweek trip five months in advance.) The price for two adults was $245 more than the price for one adult in either a roomette or a bedroom. This matched exactly the third lowest of six tiers of coach pricing from the most recent fare chart that niemi24s posted and that I have seen. It seems likely that either Amtrak has changed the rail fare structure for sleeping car passengers or niemi24s has gone to some length to mislead the readers of Amtrak Unlimited.

Can someone provide a link to stated Amtrak policy, preferably a stated Amtrak policy with a date?

 

[jis]

Can someone provide a link to stated Amtrak policy, preferably a stated Amtrak policy with a date?

Actually, the last time I have seen anything written was back in early Anderson days. That is why I had added the comment about policies may have changed. Or there may be there is no policy any more other than screw the customer for all that they will bear, which would be consistent with the general perceived Anderson attitude.

I guess the only thing we can say at present is that when a second person is added, some amount determined to be the transport fare is charged for the open sleeper ticket.

 

[saxman]

Is your wife joining you between the same city pairs? If so, it'll be as simple as adding her to the reservation and paying the rail fare portion. You'll have to call to add her. If she wants to join at a different station, you'll have to call and get an "Open Sleeper" ticket. It's a paper ticket so someone will have to visit a staffed Amtrak station before hand to pick that up.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Is your wife joining you between the same city pairs? If so, it'll be as simple as adding her to the reservation and paying the rail fare portion. You'll have to call to add her. If she wants to join at a different station, you'll have to call and get an "Open Sleeper" ticket. It's a paper ticket so someone will have to visit a staffed Amtrak station before hand to pick that up.

She still needs an open sleeper unless you want to risk the whole reservation being booked at a higher fare. They cannot just add someone to your current reservation. (I had to get my daughter an open sleeper ticket even though she was boarding and detraining at the same stations as I was).