Searching for rooms on a route with no particular departure date

[dadonatrain]

This just occurred to me. I’ll keep looking on Amtrak.com but so far, I haven’t found an easy way to do it so I’ll ask here in case someone knows.

I’d like to travel from Charlottesville to Chicago on the Cardinal in a roomette or bedroom. Not a coach seat. Sometime this summer. I don’t actually care when. Is there a way I can search “book” for trains with sleeper spaces available, without having to just enter one date after another? Or even a range of dates, which doesn’t seem to be possible more than a five day range?

I know, I’m being picky, but I’m curious.

It also just occurred to me: the Cardinal does have sleepers, doesn’t it? Or is that my problem finding any?

 

[zephyr17]

Nope. One date after another is the only way.

The Cardinal is running a Viewliner II sleeper.

 

[GAT]

Nope. One date after another is the only way.

The Cardinal is running a Viewliner II sleeper.

Just curious. Will Amtrak or AGR phone agents help you search for the best fare/date?

 

[zephyr17]

Well, if they were willing, they'd have to do pretty much the same thing you would, albeit with a different UI.

So it is either you sitting and poking around on your computer, or sitting on the phone while they poke around on their computer.

 

[GAT]

Well, if they were willing, they'd have to do pretty much the same thing you would, albeit with a different UI.

So it is either you sitting and poking around on your computer, or sitting on the phone while they poke around on their computer.

Thanks. I guess that sums it up pretty succinctly (and humorously). Especially if the agents' UI is no more comprehensive than the customers'. Which begs the question: Why not hire a few IT guys with airline reservation systems experience to modernize Amtrak's? I guess we all know the answer to that one.

 

[Sidney]

Hunt and peck. Last fall I checked every date for the Texas Eagle from LA to Chicago. Being retired,I am very flexible. Checked December through March. I found two dates at low bucket and I booked one of those. When searching ,if the lowest fare you find comes up multiple times that is the low bucket.

 

[zephyr17]

Thanks. I guess that sums it up pretty succinctly (and humorously). Especially if the agents' UI is no more comprehensive than the customers'. Which begs the question: Why not hire a few IT guys with airline reservation systems experience to modernize Amtrak's? I guess we all know the answer to that one.

Amtrak's Arrow is pretty much a Stone Age relic in IT terms, a customized one-off of Sabre from the late 1970s. Modernizing the core system would have to be a rip and replace, costing in the high hundreds of millions at least (I am a retiree of corporate IT departments and have a reasonably good idea of what the order of magnitude of the cost of such an ambitious project).

And they have lost much of the institutional IT knowledge of Arrow through attrition and retirement. They can really only fool around with the "wrap" that surrounds it now and they clearly are not competent even in doing that.

 

[Jay Aitchsee]

Check niemi24s thread for fares (buckets) to recognize bargains. In my limited experience, currently low bucket fares are only available shortly (days) before departure and come and go rapidly. If you are able to go on short notice, this may work for you.

 

[BlackDiamond]

Amtrak's Arrow is pretty much a Stone Age relic in IT terms, a customized one-off of Sabre from the late 1970s. Modernizing the core system would have to be a rip and replace, costing in the high hundreds of millions at least (I am a retiree of corporate IT departments and have a reasonably good idea of what the order of magnitude of the cost of such an ambitious project).

That situation is not as unusual as one might think. The financial services company I used to work for had at the core of its pricing system an ancient IBM mainframe program that couldn't be ported to a more modern system due to it being tied into an obsolete operating system. They had nibbled around the edges some but it was just too much of a job to start over and get the performance they needed. Most of this system was maintained by an chain smoking programmer in his 70's. I wonder what happens to the system once he retires.

 

[Trollopian]

That situation is not as unusual as one might think. The financial services company I used to work for had at the core of its pricing system an ancient IBM mainframe program that couldn't be ported to a more modern system due to it being tied into an obsolete operating system. They had nibbled around the edges some but it was just too much of a job to start over and get the performance they needed. Most of this system was maintained by an chain smoking programmer in his 70's. I wonder what happens to the system once he retires.

Not to be ghoulish, but "70s" and "chain-smoking" made me wonder whether "retires" is...a euphemism. I nevertheless wish this very valuable tech wizard well.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I know, I’m being picky, but I’m curious.

You're not being picky so much as Amtrak.com is being useless.

Just curious. Will Amtrak or AGR phone agents help you search for the best fare/date?

I thought of trying that once but it after an hour of waiting for an agent I gave up.

 

[GAT]

AGR hasn't been too bad lately, at least for me. I use the callback feature and select "It's something else."

 

[dadonatrain]

Thx all.

 

[caravanman]

As others have said, it is just a case of looking date by date. You soon get a feel of prices. Since Covid, rooms are more in demand. Best advice is to decide what is the most you are prepared to pay, and just go for it, if you find that price. Hunting for potentially non existing lowest bucket fares may mean you never travel!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Since Covid, rooms are more in demand.

Possibly, but it's hard to say for certain. For starters there are fewer sleepers and fewer rooms available to book. That would drive up prices on its own. In addition to that we have examples of people bidding up for less than the cheapest sleeper fare and people reporting empty sleepers available even when their bid fails. The one thing we can say with certainty is that Amtrak is charging more per room even though you tend to get less than before.

 

[amtrakp42]

Well, if they were willing, they'd have to do pretty much the same thing you would, albeit with a different UI.

So it is either you sitting and poking around on your computer, or sitting on the phone while they poke around on their computer.

I use the amtrak app as it is much faster doing day by day than computer. You can also use app on computer by using BlueStacks to install it. I really miss the Amsnag program, but Amtrak missed with their system and then it would not work. I'm thinking it was on purpose. I searched the Zephyr every day for 2 months finding only 2 dates with low bucket price from Chi to Sac so I snagged one and my nephew was able to book same day also.

 

[zephyr17]

I use the amtrak app as it is much faster doing day by day than computer. You can also use app on computer by using BlueStacks to install it. I really miss the Amsnag program, but Amtrak missed with their system and then it would not work. I'm thinking it was on purpose. I searched the Zephyr every day for 2 months finding only 2 dates with low bucket price from Chi to Sac so I snagged one and my nephew was able to book same day also.

Amsnag appears to have depended on HTML scraping/parsing from static pages returned by the Amtrak server. When Amtrak went to a more dynamic AJAX style pages in a redesign, it pretty much broke Amsnag. I do not think it was deliberate, but Amtrak's attempt to move to a more modern look and feel. I doubt they had Amsnag in mind at all and doubt it was on purpose. In taking peeks at the page source, it would be quite a bit more challenging to parse the return now. It would require a pretty sophisticated skillset (and one I know enough to know I do not have).

 

[PaTrainFan]

How do independent fare bookers such as Travelocity, Expedia, Kayak, etc. work with airline fares? Obviously those are done in cooperation with airlines as you can buy tickets through those sites. Do fares actually vary between these sites are does each have identical fares? I never use them, I typically go directly to the airline, though they are convenient for comparing.

 

[Chatter163]

How do independent fare bookers such as Travelocity, Expedia, Kayak, etc. work with airline fares? Obviously those are done in cooperation with airlines as you can buy tickets through those sites. Do fares actually vary between these sites are does each have identical fares? I never use them, I typically go directly to the airline, though they are convenient for comparing.

I certainly don’t know, but with people getting on and off all along the route, rather than just endpoint to endpoint, with rarely more than one or two stops, I’m sure it’s a bit more complicated.