Southwest Chief discussion Q4 2023 - 2024
- Thread starter pennyk
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The eticket is valid as is, as long, as the train number and date didn't change. The times printed on the eticket are just for your convenience and have nothing to do with the ticket's validity in the system.
That knowledge isn't theoretical. I have used "old" versions of tickets with subsequent minor time changes several times.
I got that same message today 3 times they called me to stay the same thing.
I cannot access the tickets on amtrak.com website and my eticket on my app disappears and reappears but still has old times.
I cannot access the tickets on amtrak.com website and my eticket on my app disappears and reappears but still has old times.
I received the same call today. I called and they sent me a revised ticket and updated my trip info in the app.
FYI, the revised schedule takes effect on the Monday, July 8 departures for both 3 and 4.
Does anybody know why they changed the times?
jimmrl
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I have been bored and watching a lot of the Railfan live cast. over the last few days the #3 Westbound has been running an extra car. It looks like they finally added a second full sleeper.
About a month ago they added a baggage car. The train is now running the same set up as the California zephyr.
2x P42s
Baggage car
Trans Sleeper
2x Sleepers
Dinner
Lounge
Coach
Baggage Coach.
About a month ago they added a baggage car. The train is now running the same set up as the California zephyr.
2x P42s
Baggage car
Trans Sleeper
2x Sleepers
Dinner
Lounge
Coach
Baggage Coach.
I asked Google AI to make me an original picture of the Southwest Chief, and it came up with this. Not too far off, although one engine and 12 cars. At least it didn't tell me the diner served rocks 
Probably ongoing negotiations with BNSF. With the "new" (effective December 2020) STB/FRA passenger delay regs, authorized by the PRIIA Act of 2008 but held up in court for years, many LDs have undergone schedule tweaks to come up with 'enforceable' schedules. This appears to be the second such iteration for the SW Chief. They fiddled with the eastbound schedule, at least, once before in the last couple years.
Yes, it appears to be a permanent change. Starts July 8th and runs through the end of searchable trains next May.
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Thank you very much for that information!
OK. So adding a second sleeper on the SWC, I wonder how this will affect the prices? If it does last till May 2025, I need to watch the fares daily now because something may start dropping?
If someone makes their May 2025 sleeper reservations in June 2024, it is probably safe to assume that they will pay less than what someone will be paying for sleeper reservations in May 2025.
My wife received the email (actually 2) announcing these changes for our September/October trip. So far no changes to the ticket in the Amtrak app.
I think both sleepers are probably already in released, allocated inventory anyway. So the fact that the planned for capacity is now in service shouldn't make a difference.
Last February when we booked #4 for a September trip we were originally put in car 0431. At that time, there was no 431 sleeper so I had our room changed to one in the 0430 car.
Nice to see the other sleeper back.
Great news that you were able to request and receive a change to car 430. We, too will be on #4 in September. We made our reservations in October 2023 and specifically asked for a bedroom in car 430. That far in advance, we had no problem obtaining one. Glad to hear that more sleepers are being added to the SWC consist. This should help to meet the demand for bedrooms without people having to make their reservations 7-11 months in advance.
What's special about car 430? We are watching the prices of bedrooms for April 15th, Chicago to LA. Is there something about car 430? I always thought all the sleeper cars were basically the same.
SWC cars 330 (westbound) and 430 (eastbound) are the first or “prime” sleeping cars; the ones that aren’t removed from the consist if there is shortage of sleepers with bedrooms.
jis
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If for some reason Amtrak decides to take a Sleeping Car off it is more likely that it is 431 that will get cut. 430 is likely to be on the train as long as there is any Sleeper at all on the train. That is what is special about 430
The summer before last there was an epidemic of cutting sleepers that had had sold inventory. Many passengers were involuntarily downgraded to coach or even had trips cancelled entirely. This was a huge problem in and of itself, which Amtrak compounded by not notifying passengers until just a couple weeks before departure even though in many cases the sleeper had been withdrawn months before. Trains affected included the Empire Builder, the California Zephyr and the Southwest Chief.
The trains still carried at least one sleeper. The sleeper with the lowest car line number was the one retained, for the Southwest Chief and Builder that is the 30 car, the CZ, the 31 car. I started referring to that as the "base sleeper." Passengers booked into the base sleeper, the 30 car on the SW Chief, were generally safe from the cuts, since their car wasn't being cut, but those in the 31 got downgraded.
Since then I make it a policy to book into the base sleeper for any given train.
No longer a good assumption and hasn't been one in several years. Amtrak has become much more aggressive in their yield management practices and has largely stopped allocating some inventory into lower buckets at inventory release, as they used to do routinely. Now they tend to allocate into higher buckets at inventory release 11 months out, then adjust/reallocate as sales develop (or don't).
If they still did that, putting some inventory in lower buckets at release, the elaborate strategies for gauging the possibilities of a bucket drop and watchful waiting wouldn't be necessary. They pay off, though. I kept an eye on inventory and pricing for my November trip and last month the price for a roomette on the Builder dropped from $1227 to $619. Which I then grabbed.
This morning (6-15-24) we received a new e-ticket for our September trip on SWC Nos. 3 & 4 and which has the new departure and arrival times. (We did not even request a new ticket.)
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While I agree with zephyr17, I'll note that Amtrak itself (in the just issued Inside Track; Northeast news, just for you quoted at On Track On Line) makes the following assertion.
Further discussion might be more appropriate in Amtrak Management issues.
I think that blurb really mostly applies, and is intended apply, to coach fares. Those do appear to have dropped and the difference between restricted ("Value") and unrestricted ("Flex") fares has become much, much less. On one recent booking the difference was like $2.
I don't really see much, if any, difference in how they handle sleepers, though. I really wish they'd go back to allocating inventory into lower buckets at the 11 month release, but I am not seeing it.
