Ticket now or later?

[Dan O]

I am looking at tickets LA to NYP and then NYP to SFC-San Francisco. Found a sleeper to Chicago and then coach to nyp for $698 which is the best I've seen looking for a couple of days. Trouble is the second leg of the trip is really high $1115 for same coach/sleeper set up. Does it make sense to buy leg one now and the return later? Dates are a bit flexible but the return would be 7 to 10 days later.
Can't one reschedule a trip like this anytime through the end of the year?
Thanks.

 

[zephyr17]

I am looking at tickets LA to NYP and then NYP to SFC-San Francisco. Found a sleeper to Chicago and then coach to nyp for $698 which is the best I've seen looking for a couple of days. Trouble is the second leg of the trip is really high $1115 for same coach/sleeper set up. Does it make sense to buy leg one now and the return later? Dates are a bit flexible but the return would be 7 to 10 days later.
Can't one reschedule a trip like this anytime through the end of the year?
Thanks.

You can rebook without penalty at any time, but it will be at current prices at the time of rebooking. If you change your dates, buying now will not lock in your price.

If you like the price one-way, book that. It doesn't really hurt much of anything to wait on reserving the other (beyond the price changing either direction). There is no round trip fare advantage on Amtrak and there are advantages to have the return on a separate ticket, like if the conductor fails to scan/enter your ticket, your return won't be auto-cancelled. Many here split outbound and return reservations, me included.

You might want to run a dummy reservation for 8 rooms for the return. If there are more than like 3-4 open at that price, there is a reasonable chance the price may drop.

 

[striker71]

I wouldn't hesitate to book now. When I first started looking for a coach seat it was $128, when I finally booked it was $166, same seat today $207.

 

[IAlam]

If you're ok with an e-voucher I'd say book now and keep an eye on the price. If the price goes down just change your reservation to the same train. But at least if you're ok with the current price then you don't have to worry about it going up. I've saved around $500 this year by doing that on my NEC/Acela trips.

 

[Dan O]

Thanks. I did book. By avoiding the sleeper fare on the Lakeshore limited, I got an okay return trip price. Now I just have to hope my daughter is in NYC when I'm supposed to be. If not, I'll have to rebook.
I just did the booking on the app and got roomette 13 for the CZ leg. I've been on the CZ once before in an upper room but have never been in a superliner lower level room.

 

[Dan O]

The Acela from New York Penn to Philly at roughly 9 AM on a weekday is $45. I don't know the prices for Acela but it seems like it may be pretty cheap for that one hour plus ride, no?

 

[IAlam]

The Acela from New York Penn to Philly at roughly 9 AM on a weekday is $45. I don't know the prices for Acela but it seems like it may be pretty cheap for that one hour plus ride, no?

Considering you can get $19 NER tickets ($10 on a late-night train) for a journey only ~20 min longer I'd stick with the NER. NYP to PHL is too short for me to consider the Acela over the NER.

 

[Dan O]

Considering you can get $19 NER tickets ($10 on a late-night train) for a journey only ~20 min longer I'd stick with the NER. NYP to PHL is too short for me to consider the Acela over the NER.

I'm sorry. I wasn't clear. I was interested in just taking a short ride on the Acela. I plan on a cheap return to NYP.
Thanks

 

[IAlam]

I'm sorry. I wasn't clear. I was interested in just taking a short ride on the Acela. I plan on a cheap return to NYP.
Thanks

If you're riding for the sake of riding that should be a good fare, but yeah value wise it's iffy. If you want the best value for the Acela I'd suggest going a long distance. The base WAS to NYP price is $71, but the base WAS to BOS price is $74. You can get those fares in either direction, but basically doubling your trip for $3 more.

 

[Dan O]

If you're riding for the sake of riding that should be a good fare, but yeah value wise it's iffy. If you want the best value for the Acela I'd suggest going a long distance. The base WAS to NYP price is $71, but the base WAS to BOS price is $74. You can get those fares in either direction, but basically doubling your trip for $3 more.

Thanks for the heads up. I am mainly going to see NYC and my daughter who lives there. I'll ask her if she's up for a ride on the Acela. I thought I could go to Philly and back in a relatively short time period one morning.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

The Acela from New York Penn to Philly at roughly 9 AM on a weekday is $45. I don't know the prices for Acela but it seems like it may be pretty cheap for that one hour plus ride, no?

When are you traveling? Prices most likely will go up the closer you get to your travel date.

 

[Dan O]

When are you traveling? Prices most likely will go up the closer you get to your travel date.

First week in September.

 

[City of Miami]

Some permutations of rebooking: I wanted to go from NYP to CVS on a Friday in July. Friday fares are always sky high months in advance. I started checking months ago and a difference developed between the NER and Crescent. The Crescent was lower at $116 so I bought that; because it was now a Value Fare I could apply senior discount and the fare became $104. A few weeks ago I checked on a whim and all fares had reduced, NER was now lowest at $75. I modified on the app and since it was still a Value Fare I was offered a refund to credit card of $29. OTOH the fare going north on the preceding Tuesday was $31 CVS/NYP.