Brotherhood of Bald People

[ShavedJoey]

Normally I would not say a word against Amtrak, as I have had nothing except a good experience with them (OK, so the train breaking down once was not their finest moment, but they dealt with the situation well.)

However, they have now annoyed me.

I thought that I would treat myself to a sleeper for my next overnight trip, having previously always made do with travelling coach. It was expensive, the cost having nearly doubled in the 24 hours or so between planning and booking. However, as the idea was firmly lodged in my brain I still went ahead with it.

With some weeks still to go, I now see that the price of said trip has dropped again to what it was when I was in the planning stage! That is SOOOO not good.
_________________
Growing old is compulsory. Growing up is entirely optional.

[rich_g]

As one who is not familiar with train travel, why would the price fluctuate that much?
_________________
- Rich G.

2010 - The Year Of The Brotherhood !!!

[ShavedJoey]

They allocate so many seats, room type etc to different prices. This is purely based on numbers, and nothing to do with the seat itself. When tickets first go on sale, they are at the lowest price. When the allocated number of tickets has been sold, further sales are at the next price up and so on. In this way, the busier the train is the more expensive it becomes to get on it and the earlier you book the more likely of getting a cheaper fare.

In my case, I can only assume that between me planning and booking enough people made reservations to bump up the fare into the next price bucket and subsequently enough cancelled so that it went down again! That is annoying! . Perhaps it is just as well that there is several thousand miles between me and the nearest ticket office or I would be providing public entertainment!
_________________
Growing old is compulsory. Growing up is entirely optional.

[kflatfoot]

This must mean you are planning a visit to this side of the ocean again. Any big plans?
_________________
Smith: Why, Why Mr Anderson? Why do you persist?

Neo: Because I chose to.