Originally Posted by
NYCommuter
Seems odd that Weekly Specials never include sleeping car space (although I believe the post above). Surely not every sleeping car room is always sold on every route. There are plenty of times when First Class on a plane has only a few people in it.
I wonder if Amtrak wants to avoid the perception that sleeping car space can be purchased at discounts. If you see that *sometimes* you can get a sleeper for, say, $100 then people will wonder whether it's really worth it to pay $500 for the same room (hypothetical high-bucket price).
Likewise, airlines could easily sell out their first class section at the gate every time by offering those seats for a small percentage above the incremental extra cost of having a passenger up front versus in the back. But then, who would actually pay for a first class seat at regular price?
On a certain level you have to maintain the perception that what you are selling is a high-value item, not something that can be obtained on the "discount shelf." So you may get a little extra revenue by selling a room now that would otherwise be empty*, but you risk losing better revenue down the road.
*(Note, this is different than selling sleeper space on board, since that isn't really offered at a discount in the same way as the Weekly Specials represent discounts below the low bucket fare.)