Originally Posted by
jobtraklite
It makes no sense at all to me.
1. No one is asking Amtrak to guarantee a riskier than needed connection. An AGR member would certainly know enough to bail if #5 were running late. In fact anyone who knows enough about Amtrak not to be forced into changing in SAC would know to bail.
It makes partial sense to me.
I'd allow but make it clear than it is at the passenger's risk and the passenger has the obligation to get off earlier if needed. Amtrak should say the connection is only guaranteed at SAC and if the passenger goes farther west and misses, tough luck.
Originally Posted by
jobtraklite
2. #5 is discharge only at SAC and west.
On #5, it is otherwise unused space. But on #14, it is taking potential salable space. Which makes Amtrak's pricing puzzling. I picked a day in next June and priced DEN-SAC and EMY and EMY and SAC to YVR (yes, I know that's not Amtrak's code for Vancouver :-) ) (an equivalent set of dates to what we're planning for 2015). For two people, on #5, to stay on past SAC to EMY increased the base fare (Value) $14 plus an additional $77 for the bedroom (the bedroom that will otherwise be vacant SAC-EMY). But for #14, the base fare stayed the same and the bedroom is only $57 more. Make it EMY/SAC to just SEA and it's even stranger: $22 more for the base fare but just $5 more for the bedroom.
Originally Posted by
jobtraklite
3. By your logic AGR shouldn't exist because any reward takes up revenue space.
AGR rewards are properly considered revenue space. The revenue was received at the time the points were earned. Essentially a pre-payment of the fare. The trick for us is making those points as valuable as possible.
Originally Posted by
jobtraklite
4. The R in AGR stands for reward not punishment. Getting to bed after midnight waiting for a late CS is punishment in my book.
Yep. And to the fare difference I mentioned above, makes the CS bedroom in/out of EMY much more valuable than on the CZ.
In an ideal world, Amtrak would allow you to connect west of SAC but with the provision, mentioned above, that the connection is at your own risk and that occupancy of the sleeping car space is on a space available basis at time of boarding. That way if I have a particular bedroom SAC-SEA, Amtrak can still sell it LAX to SAC. But when I board, if it's open, I can have it immediately. But that would be difficult to implement and difficult for many passengers to understand.
But I guess I'll find out when I make the reservation but that won't be until July.