fairviewroad

Perhaps I did not describe it well. In my scenario, there are TWO available rooms. "Room A" is available from DEN-SAC and "Room B" is available DEN-EMY.

Our connecting passenger books his ticket 48 hours prior to departure from DEN. He tells Amtrak he'd like to connect in EMY despite having no reason (other than personal pleasure) to be on the train west of SAC. The Amtrak agent naturally books him in Room A, which is the only available room between DEN and EMY.

Passenger #2 calls Amtrak 47 hours prior to departure and says he'd like to buy a room from DEN to EMY. The agent pulls up the manifest and sees that there is no availability from DEN to EMY. Passenger #2 cannot purchase a room from DEN-SAC and then move to a coach seat in SAC, because the computer will not allow "boardings" from SAC westward. And even if this could be "forced", the phone agent will probably not suggest it or the passenger will not agree to it. Ultimately, passenger #2 is told he cannot book a room from DEN-EMY.

Therefore, the joyriding passenger #1 is preventing Amtrak from selling space between SAC-EMY. Of course, it is entirely possible that a Passenger #3 will call Amtrak 46 hours prior to departure and purchase a room from DEN-SAC, which would mostly erase the revenue-loss caused by turning away Passenger #2.

Anyhow, it's a bit complicated but I think it's clear that allowing joyrides west of SAC for connecting passengers does have the potential for blocking other travelers. On any given day, is this happening? Probably not. But I'm just saying that it could. There's really no upside for Amtrak to allow guaranteed connections west of SAC, other than the intangible benefit of making people happy.