Originally Posted by
serpens
Thanks for the update, Explore.
I have heard that Amtrak is trying to juggle room assignments to maximize availability for long-haul passengers. For example, if a passenger wants to travel from Minot to Whitefish, and another passenger has already reserved a room from Milwaukee to Rugby, the Minot-Whitefish passenger will likely be put in the room that the Milwaukee-Rugby passenger had occupied, rather than tying up a room that would otherwise be available from Chicago to Seattle or Portland (depending on the car). Of course, this is a problem that a point-to-point service, such as an aircraft, would not have.
I have boarded Amtrak at an intermediate point and been told that my room has been switched to accommodate an earlier passengers request, so even a "confirmed" assignment is subject to change.
I've actually always kind of wondered why they don't just assign rooms at some kind of "check-in window" like 24 hours before departure. That way, they can always optimize room assignments for maximum efficiency given en-route turnovers.
I've also always wondered, but have been able to actually see, what Amtrak's reservation system would do in the event that there is not one single room open for the entire route--but that there is always at least one room of any given room type open on any given segment along the full route. Does Amtrak just shut down and say "No rooms available"? That's my suspicion.
To clarify, what I mean is this:
Let's take the Zephyr and say the train only has three bedrooms--A, B, and C. Current bookings are:
EMY -- SLC -- DEN -- CHI
[-- Bedroom A --] [Vacant]
[Vacant] [--Bedroom B --]
[Bed. C] [Vacant] [Bed C]
Now, let's say I want to book EMY-CHI. None of the three bedrooms is open for the full route, but I could occupy Bedroom B from EMY to SLC, then Bedroom C from SLC to DEN, and then Bedroom A from DEN to CHI.
Would ARROW even show a room as available? Or would it simply say, "Sold Out"?
If the latter, then that's why I'm suggesting that it would ultimately be to Amtrak's benefit to not assign rooms until 24 hours before departure. If that were the case, The person who booked EMY-SLC would be assigned to Bedroom B, and the person who booked SLC-DEN would be assigned to Bedroom A. Then, Bedroom C would be open for the full route, and it would be assigned to me.
I wonder if this is actually happening, and if so, how much revenue it costs Amtrak.
(FWIW, this same problem would exist if Amtrak pre-assigned seats, which is why I've always mentioned here on FT when the topic of preassigning seats comes up that it shouldn't be done until the last moment--perhaps, like I said, 24 hours before departure.)