Originally Posted by
hi55us
The fares generally don't go down. Amtrak's revenue management system generally is pretty simple, they will sell 20% of seats at price x, 20% at x+2 and 20% at x+3 ect... there's a website called amsnag that helps you "snag" the lowest bucket. Unfortunately sometimes the price does jump (lots of groups can book Amtrak and boom all the lower bucket seats are gone) but it's rare to see the price drop unless there's a fare sale or something.
I would just book now, keep an eye on the price and call in for a voucher if it drops (or even if another train drops, you can change trains just for the fare difference).
Think of the system like Southwest.
I thought this, too, but @
AlanB posted recently in another thread that Amtrak has been adjusting their revenue management systems to allow for a little more complicated adjustments.
Your advice is still sound, though, about how to handle it (for now, though Amtrak is also now beginning to screw around with their change/cancel policy).