Originally Posted by
Armani
The cost of the open sleeper ticket has gone up significantly in the past six months. Previously it was the same as a coach fare, but now it is much higher. I recently added my wife to a ticket from Cincinnati to Glenwood Springs. The coach fare was $154, but the open fare ticket was $100 higher. You can determine the cost by comparing the sleeper fare of 1 person vs 2 people. I think Amtrak is trying to capture the additional cost for the meals for the 2nd passenger. Sleeper costs have also gone up dramatically in the past 6 months, especially for bedrooms.
The rail fare portion of the sleeper fare, which is what the cost is for an open sleeper, used to be the lowest "Value" coach yield management bucket. It never was the lowest "Saver" coach fare.
Sometime during the last couple years they changed it so it is now the second lowest "Value" coach bucket.
The change was well before the return of traditional dining on the western trains, I doubt they are related.
Even with the change, the accommodation charge is still far more expensive than the rail fare portion. Further, Amtrak seems to have become very aggressive in the last 6 months in their yield management for sleeping car space, especially in the initial allocation when inventory is released for sale 11 months in advance. They'll adjust it and reallocate some inventory into lower buckets if demand doesn't develop, but they seem to be doing that piecemeal.