It appears that Amtrak has permanently raised the price on its First Class sleeper fares, to the point of almost doubling them. I've checked over 15 different dates on the Empire Builder between now and next March 2023 with only a couple of dates checked during the high demand summer (June-September) season. Whereas as recently as early March of this year I was able to buy a roomette CHI-SEA for under $600, now EVERYTHING is in the $850-1000+ range. I checked all the way out to April 2023, with emphasis on traditionally slower periods such as late October/early November and December 1-12th, not to mention late January thru early March.

Worse, it isn't just fares on the Empire Builder. I checked fares on routes all over the country that I'm well familiar with and Systemwide, Amtrak's sleeper fares have skyrocketed to the point where it no longer makes good fiscal sense - for me at least - to travel First Class on Amtrak.

It's worth noting that I'm not some neophyte who's only ridden on a couple of Amtrak trains. Though I don't quite qualify as a "foamer" I recently logged my 238th ride on Amtrak with 116 nights spent in First Class sleeper accommodations. This year alone I've already logged over 10000 miles and nine nights spent in roomettes. I don't put this out there to brag but rather to qualify my familiarity with Amtrak's product and pricing. I typically ride 10-15000 miles per year on Amtrak, exclusively in roomettes on the long distance trains. Because I'm not ultra wealthy, I work hard to time my travel to the slower times of year in order to benefit from the commensurately lower fares offered during those times.

Based upon a perusal of about 30 different dates system wide over the coming year with an emphasis on the traditionally less expensive times of year, it seems fairly clear to me that the First Class sleeper fares are definitely higher system wide and I don't believe that in a general sense (outside of the traditional busy periods) this has anything to do with high travel demand or yield management. Rather, it appears to be a move by management to increase the overall price of First Class sleeper fares over the long term.

I've ridden twice this year on both the Empire Builder and the California Zephyr, twice paying $519.00 o/w sleeper on the CZ and $566 once and about 22000 points once on the EB. Forget about finding fares this good through the upcoming summer and early fall, but I dare any of you to find sub-$600 o/w roomette fares from Chicago to either EMY or SEA/PDX from late October through mid- March of 2023. Heck, good luck finding anything under $750

Ah well, I've had a good run over the years but from what I see, Amtrak's sleepers will now be the province of those much wealthier than I, especially given that status notwithstanding, I can fly First Class over most Amtrak routes for considerably less than the cost of a roomette.