Originally Posted by
jackal
1. Can you upgrade from one type of sleeper to another?
In other words, if I wanted to try a bigger compartment (say, a bedroom as compared to the roomette) but didn't want to pay the difference (on one test booking I did, it was almost double the price of a roomette for the bedroom and almost four times for the family bedroom), can I book a roomette and then upgrade to a bedroom on board for what would hopefully be less than booking the bedroom directly?
To answer your specific question, yes, one can upgrade on board from a roomette to a bedroom. If one does that, one then gets the lowest bucket price for the bedroom. In some cases, if you hit a high enough bucket for the roomette, you could find that you've already paid more than the lowest bucket price of the bedrooms on that train. In that case, you would be able to upgrade to the larger room for free. And all simply because you asked on the right train at the right time.
Now all that said, in your case for the trip that you've described below, I rather doubt that you'll find a conductor willing to do the paper work for such a short ride that doesn't even involve an overnight. Most likely you'll just get a "we're sold out response" from the conductor, because it is simply too much work for such a short ride. The conductor might be a bit more willing to upgrade from coach to a roomette for that ride, but even then I wouldn't bet on it. It will come down to how customer service orientated is that particular conductor.
If you already have a roomette, then you'd probably be better off trying to sweet talk your attendant with a nice tip to let you sit in a bedroom, assuming that one is available.
Originally Posted by
jackal
2. If I'm planning to do a trip where I'm going to try to upgrade, is there a way I can check inventory to see what travel days are going to be most likely to have room to upgrade on board? If not online, can Amtrak reservations agents look that up? Reason being this: on my standard trip of SIM-PRB on the CS, I'd like to upgrade to a sleeper a) just to see what they look like and b) to experience the Parlour Car. Since I'm on leisure travel just visiting family, I can play with the dates, so I'd rather book a seat on a train that has more sleeper compartments available so there's less of a chance they'll fill up before I board (I'd book it just a few days in advance, although I'd have to balance out the desire for flexibility for an upgrade with the chance that the coach seat fare will go up with a short-notice booking and the desire to use a discount code).
You can get some idea, but not the full picture, of what's available by pretending to book your trip and setting the number of passengers to 8. When you then go to select the type of accomodation you desire, the system will show you a maximum of 8 roomettes and 8 bedrooms. If the dropdown shows less than 8, then you know exactly how many rooms are currently left. If it shows 8, then you have no way of knowing if it is really 8 or if it is more than 8.
One note, I recommend actually selecting the quantity of 8 and asking it to price the upgrade. I have seen cases where the system shows 5 bedrooms for example, but if one tries to price that you'll get an error. In that case keep decreasing the quantity until it does give you a price. Then you'll know the exact quantity for that accomodation left.
If you want to be more accurate than that, then you'll have to either call Amtrak or visit a station with an agent, and hope that they are nice enough to actually look up the info for you.
Originally Posted by
jackal
All I really want is the Parlour Car--will the conductor "sell" me access to just that for a crisp $50 or something?
He shouldn't do that, but who knows. However, if you meet a really nice conductor he/she might be willing to give you a quick tour of the car.
I have seen a story where one Parlour car attendant used to do that, but AFAIK even he wasn't really supposed to be doing that. However, that is all academic now, since Amtrak eliminated the attendant's position for the Parlour car. It now runs unstaffed.
One other word of caution here, if you are planning to get a sleeper or any size, simply for the purpose of seeing the inside of a Parlour car, then you should know that not every train actually runs with one. And there is no way for you to know that, until the train actually leaves LA that morning.
At present there are only 4 Parlour cars listed on Amtrak's active roster. At this time last year Amtrak went from using 4 distinct trainsets to cover the CS route, to 5 trainsets thanks to UP's lateness. I've not heard if they've gone back to 4 trainsets since things have improved some since last year.
But if they are still running with 5 trainsets, then already you can see that at least one set does not have a Parlour car on it. And of course those cars need routine maintenance and inspections, and they are also some of the oldest cars in Amtrak's fleet so they tend to break down a bit more than others.
Therefore at best, Amtrak probably only has 2 to 3 of them running at any given time. If there are 4 trainsets again, then the odds are a bit better that you'll see one on your date of travel, and worse if there are 5 trainsets, but I sure wouldn't want to bet on one being there for the date you decide upon. So if the sole purpose of getting the sleeper is to see that car, I don't think that I'd waste my money with those odds.