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What's this new flexible, saver, etc. stuff during the online booking process?

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And are low bucket (not NER 14-day) fares no longer refundable?

Seems that way. Also looks like low bucket is no longer upgradeable to business class online.

If you hover over the column heading, a pop up appears with a brief outline of the differences between the fares. There's also a link in the pop-up that brings up a window that explains everything.

Looks like voucher only.

I'm not an expert on all the refund / voucher rules in existence but what I will say is that this new interface is a huge improvement over the old one. Really nice seeing everything on one screen, especially for those that are usually traveling LD in sleepers.

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This blows. Nice of them to give us some advance warning.

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You have to click Value before Premium.

A question for AGR Insider:

The website changes imply changes in the refund policies, and are ambiguous in how those policies are described. For example, Amtrak says this about Value Fares for coach travel:
Then, on the same screen they say this:
Under the recent policy, these seats would be 100% refundable up to 24 hours in advance of travel, then refundable with a 10% penalty after that. Now, it seems to be either 100% refundable up to date of travel, or subject to a 10% penalty at all times.

So, which is it? Are Value Fares 100% refundable prior to departure, or are Value Fares subject to a 10% refund fee, or neither?

Thanks for posting this. I am very worried. I am afraid that "value" fare may not be fully refundable:

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/Conten...=1237437856314

On this page, at least, they took out any statement about "value" fare being fully refundable.

I think the "flexible" fare is the old "A" bucket, the "saver" fare is the old "E" (or "F") bucket, and the "value" may be anything in between. I was able to get a full refund for a "D" bucket ticket just recently, but it seems like that's going away. :confused:

I am floored, to say the least.

The new website is utterly grotesque. It's impossible to believe that anyone who ever booked a ticket on-line would prefer this.

Once again, software programmers/web developers demonstrate their complete disconnect from society.

Methinks AGR Insider is going to be very, very busy over the next several weeks.

Uh, what?

To call it grotesque when it looks like and behaves like every other site you've used in the past 10 years is a bit of melodrama. :)

Presentation of different fare classes with features and benefits - rather than just pushing the cheapest fare - is a key element of American Airlines, Air Canada, and Southwest web sites. Perhaps you've spent a little time on one of those sites? ;)

Looks okay on the mobile site, but I agree that it is hideous on the full one.

The page is going to be updated today with more clarity, but here's the summary I got:

Value: fully refundable up to 24 hours prior to departure, after that it's 10% refund fee even after departure

Flexible: fully refundable at any point prior to or after departure - so they never have any fees

Saver: non-refundable, but the customer would get a eVoucher for the value

changes
 

This obviously was done with test marketing or proofing

Thanks for the clarification. This is a little less painful, but you have to admit that the rollout was poor, at best. This is also counter to what amtrak.com says.

Value Fare

Value Fares are refundable after a 10% fee, making for an economical choice that also provides assurance. Or, you can choose to receive full credit in the form of an eVoucher for future Amtrak travel. The Value Fare is available on all trains and buses.

Thanks!

No penalty for "Saver" modifications before or after departure, right?

Thank you! I just confirmed that what you said is indeed updated on amtrak.com. In light of this, I think it is an enhancement, as we are not forced to purchase E bucket tickets if we don't want to.

The only thing left to comment is that booking for (1) adults/regular (2) AAA/NARP discounts and (3) senior discounts are all different! Most discounts will work with the "other discounts" tab on amtrak.com booking page, but the tab doesn't include the senior discount (try to book for each category, and you will see what I mean).

Yep, that's one of the big goals of this "fare families" project. Hopefully as the kinks are ironed out, we'll continue to see the positive effects of this change. The Amtrak.com and Pricing departments are working hard on making this a success... the former experience where "E" bucket seats were forced on you, even if you wanted a refundable ticket, was not too user-friendly. A lot of business travelers are willing to pay for the increased flexibility (similar to the airline world)...

Anthony

One kinda strange thing that I hope AGR Insider can pass along to the powers that be -

When you mouse over the various "fare families", you get what features are included in each family. They all show "2 Free Checked Bags", but there are a lot of Amtrak routes (Downeaster, for example) that do not have checked baggage. I'd imagine this could be a confusing thing to see "2 Free Checked Bags" and then "No Checked Baggage" down below it.

I have one other suggestion.

Right now when I log into amtrak.com with my username and password and just search for a fare, I don't get any of the e bucket (saver) fares to display. This is because I have saved my AAA number to my account and it automatically searches for AAA fares only.

Now I know that I can go in, change the pax type to Adult instead of AAA Adult and research to see e-bucket fares - but I suspect that many ohter folks don't know that.

It would be nice if the e-bucket fares would display in that saver column when I am logged in.

I wholeheartedly second this. Why not show Saver fares to AAA members and other discounters? The terms state that the bucket is not discountable, so you're covered.

I asked this elsewhere but figured someone here might have an idea...

I was looking up a rail fares for a trip I was thinking of taking and the Roomette and Bedroom prices changed when I changed the number of people travelling.

I checked:
1 traveler in 1 room
Rail Fare: $137
Roomette Add: $288
Bedroom Add: $614

2 travelers sharing 1 room
Rail Fare: $274
Roomette Add: $519
Bedroom Add: $955

I understand that the Rail fare should go up for the second traveler but in the past the accommodation (room) charge did not. The check-out page specified 1 (or 2 adults) and 1 room. Is there a reason the Roomette and Bedroom prices would go up for adding a traveler or was I missing something before? I used the same train, time, and dates when I looked up both and I went back to check again later to be sure I didn't happen to check when prices changed. I received the same result.

In this scenario could 1 traveler be booked and another added as an open sleeper so they would just pay the rail fare? I'm used to the accommodation charge staying the same so I was wondering if anyone else noticed this? It turns out I'm going to be travelling on a different day now, however I was wondering if this is just a fluke, uncommon circumstance, or the new norm?

I just tried three dummy bookings. The roomette charge increased on one of them when adding a 2nd pax. I think it was NYP-CHI on Dec 10 (LSL). No idea why it might be happening.

Did you get the same results for your new date of travel?

When I booked the new date for a different route segment I did not. The price was the same for 1 passenger and 2 passengers in a Bedroom. When I booked it stated that 2 rooms were available at this price.

For kicks I tried to look it up again after I booked... the price for 1 passenger was the same as I paid when I booked my reservation. When I changed it to two passengers the rail fare doubled as it should, however the price of the Bedroom itself by over $200 vs. if I booked 1 passenger on the same itinerary. Earlier it did say 1 room left at this price, however I just did the dummy booking for the 1 room, just changing the number of passengers in it.

Maybe the system moved up to the higher bucket price as there were 2 passengers reading it as 1 slot left for a Bedroom left instead of 1 Bedroom physically left? Otherwise I'm not sure why it would increase the room price?

On the LSL example I had found, there is only 1 Roomette available at the current bucket, so I think that's where the problem arises.

Like I said... grotesque.

Can't assign correct discount when 2 passengers
 

AGR Insider...

I'd like to raise an issue I've encountered with the new booking interface. In the past you could assign the discount(s) individually to each passenger. The current interface only allows selecting a discount code for the 2nd passenger. I am the "primary" passenger, especially for the purposes of Guest Rewards, and it always assigns me the wrong discount.

The ticketing that I'd like is that passenger #1 is 'Senior/62+' and passenger #2 is 'NARP'. But it always puts the Senior as passenger #2.

One other small thing, I sure wish the travel details (departure, destination, etc.) carried over when navigating from the 'Buy Tickets' tab to the 'Other Discounts' tab. I invariably start entering the travel details before realizing that I needed the 'Other Discounts' tab, at which point I have to reenter everything!

Thanks for listening.

Phil

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Something I found recently, though it doesn't seem to be advertised anywhere, is that even the nonrefundable (Saver) fares appear to be refundable for the first 24 hours after booking, like with most airlines. This is a nice touch.

Could you provide a screen shot showing everything, especially sleeper fares. The version I see assumes you have selected roomette for all segments.

Now radio buttons allowing you to select roomette, family room (if applicable), or bedroom for each segment would have been a definite improvement.

So, does the website now forcibly assume that Passenger 1 will have the discount associated with my Amtrak.com profile? What if I want to buy a ticket for someone else?