UA: Philadelphia Rail ZFV-LAX $258 ai 4.6 cpm 4 segments
 

UA: Philadelphia to Los Angeles $258 ai 4.6 cpm 4 segments 5558 miles

ZFV-EWR-LAX-EWR-ZFV

Many dates available. Bookable on united.com.

http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/.../philtolax.jpg

http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/...philtolax2.jpg

that connection time is WAY too low to trust to Amtrak. The NE Regional trains get delayed all the time by like 15-20 mins, and not to mention the time it takes to get from the airtrain stop to the terminal. I'd want at least another 90 minute buffer.

These have been available for some time up through mid May and then a similar price starting in September. They went this low when VX announced PHL-LAX/SFO and have remained low since. I booked PHL-LAX-IAH-PHL for $288

Even though the itinerary says that EQMs are given for the Amtrak legs, I don't believe UA/CO gives EQMs for any trips on Amtrak anymore. So in total you would earn only 4,908 EQM, but you would at least get RDM for the Amtrak legs. Correct me if I'm wrong.

+1

No way I'd ever chance that, even IF the train was on time. You need to catch the SkyTrain, that's at best 10 minutes. Then navigate from the train through security, that's at least 20 minutes. Now you have what, 22 minutes to make it to the gate and board? If everything goes perfectly?

Unless that's the point! :)

Get rebooked in full Y for the next flight and actually get an upgrade!

I've never taken a codeshare Amtrak before, but I assume you get the same miscon/irrops protection? Although, given the way that COdbaUA is going, they'd probably charge you a change fee for the train being late, give you an upgrade, and then take it away to give it to someone "who hasn't experienced businessfirst before"

I wonder if you can CPU a train segment. :-p

J/k....

So, what are the chances UA would void your ticket if you were to miss the ZFV-EWR portion of the "flight"? Could they know?

There are discussions about this but basically it is risky. They may or may not not void your trip out but eventually may cancel your return flight!

Very small risk, IMO.

LOL. Sad but true...

I'm just curious how they could know if a passenger hadn't ridden the train. At least from my recollection, Amtrak doesn't scan tickets/boarding passes. So long as either a paper ticket has been issued or a boarding pass printed, how could Amtrak know whether you had taken the trip?

Now, it might be a problem to show up for check-in Newark and have an agent discover, if possible, that the train is delayed and has yet to arrive.

Exactly, and a clever agent may do just that, but it is very unlikely. Amtrak does not scan BPs...

I skipped the last EWR-ZFV segment on an itinerary I had back in November and got no RDM for it.. Don't know if somehow I just got unlucky, or if there is a way they can check.