Discounts have been announced on regional corridors throughout the U.S. for winter coach-class rail travel. As expected, there are restrictions, and in certain cases booking codes need to be input to take advantage of lower fares.
Such discounts help establish a ridership base on departures where demand is light, allowing carriers to raise prices as demand increases. In previous winters, Amtrak has unveiled systemwide discounts on all trains, but is relying on its new “Value” and “Flex” to fill pricing voids on other corridors and long-distance trains, where coach inventory is limited [see “Amtrak to implement two-tier fare structure: Analysis,” News Wire, Oct. 19, 2023].
Some of the bargain routes include:
Amtrak
Downeaster: Boston to Brunswick, Maine (through Jan. 31)
Maximum $12 fare or less one way ($24 round trip) between any station with a three-day advance purchase. The discount is substantial for longer trips: the regular adult fare from Boston North Station to Portland, Me. is $29 one way. When buying online, the lower fares pop up automatically, but booking code V244 is required on the Amtrak app.
Empire Service, Ethan Allen, Adirondack (through Feb. 29)
A “buy one, get one” deal for travel Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, only on tickets purchased at least one day in advance, with the caveat that “seating is limited and may not be available for all dates or departures” (though there are no blackout dates). Two people must travel together. Booking code V309 must be used.
Northeast Regional and Acela “123free” (through Feb. 29)
Amtrak Guest Rewards member promotion in which a free round trip or two free one-way trips may be booked between July 1 and Aug. 31, 2024, if a Guest Rewards member takes three Northeast Corridor round trips or six one-ways between now and Feb. 29. Northeast Regional and Acela trips are tracked separately. Amtrak has run this winter promotion before; the trick is to make sure you rack up journeys on one class of service before switching to the other, because the different classes cannot be combined.
Amtrak has other promotions listed on its “Deals” page, but these are generally advance-purchase discounts with restrictions that are available all year.
Percent of coach sales no longer shown
In a seemingly unrelated development, Amtrak has removed the percent of coach sellout from its booking system displays, so comparing fare levels is the now only way to get a rough idea of how crowded a train might be. For instance, Auto Train adult coach fares are $280 for a number of southbound departures this week — previously in the 90% range. But the northbound coach fare is $114, dropping to $95 on some departures the following week. The percent sellout range could be 30% or less.
An Amtrak spokeman told News Wire, “The Capacity Indicator was temporarily added during the COVID-19 emergency in response to social distancing recommendations and was relatively accurate because of the close-in booking patterns at that time. It was recently retired now that the pandemic has passed and because current booking patterns reduced the reliability of the amounts in the display.”
Brightline
“Smart” sale (book by Jan. 14 for travel through Feb. 29)
Orlando-South Florida one-way tickets are priced at $39 using the promo code DL201-92837 at checkout, though “price may vary based on demand” and “blackout dates apply.” Brightline Orlando-Miami “Smart” fares in January generally range from $49 to $99, though the lower prices are extremely scarce some days on the 16 trips each way.
— Updated at 12:20 p.m. to correct location in Brightline photo caption; updated Jan. 10 at 8 p.m. with Amtrak comment on end of capacity information in booking.
