Where have all the roomettes gone? Silver Star shutout :-(

[triplejen]

I don't get it. I went to book roomettes on the Silver Star round trip NYC-Orlando, and there were none available. I know that they start selling 11 months in advance and I'm only booking 6 months in advance, but this is still atypical - I generally book 5-6 months in advance, and generally have a choice among many roomettes on this line when I do so.

I figured I was just unlucky and my specific travel days were booked, so I decided to move things around and go on a different day. Once again, all the roomettes were booked.

I ended up trying every single day for the entire months of July, August and September in both directions, and on every day, all the roomettes were booked both ways. But in June, there was roomette availability every single day for the entire month. June 30? Wide open. July 1? Nothing, and nothing for the next three months.

Then I tried the Silver Meteor (which is the other line that can carry NYC-Orlando, just at less convenient times for my family) and there was availability every single day.

Curious to see just how much availability, I tested it out for the maximum travel party available online, and found that there were at least 8 roomettes available for booking on every single day in July, August and September.

So at this point I figured it was just a web site glitch and so I called to book over the phone. I spoke with an agent who quickly (and without really checking) told me, "Yup, they're all booked up." She said she had been called the day before by someone else asking the same question.

Does anyone have any insight? It really does defy logic that 20 roomettes per day per direction have been booked for three solid months on one of the two lines, while the other line has wide open availability for the same time period.

I would love to hear what others think about this. Thank you thank you thank you in advance

 

[ancestry]

I agree with you. It seems bizarre and does seem to be a computer database glitch. Unfortunately I have no words of wisdom. Perhaps try calling again and see if you can get a supervisor or a tech person to whom you can explain the weirdness of the situation. The person you got on the phone is probably looking at the same database that you were.

 

[BigTigger]

Is it possible that Amtrak will have equipment out of service on that train during those months? We wanted to take the southern route from Chicago to LA a few years back, but inventory was limited due to equipment being offline for maintenance.

 

[triplejen]

Thanks both of you for replying!

I emailed Amtrak and this is the reply I got:

"Our Customer Support department has reported that the Roomettes are not being sold at this time on the Silver Star, and to please check back for the availability periodically.

We apologize for any inconvenience, and look forward to serving you onboard."

I guess maybe they are doing some kind of service related to the sleeper cars. (They are selling regular seats during that time frame.)

I guess I'll book the other line, and "check back periodically" in hopes that they re-add roomettes some time between now and my trip!